Prospecting Plan & Guide

Prospecting Plans & Prospecting Dashboard 

WeOpportunity includes a way for Users to create their own Sales Prospecting Plans directly related to Sales Quotas (both Outright Sales and RMR Sales). The concept is to first understand the total quota requirements at the User level. Keep in mind that Prospecting Plans and goals are set individually by each User. They are not set up in System Configuration by a System Administrator. This is done so that Users may update and adjust plans as needed. Reporting is automated by WeSuite. To get started click on Prospecting Plan on the Navigation menu. 

 

 

 The Proposal Categories tab will open. The goal is to define the Proposal Categories most appropriate and in line with the User’s sales. 

For example: 

$1,000,000 Outright Sales Quota and $8,520 RMR Quota for the next annual period. The question is: how will I get there? 

Think about the sales you made last year and the year prior. Break them into categories such as: small, medium and large and identify the sale ranges for Outright Sales and RMR for each. 

Example: 

Small Sales = $1 - $15,000 Outright Sale and $1 - $45 RMR (recurring monthly) 

Medium Sales = $15,001 - $50,000 Outright Sale and $46-$75 RMR 

Large Sales = $50,001 – infinity Outright Sale and $76 – infinity for RMR 

We do not cap the highest end range for Outright Sale or RMR so that when sales are reported back from WeEstimate, we capture all sales and count them toward the types of sales (Small, Medium, Large) and Quota targets set in WeOpportunity. 

After deciding on and defining your sale or Proposal Categories, enter them by selecting “Add a New Record”. A window will pop (see screen shot below). Add the Category Name, the Outright Sale range, mark the category as Active, provide a description of this sale category, set the RMR range and select Update to save the information. 

Create your remaining Proposal Categories. 

To set targets to reach your desired Sales Quota, go to the Proposal Quota Report tab. Select the Year and select “Show”. Note: once a Proposal Quota Report View is created and saved as a default view, there will be no need to select a Year. 

Enter the Outright Sale quantity and/or RMR quantity for each proposal category. Quantities are typically based on prior history performance. For instance, in reviewing the prior annual period you see that you proposed 10 Small, 15 Medium and 1 Large and fell short of reaching your Quota goals, it’s time to up the ante! Take the time to review prior history broken down by the same proposal categories you’ve created. Figure out how many of each proposal you put out, how many were won and lost and get your win to loss ratio. It’s a great starting point and will help you in determining how to reach current quota goals. If you can review two or three annual periods, all the better. Gaining insight with the most accurate data will help to make the quantities set for this period realistic. 

Tip: Always set that stretch goal. Increase the target quantities in a couple of categories and really go for it!! 

When you’ve got your quantities set for each Proposal Category, select Save Quota. 

Take a look at the screens shots above and below. 

How do I know how I’m doing? 

WeSuite will report Sales wins and losses in each of your Proposal Categories. The system is “smart” enough to account for the differences in Outright Sale and RMR amounts. For instance, you may win a Small Sale with a Medium RMR, or a Large Sale with a Medium RMR amount. The system will give you credit for both so, don’t worry! 

WeOpportunity looks for opportunities marked as sold in WeOpportunity and won and lost estimates/quotes in WeEstimate. The system tracks the sale and RMR dollar amounts in accordance with the defined Proposal Categories to provide report information including: 

Total quantity to goal per Proposal Category 

% to goal per Proposal Category 

Total Sale and RMR dollar amounts 

Win/Loss Ratio 

To see your data the way you’d like to see it, it’s easy to create custom views. For customized reporting, data can be sorted and ordered and views can be named and saved. Select “Add View” and a window will pop. Name the View, check “Is Default View” if this view should be saved as the default, the “Execute After Saving” box will be defaulted, select Save to save the view or Cancel to cancel the action. 

Move to the lower part of the screen to select filter options and create the report. Select the report time period sort (i.e. show data Yearly, Quarterly, Monthly or Weekly). At “Report View” select either Grid View or Chart View. Chart View provides a graphical representation of the data. Select “Show Report” and the report data will generate. 

Report data is derived from both WeOpportunity and WeEstimate/QuoteAnywhere. Reporting will show the total dollars sold for Outright and RMR (expressed as Recurring Annual Revenue “RAR”), number of won proposals, lost proposals, the percent to goal and ratio of wins/losses to goal against the targeted Outright Sale and RAR amounts. 

To create the view, order data columns left to right by dragging and dropping them in the desired order. To sort data, lift the desired columns to the area just above the data columns. The sort will occur in the order the columns are dropped into this area. In the example below, the sort is by Month, Sale Amount, Sale Type (Proposal Category). 

Export to Excel is optional according to User Rights. 

