FOUNDER’S GUIDE TO B2B SALES THE WEEKLY FORECAST SHEET MICROSOFT EXCEL Tracking the forecast every week should be done via a sheet like this. It’s important to watch how the forecast varies across weeks of the quarter and to hold the CRO accountable for the shape of that curve. It includes a weekly New ARR forecast from Sales, and a weekly Churn forecast from Customer Success. It shows pipeline coverage, the ratio between how much pipeline there is in play and how much more needs to be sold. It shows three different triangulation forecasts that you can compare to the CRO forecast. • Sum of the reps’ forecasts • The pipeline’s stage-weighted expected value (EV) • The pipeline’s forecast-category-weighted EV FORECASTING THE COMING WEEK Always be closing In order to keep a strong focus on closing, some managers ask sellers to forecast on both their quarterly performance and the coming week’s closed deals. This keeps sellers focused on the details of closing transactions and reduces deals stacking up at the end of the quarter. Some managers use this technique only in the final month of each quarter. For large deals, asking for short, written “close plans” can also be useful to ensure sales understands and is managing the process of closing the transaction. SPRING 2023 .27