TennisandSales

Head Of Sales

Politicker

Acclaimed Answer

Executive

How often do you move an opp BACK a stage?

one thing that has served me well is to be realistic and honest with my self and leadership about deals.

Especially the larger ones, there have been MANY times where I feel we took a step back for what ever reason.

although there are questions that come when you move an opp back a stage, the clarity is normally appreciated and has done alot for my reputation within the org.

What happens if you move an opp backward?

Would you ever do that?

👑 Sales Strategy

📈 Closing

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28 comments

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jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Not too often but I think it pays to be realistic with the larger, more complex deals that end up being drawn out.

Might not fly with some managers though

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yeah im sure there are some managers that would lose it haha

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Every time I see my manager has moved it without telling me. Forecasting should be real, I agree.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Ooof. I hate that approach.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

its a great way to piss ppl off by messing with pipeline forecast's haah

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Yeah, I'd see that at my last company, depending on manager. Things would get moved in and out of the quarter as upper level managers were trying to roll a number up the chain. Your deals would magically move, which was super frustrating.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

nothing like coming into work and seeing 4 of your deals *magically* in Commit! 😂

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

oh damn yeah i HATE that. idk what it is, probably a control thing, but its MY pipe line.......dont touch it!

Tireless

Contributor

CRO

That is a no no for managers. That is such a dumb thing to do. How can you develop a sense of ownership if you are mucking around with your reps stages? That is someone who should not be a manager.. period!

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

totally agree. if you dont trust me to tell you what is happening, then dont hire me.

Filth

Politicker

Live Filthy or Die Clean

I just had to do this 2 weeks ago - went in and Demo'd hoping I be able to move it along to proposal/negotiations. Once I got on and starting moving through, it turned into another, more in-depth discovery. I felt sick to my stomach after b/c its a big one and I want it bad, but eventually told myself it was for the best.

Today I have a follow up/hopefully final demo with that client and I should have better information the resolution soon - hopefully with ink involved.

I've always believed, even in sales, I'm helping people. So if that means taking a step back and slowing the pace to make sure everything fits right, it's usually worth it. If leadership can't understand that, they aren't good sales people or at least come from the coke-fueled, make-up w/e you want b/c there is no internet, 80s school of shoulder pads & pinstripes.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

hahaha you painted a very vivid picture there

Filth

Politicker

Live Filthy or Die Clean

I've worked with those very specific looking bosses lol and we all know exactly who that "manager/exec" is they shake around and wave their hands with every word and don't know when to just shut up and let the silence do the work ;D

Tireless

Contributor

CRO

Sales rarely go as per the sales stages! Discovery happens at every stage of the sales cycle. That said, it helps to follow the stage and if you have enough information to move to a demo stage and then have to do more discovery. So be it. You don't have to move the stage backward. Just adjust your forecast and close date.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

sure! thats not what Im talking about. there is a difference between, "oh i need to understand their problem more" and "we are being forced to start over" one you change the close date, the other you change the stage.
I agree that discovery happen throughout. I also believe that being honest about where the deal is and what still has to happen is a good way to make even one, including the CRO happy.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

I am very realistic on my forecasting and staging. If I have to move it back, I do. I'm not one for trying to fake myself out and to basically feed into a pipe dream that my manager wants.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yeah id much rather have my boss be mad that I wont commit to a higher number, than have a reputation of missing forecasts

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I try to keep my pipeline as realistic as possible, so if it means moving something back, I'll do it.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

does that happen often?

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

No, actually not. Right now, biggest issue is projects stalling and the customer ghosting me, so I put it in the "no response" pile to close out as soon as I'm allowed to.

We've had projects stall, but right now where I work, we only have a handful of stages, so those opps usually stall in the stage that I'd move them back to if I was working at a company that had 7-8 stages. Rereading this, not sure it makes sense, but also not sure how I'd rephrase it either.

DevSomeBiz

Valued Contributor

Senior B2B Sales Guy.

I'm realistic to the point of sand bagging. I would rather explain why something is moving forward faster than expected than explain why something isn't happening.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

i have done a total 180 during my career. I use to over promise ALL the time. just to like look good i guess? idk. But now that ive been doing this for a minute im totally with you. Id rather sandbag then miss a close date.

Although I know that being as accurate as possible is ideal haha.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Gotta be realistic, hopefully your leadership is supportive

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

my boss is OVERLY cautious. Moving close dates to the EOY just because it wont close in Q3. so thats nice haha.

butwhy

Politicker

Solutions Engineer

My rep just did this and our VP is up his ass Big Time about it. YMMV for sure based on who your leadership is, but I agree with you that transparency SHOULD be the predominate factor. It's one aspect of Sales Ops that doesn't get talked enough in my opinion - the current hierarchy doesn't support the nuance of the buyer journey these days.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

Having a good manager to help me see blind spots is great, and sometimes you do need to go back a step to really validate or execute something correctly. It's not too common but it happens.

Tireless

Contributor

CRO

I can see moving the deal back in the forecast..i.e commit to best case etc. But moving a deal back in the sales stage tells me that you should not moved it up in the first place...

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

It could be. But there are many situations that could mean you need to move it back. Like if new leadership is put in place. You may have to go back to discovery depending on the situation. That’s not your fault

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TennisandSales

How often do you move an opp BACK a stage?

28 comments

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