Few functions within the firm have undergone as much change as the sales organization. Operating in change-intensive environments even before COVID-19, sales forces have had to react to heightened uncertainty in demand, product supply, and customer access since the pandemic's onset. In trying to adapt, many have been hobbled by one thing that hasn't changed much: sales planning. Traditional approaches to sales planning simply do not accommodate the pace of change now experienced by the typical sales leader.
Progressive sales forces are transforming sales planning in ways that speed decision-making and support organizational agility. These new planning approaches integrate data sources, promote efficient cross-functional inputs, pull in new sources of insight, and yield dramatic improvements in forecast accuracy and utility. In this presentation, Liran Edelist reviews a framework for planning transformation and a maturity model that can help sales forces define a path to improving their planning effectiveness.
