Is your team missing out on another valuable deal and pouring resources into other deals that ultimately fall through? Sales managers know how frustrating missed opportunities can be. Thus, it’s no surprise that knowing the deals to watch - which deals have the most potential and which are just eating up valuable time - is on the top of heads of sales’ wishlists.

We asked around: What are a head of sales’ top 3 wishes?

Head of Sales Wish #1: Knowing Which Deals to Watch and Win Probabilities

Surveys of sales teams show that salespeople often don’t prioritize all too much. Whatever comes in next is handled first. As a result, sales reps spend a lot of time on deals that never materialize and miss out on others.

The result: Heads of sales want to know which deals are worth prioritizing in order to make effective use of their team’s resources.

How do sales managers identify and filter deals worth their immediate attention from other deals at risk no longer worth pursuing? This task often requires short-term action to avoid losing the deal last minute. AI-based sales technologies offer the solution.

AI-Guided Selling Software analyzes all deals in the pipeline and assigns individual rankings. This way, it automatically identifies high and low win probabilities. A risk level also helps sales managers distinguish which deals have potential and which are better not worth wasting any more time on.

Win Rates Change Constantly

The probability of closing a deal changes with each activity–even if the activity fails to materialize. The longer a deal is stuck in the pipeline, the more it loses momentum. As the chances of success diminish, sales reps have to invest more and more time in blocked deals. The result: deals become more expensive.

Individual Risk Level for Each Deal in the Pipeline

Using data from the sales cycle, sales intelligence software compares the current status of each deal with the projected target time. Determining which deals are unlikely to close on time is one of the most pressing wishes of heads of sales.

Example: Let's assume a sales cycle is about 90 days long. In the company in question, an average of 10 calls would be needed to close a deal. So far, a deal has been open for 50 days, but too few calls have been made to date. In a case like this, AI-Guided Selling software automatically recognizes the increased risk level involved. Sales managers can then use this score to decide whether it’s still worth pursuing. Often, however, it's better to abort the deal so as not to waste any more valuable resources.

Competitive Advantage Through AI-Supported Win Rate Analysis

AI-powered sales software keeps track of all activities. Based on the dynamics of the sales cycle, it constantly recalculates the probability of winning each deal. This way, sales managers can stay focused on promising deals in the pipeline and increase revenue in the long term.

Head of Sales Wish #2: Know The Winning Formula

Cold Mail - Call - Product Demo - Offer - Discussion -> Deal? Sometimes, the math simply doesn't always add up. But which formula is the right one to convert leads into sales as quickly as possible? Knowing the decisive deal code is one of the most frequent head of sales wishes.

Timing and Spacing of Activities

In addition to the type and sequence of sales activities, timing is also critical to closing deals as quickly as possible. The perfect time to reach out again to a potential client depends on many factors. Choosing the right time intervals between each activity can also play a crucial role. If the interval is too long, the customer may have already decided on another product. However, if the time between the individual contact points is too short, the bounce rate increases.

Win Algorithms Differ From Deal to Deal

The challenge here is that preferences differ greatly depending on the customer. This is especially true in digitized sales cycles. The multitude of digital communication channels, tools, and customer preferences is almost impossible to keep track of.

With winning formulas of deals as unique as the customers themselves, individual calculation of the winning formula is crucial for the success of each deal.

Win Algorithm Must be Calculated Individually for Each Deal

Not every AI-powered sales software calculates individual win algorithms for each customer. But that's exactly what's needed to find the best mix of activities fit for a particular sales cycle. Sales intelligence such as AI-Guided Selling software determines which activities sales teams should focus on, on a deal-by-deal basis. It analyzes and interprets customer journey data for each customer individually.

Are cold mails more likely to close a targeted deal, or are phone calls more effective? If so, when is the best time to call? AI-powered sales software like AI-guided sales intelligence provides the necessary answers to the questions automatically. By evaluating all the data collected from CRMs such as Pipedrive or Hubspot, the AI is constantly learning. As a result, it can predict which sequence of activities makes sense and at what intervals with increasing precision. So, what’s the winning formula for your next deal?

Head of Sales Wish #3: Keeping Pipeline Health in Clear View

A gut feeling alone often can throw sales managers off when forecasting. Even if past figures often look good at first glance, sales managers usually find it difficult to estimate what sales can actually be expected by the end of the year.

Knowing how the pipeline health is really doing is therefore one of the most important things heads of sales wish for. After all, at the end of the year, forecasted sales should also be met.

Analysis shows that for most sales organizations, forecasted sales often fall far short of the bottom line at the end of the year. This is where data-driven assessment of pipeline health steps in. It provides insight into a number of key metrics:

• Number of open deals in the pipeline
• Average number of deals won
• Average deal volume
• Average time required to close deals

Based on this data, AI-supported sales solutions reveal where sales are located throughout the sales process. Are there enough deals in the pipeline to reach the annual target? Sales managers can see this at a glance via AI-supported analyses of CRM data. This enables them to make the right decisions in order to achieve sales targets.

Innovative technologies such as AI-Guided Selling software have long been able to fulfill many of the most important heads of sales wishes. Sales 4.0 is a game-changer and is becoming increasingly relevant, especially in high-tech areas such as SaaS. B2B sales organizations that already optimize their sales processes with AI-supported sales technologies enjoy a clear competitive advantage.

We’ve summarized a guide on how sales teams can successfully use innovative technologies to drive sales. Download the free eBook and start making use of Sales 4.0!