The reporting will illustrate the number to goal and percent to goal for each Proposal Category for both Outright and RMR sales. It will also account for sales where the Outright Sale is one category and RMR is in another. The User gets credit toward Quota Goals for both! 

Prospecting Plans: 

Now that Proposal Categories are defined and target Quota quantities for each Proposal Category are determined, the next step is to create Prospecting Plans to help achieve Sales Quota targets. 

Prospecting Activities: each User will create their individual list of prospecting activities they perform to help gain new prospects. At the Prospect Activities tab, click on Add Record to start creating a list of Prospecting Activities. Create as many activities as desired. Activities will be scheduled on a monthly basis and not all activities may be scheduled for each month. As each activity is created, check it as Active. Use the Edit and Delete buttons to edit or delete the Prospecting Activity. 

 

Tip: Select the activity you will perform most often as the “Default” activity. This will save you time later when recording Prospecting Activities. 

Prospecting Activity Goals: Move next to the Prospecting Activity Goals tab. At this tab, each Sales Person will set their personal Prospecting Activity Goals for each month. Think monthly in terms of goals and numbers. Reports can be viewed weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. Be certain to Save changes! You will receive a message “successfully saved” after clicking on save. 

User Activity Report: each User can see their prospecting progress in terms of performance of activities against goals and achieving appointments against behaviors. For report viewing set the View filters for time: weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually; the year to review (you can review prior years once you have the data!); select the month or months to be viewed. 

Utilize the “select all” or “deselect all” buttons when setting report filters. These are useful for selecting months to include and selecting the Users to view. (Viewing of other Users is based on User Rights). 

Inclusion of the User’s Activities is checked on by default. 

For those with the User Rights to view other’s information, use the checkboxes to select entire offices or individuals within offices for report viewing. To see the report data click on Show Report. Results will be displayed below. 

 

Hovering over a line on the graph, the orange line (Goal), will show the goal totals for each Prospecting Activity. Hovering over the green lines (Achieved) on the graph, will show the number of appointments set for each Prospecting Activity.  User Reports will be shown for each person and time frame selected as you scroll down the page. 

Prospect Dashboard 

The Prospect Dashboard is used to record Prospecting Activities completed by Users. Typical Users include: Sales Representatives, Business Development, Inside Sales Teams and Sales Administrators. The first tab on the Prospecting Dashboard is the Activities tab. This is where New Activities are created – that result in either a follow up activity or, Lead creation; existing Activities can be edited, including to create a Lead; if a Lead was created, it can be opened and worked on; Customer Names and Contact information can be edited; email/message with attachments can be sent. 

The Activity screen data grid can also be arranged in the order the User would like to see the data, as well as sorted. In the screen shot shown, the sort is by Contact and then Prospecting Activity, the columns are ordered left to right as the User determined by dragging and dropping each to its place. Views can be named and saved so that various presentation of information is simply a click of the drop down. A default View can also be saved for presentation each time the User opens this screen. 

Recording Prospecting Activities: we are recording Prospecting Activities to show/record the prospecting behaviors each User is performing. The concept is that doing the behaviors will lead to appointments. Each User can easily record the Prospecting Activity, record the Company and Contact information and either a) create a Lead – this typically means that contact was made and an appointment was set, or b) schedule a follow up activity. WeOpportunity will record that the Prospecting Behavior was done and when a Lead is created for that particular activity, the appointment will also be recorded. These activities will show at the User Activity Report (shows Prospecting activities and appointments to goal) and as sales are won or lost, at the Proposal Activity Report (shows the Prospecting Activities for resulting wins/losses, win/loss ratios, comparison to quota goals, etc. 

Example: Proposal Activity Report

 

Recording Prospecting Activities: 

1) Enables the User to record completion of a Prospecting Activity behavior. Reports that the Prospecting Activity has been complete against goals. 

2) Enables the User to create a “to do” for additional follow up in the event the Prospect was not contacted directly and follow up is needed to set an appointment for Lead creation. 

3) Enables the User to create a Lead based due to contact and appointment setting with the prospect. When a Lead is created, the Prospecting Activity Appointment Goal is also updated. 

4) Prospecting Dashboard also enables viewing and editing, addition, deletion of: existing activities, “to dos”, notes, Opportunities and contacts. 

 

To record a new Prospecting Activity select: Prospecting Dashboard and New Activity at the Activity tab 

Select the Prospecting Activity from the drop down. If adding new Prospect Company and Contact information, type the required information in on the right side of the screen under “New”. Keep in mind that address formatting requires commas between each data item. (i.e. 234 Main Street, White Plains, NY, 10604).

 

If creating a Lead for an exisitng Customer or Contact, search first at the Existing Customer area. 

