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CMOs can get themselves into a pickle when pipeline generation falls short. By the time they realize they are below the target, it may be too late to recover. I’ve borrowed a practice from my sales brethren to help me avoid this problem.
Most B2B marketers are familiar with sales forecast calls. These meetings are typically held weekly by sales leaders. Sales reps review their deals and expected outcomes. Sales leadership inspects the deals by asking questions about timing, competition, access to approvers, legal review status, and other details.
I recommend that CMOs and their leaders hold weekly demand forecast calls. While you may already have a weekly demand team meeting, I’m talking about a change in mindset from reporting on activities to forecasting results. Here are the key ideas:
Forward-looking, not Backward-looking – Most weekly demand team meetings review the previous week’s results. That’s backward-looking. The main idea of demand forecasting is to have your team predict results for the upcoming week. That’s forward-looking. Will they always be right? No. Will it change their mindset and motivation once they’ve committed to a number? Yes.
Quantity and Quality – Sales leaders are looking to understand realistic deal amounts and probabilities. Said another way, how solid are the deals? In a similar vein, marketing leadership should look for realistic marketing qualified lead totals and the probability of converting to sales qualified leads. So, quality is as important as quantity. Marketing leaders should be inspecting both every week.
It’s Simple – All it takes is a spreadsheet. In the weekly meeting, whoever is responsible for the marketing channel or campaign will give their forecast, which will be recorded. The next week, the team reviews the previous week’s attainment vs. forecast. These are usually great discussions. Then they give the forecast for the next week. Repeat.
Your Team Will Hate It at First – You are doubting me? How should I know how many qualified leads the webinar will generate? These are typical examples of the resistance I’ve faced. To which I respond: Sales reps have their opportunities inspected, why can’t you have your leads inspected? And, I do think you should know how many qualified leads will come from a webinar; that’s what we pay you for.
You Will Get Better Over Time – People will be wildly wrong at first. Then they will get more accurate. They will then learn to sandbag. Or – just like reps and opportunities – they will be overly optimistic about conversion. That’s okay. What you want is a number you can rely on. It just may take some time to get there.
It’s Fun – I found my teams getting competitive. People felt great when they beat their forecast. They developed the type of camaraderie you see in sales teams, pulling for each other and celebrating the success of others.
Demand forecasting is really just a mindset shift, but an important one. It will increase your team’s ownership of results. Ultimately it will help you as a leader to give a better forecast to sales and management. Plus, it will help eliminate surprises that will be costly to your reputation.
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