Aquira2GO Forecaster and Sales Workflow

by Max Davies

Our browser-based Aquira2GO product handles CRM and Sales with real time access to bookings and inventory data. The emphasis is on Sales Management with interactive forecasting, call management and configurable onscreen reporting.

The latest Forecaster features in Aquira2GO are the result of substantial collaborative work with our existing customers. In particular, we went through the entire sales workflow from the perspective of sales managers and concentrated on the weekly “Work in Progress (WIP)” meetings.

We found that these were typically being held using a combination of sales reports from Aquira and separate, manually maintained spreadsheets containing targets and forecasted sales. Needless to say, disparate spreadsheets and disconnected workflows can lead to mistakes and to inefficient reporting at all levels, so we resolved to develop a process that would centralise targets and forecasts alongside real time sales data. We wanted to do this in a way that complements current processes and enables sales managers to discuss forecasts with individual team members and update figures interactively (and instantly). We also wanted to ensure that senior management, sales managers and team members will have real time access to forecast sales information at all times.

As well as providing a one stop shop for sales pipeline information, our new Forecaster grid enables sales managers and team members to review and update progress and forecasts in real time. It also allows users to seek out potential opportunities by looking at historical sales and identifying (for example) seasonal clients who spent money last year but have not yet been approached.

Another aspect of the WIP meetings is coordinating the movements of team members and keeping an eye on the sales pipeline. Aquira2GO empowers sales managers in many ways. For example, through the provision of a sales focused Meeting Planner showing team member appointments, including a google maps* journey planner that a manager can work on together with the team member to maximise efficiency.

Additionally, Aquira2GO shows simple, colour coded tiles for all the team’s clients, each of which shows information such as Account Manager(s), Address, “Last Call:” (with details of date, purpose and outcome) and “Last Contract:” (with start and end dates). This allows team members and managers to check on the status of a client, lead or prospect at a glance.

Aquira2GO is designed to provide your sales teams with on the road access to all the information and tools they need to operate efficiently. It also ensures that sales managers are always up to date with what their team is doing and that senior management can rely on the central Aquira database to provide up to date information from a single source.