Tip: Best practice is to always search first to see if a Customer name exists in the database. For those using SedonaOffice or QuickBooks, WeSuite searches both the accounting database and the WeSuite database. 

Complete the prospect information and any notes. If contact was made and an appointment set, check the “Create Lead?” checkbox and schedule the Appointment by selecting Save & Follow Up. 

If “Create Lead?” is checked, a Lead will be created automatically and by default assigned to the creator. If desired, after checking the Create Lead box, select Save & Assign and the Lead may be assigned to another User/Sales Representative. This is useful for Inside Sales and Business Development Teams. 

Schedule a Follow Up: to set a follow up reminder to contact the Prospect again, select a color code to demark category (color will show at appointment on calendar), create a Description, set the start date and time, end date and time, select Save. 

The follow up event will go to the Global Schedule calendar and the User’s Outlook or Google calendar (automatically when using the auto-sync service) or as a pop up email reminder when not using Exchange Server. 

The Activity tab also enables editing of existing information that is in “blue” and/or that has an icon. Icons from left to right: Delete (red square with x); Edit Activity (pencil); Add Notes (Notepad & Pencil). Edit Activity enables updates to the Prospecting Activity, notes and saving the item as a Lead. Clicking on any of the “blue” items enables additional information to be added or edited. 

To edit the Opportunity, click on the Opportunity ID number. The Opportunity will open in Lead Management, where required fields can be updated (i.e. Lead Source, Market, Sales Type), Products and Services, Tasks, calendar events, etc. can be added and updated. 

Click Notepad to add Notes: click Add new record. The “complete” box is checked by default. Uncheck if item is incomplete, select update to save. Recorded note will be ‘pink’. Notes can be deleted using the delete button. Click the “X” upper right to close the window. 

To email the Opportunity directly and add an attachment, click on Email. A window will open and complete your name as the sender and the Contact name as the recipient. Complete the Subject line, body and add any attachments. Press Send. WeOpportunity will send the message and attachement(s). 

To Dos: The “To Dos” Tab shows items that are scheduled for follow up after the initial Prospecting Activity was recorded. For instance, if a call was made for a Prospecting Activity and contact was not made, scheduling a “follow up” item creates a “To Do”. Working from the “To Do” tab makes it really easy to work through items scheduled for follow up each day. Scheduled items also transfer to Google and Outlook calendars. The To Dos tab is very handy for Inside Sales teams tasked with making a high volume of prospecting calls. Keep in mind, data can be arranged left to right and dragged/dropped for sorting. 

There are two areas for editing a To Do: 

1) Edit the scheduled follow up item: 

 

2) Edit the initial Prospecting Activity item to show new notes, new scheduled activity (i.e. another follow up) or create and assign the Lead. The edit window will also allow follow up and show History. 

 

3) Once an “To Do” creates a Lead and the Lead is assigned, it will be removed from the To Do list. 

Tip: If a Prospecting Activity was created by mistake, at the Status drop down select “DeActivated”. 

Notes: The Prospecting Dashboard also includes an electronic notepad for jotting down notes as needed that are not linked to a Prospecting Activity or Opportunity. Add a new record, edit, check as complete or delete as needed. 

Opportunity Tab: The Opportunity tab enables search, review and edit of existing Opportunities created by the User and depending on Group Rights, other Users. 

The “Include My Opportunities” box is checked by default. Use the “select all/deselect all” buttons, or click the box next to an Office to select all Users within that Office, or click open the Office and select individual Users to see Opportunities for specific Users. 

Seaches can be by Opp ID, Customer Name, Job Title, Status, Owner. Each column will also sort highest to lowest/lowest to highest when clicked upon. Opportunities can also be opened by clicking the pencil icon. 

Contacts Tab: The Contacts tab enables seach on existing Contacts; editing of existing Contacts; creation of new Contacts; Export of VCards or Contacts to Outlook or Google Contacts and import of VCards or Contact cards; and selection of Contact Type. 

Tip: Additional funcationality, such as creating Message Groups can be completed at the main Contacts Tab based on User Rights. 

Enter search criteria in the Search window and click on the Search Icon to search for existing Contacts. You may also sort Contacts by clicking on a column of data. You may also arrange data columns by dragging/dropping left or right in the desired order. 

Click on the pencil icon to Edit a Contact. The Edit window will open and enable editing of Contact information and the addition of new information. You may upload a Contact photo, include social media addresses, make notes for birthdays, etc. and import VCards or Outlook/Google contact information. Click Save before exiting! 

Tip: Selecting a Contact Type is a great way to enable sorting of Contacts by type. Contact types are typically categories such as: Consultant, Client, General Contractor, Decision Maker, etc. 

Be sure to scroll left to right on the Contact screen. Sorts can also be made by Zip Code, State, City and a host of other information.