Forecasting Guide for Sales Leaders in B2B TechAn AI-Driven Workflow for DeliveringAccurate Forecasts

Learn how you can leverage the world’s leading AI-driven forecasting technology to deliver accurate forecasts.

We’ll provide you with a step-by-step overview of the workflow used by high performing sales teams at enterprise technology companies to get the data you need for your forecast call, get visibility into forecast data, and take your sales organization to the next level.

Do you run sales ata high growth B2B technology company? Is your forecasting process becoming increasingly complex? This guide is for you.

Have you outgrown spreadsheets?If you’re reading this, chances are you run your forecast in a spreadsheet.And, if you’re anything like our customers, your spreadsheets worked just fine – at first.

But, as your organization grew and added layers of complexity – new layers of management, new product lines, new geographies, and significantly more sales reps – managing your ever-growing spreadsheet has become difficult and ineffective.

Wondering if it’s time to upgrade? If any these scenarios sound familiar, you’ve outgrown spreadsheets.

Here’s what life was like for CROs and VPs of Sales before Aviso

I want to knowwhether the forecast went up or down and

why and what changed in the forecast since last week. I can’t easily get

at that information with my spreadsheet.

When my CFO and other execs ask

basic forecasting questions, we spend too

much time digging around in spreadsheets trying to

find the answers.

Right now I’m jumping back and forth between my notebook and various tabs in my spreadsheet to get the

info I need. There has to be a better way.

I have six levels of people making

judgment calls, and it’s changing at each level on

the way up. I can’t see who made what calls, at what point in time or the

deals that back it up.

Why invest in forecasting technology?Your CEO, CFO and other executives at your company rely on your forecast number. It drives headcount, budgeting and planning. A lot is riding on getting this number right, including your reputation.

Sales leaders at top performing, high growth, B2B technology companies like MongoDB, Zuora, Talend, Splunk, Apttus, and RingCentral no longer trust a process as critical as the forecast to spreadsheets. Instead, they’ve put their rollup in the cloud with the world’s leading AI-driven forecasting technology.

Visibility into whether the forecast went up or down, and why

One click access to see which deals are backing up the forecast

Total visibility into judgment applied by every layer in the org

A real-time snapshot of the state of the business

If you run sales at a high growth tech company, to drive accurate forecasting you need:

Insight into whether you’re closing business fast enough to hit goals

Highlights of strengths and weaknesses across your business

An AI-driven forecast to compare against your team’s forecast

Prediction of your run rate business

Now, all of my forecastdata is in one place.

Forecasts are connected to source data and I can

double click into deals and get quick answers.

The number I provide gets reported out to the street and to investors.

With Aviso, I’m more confident than ever in the

number I deliver.

We got to a point as we prepared for our IPO where

there was an increasing focus on the forecast. We needed to increase our predictability

as a company

High performing sales teamsand early adopters at fast growth B2B technology companies are using this simple AI-driven workflow to improve

efficiency and accuracy.

See forecast views across every segmentof your business with the click of a button.

Quickly see when forecastnumbers have gone up or down.

1. See a clean view of business healthSales operations and finance leadership use our executive dashboard to assess the state of the business. View summary data before your forecasting calls, including analytics that show whether forecasts went up or down, highly accurate AI-powered forecasts, and pacing metrics that show whether deals are being closed fast enough to hit quota.

Compare the Aviso Forecast toyour team’s forecast number.

Configurable Dashboard

2. Drill into business segments to see forecast strengthsand weaknesses Based on historical data, we’ll highlight which segments are expected to miss quota and by how muchso that you can take action. Below is a view of “current quarter sales” broken out by product line. In this example, professional services and cloud productsare behind pace. Sales leaders use this information to drive strategy discussions with the right players in the org.

See strengths and weaknesses acrossevery segment of your business.

We highlight when any segmentof your business is behind pace.

AI-Driven Pacing

3. See an accurate top-down forecast on day one of the quarterOn the first day of the quarter we’ll show you where your business will land. Our predictions are accurate despite dirty data. Aviso is predicting that the team will come in just above quota at $106.8M.

Know how much revenue to expect from dealsthat will pop up and close within the quarter

Aviso Forecast

Get an AI-driven view of how your quarter is set to unfold

Aviso Trend Line

Bookings

Quota

4. See your full forecast rollup in the cloudReplace your spreadsheets with a collaborative, flexible rollup. Leverage a full bottoms-up forecast, with total visibility into forecast data. Compare the highly accurate Aviso forecast to your team’s forecast for a sanity check.

Drill down to see forecast views across your entire business.

Compare the team’s forecast to the highly accurate Aviso AI-driven forecast.

Flexible, Automated Rollup

Manager Judgment

Rep JudgmentCRM Data

5. See which deals back up the forecastUnlike in spreadsheets, sales executives can see which deals make up the forecast with a single click. In the example below, Aviso has given the Voipa License Deal a 56% chance of closing this quarter. Yet, despite the low probability of close, the rep has called it “in-forecast.” The sales manager will want to double click on the deal for more information.

Drill down from any business segmentto see deals that back up the forecast.

See when each deal was called ‘in forecast’and by whom with our audit table.

The Aviso AI-powered Deal Score predictsthe likelihood of close in-quarter.

Flexible, Automated Rollup

6. Double click to see summary data and smart selling insightsWe’ve double clicked into the Voipa License deal for closer inspection. In addition to providing a snapshot of the most important information, we provide valuable AI-driven warnings so that you can take action.Due to the amount of times the deal has been pushed out and the length of time it’s been stuck in stage 7, the deal is at-risk.

The Voipa deal has a 56%chance of closing this quarter.

Based on the behavior of past deals, Aviso is providing AI-driven warnings. Make notes on next steps.

Deal Summary

7. Know what changed in the forecast and whyOur helpful visual shows you which deals had negative movement (amount changes that went down or were pushed out), which had positive movement, and which deals had no movement at all. Click on any bucket of deals (committed deals, new deals, deals that went down, etc.) to see movement as well as a list of deals that back it up.

Click on any bucket tosee movement of deals.

The sales team startedthe week with 559 deals.

Pipeline Change Analytics

The team finished with an additional 25 deals in the pipeline, but a decrease in overall pipeline value (from $30.9M to $28.9M).

AI-Driven Forecasting and Pipeline ManagementDeliver Accurate Forecasts. Move Pipeline Faster. Close More Deals.

The best in the world at what we do, Aviso is the only AI-driven platform on the market purpose-built to drive accurate sales forecasting and improve pipeline management. With Aviso Sales Vision, sales executives and CFOs deliver accurate forecasts, sales managers move deals through the pipeline faster, and reps close more deals with AI-driven smart selling signals. A clear connection established between high performing sales teams and the adoption of AI, teams at Apttus, MongoDB, Splunk and RingCentral, have replaced limited, legacy sales tools with an AI-driven platform that helps improve win rates and drive revenue.

Ready to deliver accurate forecasts?Learn more about the world’s leading forecasting platform.Contact us today at sales@aviso.com

© 2018, Aviso Inc.