Clearly updating critical fields in CRM allows anyone involved in reviewing the deals from high-level overviews to account details for analyzing and strategic planning.
It also helps the deal owner know their deals inside and out, what to do next, identify weak behaviors, and how to course-correct or improve sales skills to increase win rates.
Deal Stages
If the stage does not match what AEs are talking about (e.g., if they said they’ve had an ROI call but the deal is still in the SAL - Discovery/Demo stage.)
The Stage field should be updated accordingly after the correct exit criteria have been met. Refer to the Sales Funnel Stages section for guidance.
SQL Stage
45 days from the create date and less than 30 days from the discovery meeting date — pending discovery call or further info required.
SAL Stage
10 - 30 days from SAL conversion, depending on how quickly the next steps are. The Discovery call is completed. The next steps include sending a meeting video, ROI questionnaire, setting up a time for the demo, involving decision-makers, asking the leads to provide payment info, etc.
OPP - ROI / Proposal Stage
15 days from the completed ROI / proposal call. The next steps include scheduling a tech call, involving a decision-maker, legal review, sending out SOW (average 1-2 days), send over a contract.
OPP - Negotiation / Decision Stage
1-10 days from the completed tech call and/or contract review call.
Problematic Close Dates:
- If the close date is in the past.
- If the deal is at this stage and the close date is less than SQL Stage: 30 days (e.g., if today is 11/1/21 and the deal is at SQL stage and the close date is set for 11/10/21, that is less than 30 days).
- If the deal is at SAL Stage but the close date is in 20 days unless there’s a strong and real chance of moving to ROI very soon.
Close Date
The Close Date field should be updated accordingly after touchpoints (or lack thereof) with a prospective customer. The best rule of thumb to determine the close date can be based on where they are in the sales cycle (what stage they are at). Here are general guidelines, but your judgment is needed to add/subtract days as seen fit based on circumstances for any particular deal.
MRR
The Amount field should be populated with the best guess estimate after the discovery call or demo when a total annual revenue amount has been identified via discovery questions. In addition, the amount field should be up-to-date throughout the stages if the module changes or discounts are added.
The pricing sheet should be used to determine the aggregate amount of MRR based on the applicable modules, pain points, and annual revenue amount.
The further the deal stage, the more accurate it is. After the discovery call or demo, AEs should have enough information to determine the revenue.
For example, tying the pain points from calls to corresponding modules and using those modules to estimate the pricing. And validate that information as the stage progresses.
After the discovery call, you identified the prospective company has:
- $45M in total revenue.
- They use Netsuite as their ERP system.
- A desire to collect revenue via credit cards, ACH & potentially the Bank-to-Bank Network.
Based on this information, you can identify that the following modules, priced at $45M processing ($25M - $50M tier), would be included:
- Core AR ($5,749 MRR)
- Backoffice Billing ($1,149 MRR)
- Netsuite SuiteApp ($2,299 MRR)
Total MRR: $5,749 + $1,149 + $2,299 = $9,197 MRR.
Confidence Level
There are three confidence levels: Commit, Probable, Possible.
The Confidence field relates to the probability that any individual opportunity will close at the time and value predicted. This field should be updated accordingly after touchpoints (or lack thereof) with a prospective customer. The guidelines for selecting the correct confidence category is as follows:
Commit
Commit should be closing as expected 90% of the time. And the only thing stopping that from occurring is unpredictable and exceptional events. Even the 10% that aren’t closing as predicted should only be experiencing a short delay, not a loss of a sale if they were committed. You’re committing to both the close date AND the MRR amount.
YOU ARE COMMITTING TO THIS DEAL BECOMING A WIN. IT’S A BIG DEAL!
Here are a few questions you should be asking about existing pipeline deals before moving them to a “commit” stage:
- Does your primary contact or champion have the authority to make the purchase decision?
- If not, has your contact already gotten sign-off from that person?
- Has the contact confirmed the desired timeline for going live with Paystand?
- Does the contact understand the purchase process?
- Do you understand their purchasing process (procurement, legal review, security review, etc.)?
- Does the prospect organization have a compelling reason to act now?
Probable
The projected close date is in the relevant quarter. The salesperson confidently expects this opportunity to close at the targeted value in the relevant quarter. The close does not depend on any exceptional or out-of-the-ordinary acts. However, there is still work to do, and some progress still needs to be made - but the remaining actions remain very doable in the timeframe available.
The best way to define probable confidence is that you fully anticipate this deal to become a commit, but there’s more work to do.
Possible
The projected close date is in the relevant quarter. There is a real outside chance that this opportunity will close at the targeted value this quarter and does not depend on a miracle happening to win the deal. This category can also occasionally be used for opportunities that have a most likely close date, a quarter out, but where there is a reasonable chance (and a plan in place) to pull the deal forward.
The best way to define possible confidence is that you don’t fully anticipate this deal becoming a commit, and there’s more work to do.
Qualified Status
SAL?
It must be a SAL to move forward to the next stage. Therefore, if this deal moved forward, the “SAL?” property should be “Yes.”
This field allows us to calculate the volume of SALs we have at any given time, which is critical for the sales team.
Discovery Call Happened?
This field is to record and manage the no-showed meetings. And allow us to plan the next steps after a prospect no-showed a meeting. If the meeting happens, AEs can prepare for the next steps or keep an eye out for where we are at the sales cycle.
Discovery Call Date
This field allows us to record key activity dates for calculating our average sales cycle. For example, The time it takes to move forward - allows AEs/BDRs to engage the prospect accordingly.
Accounting / ERP / SoR Software
It is critical to update the ERP at the account and deal level, as we rely on the field to filter our market segments. Do not use the Unsure. It’s a requirement.
Deal Owner
This field records the main point of contact working and handling the opportunity.
SDR
This field records where the deal comes from, specifically who the source is.
Use Case
This field records the category of our product line and what the (potential) customer is using our product for, including AR, AP, Platforms, etc.
Strategy
This field records the inbound or outbound status.
Closed Lost Reason
This field would record the closed lost reason if the deal turned into a closed-lost stage.
Associated Contacts
It’s critical to associate all contacts involved in the deal as it’s helpful for analytics and post-sales operations.
Data Hygiene Reporting
To measure data hygiene in Hubspot, a weekly report will be generated to identify missing or inaccurate data, such as:
- Unknown or blank ERP Accounting Software field
- Blank amount fields (or if minimum default value has not changed)
- The next step is blank
- The close date is in the past or doesn’t reflect realistically the most recent date.
- Closing confidence is blank or inaccurate
- Any outdated fields discovered during pipeline review