Deal management basically means the coordination of all the deals you and your partners are currently working on. It plays an important part in controlling your forecast and making sure you end up with the right amount of inventory. It can also be challenging to get right.
First things first: deal management means the process of tracking, organizing and optimizing sales opportunities all the way from the initial contact to closing. It contains all the tools, strategies and workflows that sales teams use to oversee the progress they´re making, keep tabs of everything going on with individual deals and maximize conversion rates. Here´s everything you should know about deal management.
What are the key features of successful deal management?
1. A central hub for all things deal-related
However you choose to manage deals, and whatever tool you use, it should be a single-source-of-truth for everything relating to a specific deal. This allows you, your sales teams and channel partners to
- Get real-time deal status updates
- Oversee key deal milestones
- Track all those important documents and agreements included in the deal
2. Crystal-clear deal stages
Having a clearly defined sales process with unique stages can help internal and external sales teams understand where each deal stands, locate bottlenecks, apply the right strategy and make forecasts that are actually based on facts.
3. Deal analytics that show what´s important
Your deal management NEEDS to be data-driven, and keeping track of metrics like conversion rates, average deal size, sales-cycle length and win/loss ratios will give you a good foundation for making the right decisions. Which, in turn, is crucial for growing those sales of yours.
4. Tools that make collaboration a breeze
Successful deal management tends to require a bunch of stakeholders, even more so if channel partners are involved. With that, an effective deal management also includes collaborative features like:
- A seamless handoff between team members, both internal and external.
- Open and transparent communication channels between stakeholders
- The (oftentimes elusive) alignment between sales and other departments
- An easy communication channel between sales teams and prospects.
What is the difference between deal management and distributor deal management?
As mentioned, deal management means the process of tracking, organizing and optimizing sales opportunities all the way from the initial contact to closing – and this applies whether you´re selling through channel partners or internal sales teams. The difference between deal management and distributor deal management is more about what teams you need to oversee, who needs to be involved in the deals made and how to keep everything transparent. It is, for example, rather straight forward to oversee the deals internal sales teams are working in by using a boilerplate CRM, or something similar, but the same thing doesn´t usually apply for partner sales teams that are further removed from you.
They are, quite simply, harder to control, something that underlines the importance of finding deal management tools that can help you maintain an overview of partner sales actions, deals, order values etc. Which is where smart Partner Portals come in: SP_CE, for example, allows your partner to easily add and update their deals directly in their portal, and the data can be seamlessly synced to your CRM.
What are the benefits of using a Deal Management Software
The benefits are plenty and include things like:
- Shorter sales cycles driven by super efficient processes.
- Higher win rates made possible by finding roadblocks fast, identifying the right stakeholders etc.
- Higher deal values through a way better opportunity qualification
- An improved sales forecast that is based on data instead of guesswork.
- A ton of time saved by automating what can be automated and giving sales teams the time they need to do other things – like sell your product(s).
What are some best practices for deal management
Create a process that can truly be scaled
If you create a standardized process that is really aligned with your customers´ buying journey, you can maintain consistency and easily scale sales when new team members or partner organizations come in. If you´re working with channel partners, this is even more important and can be made easier by using a smart Partner Portal.
Invest time in deal qualification
Not all opportunities are the same – and not all prospects are worth pursuing. Successful sales organizations will focus on the deals that matter, something that can be easier to do with a rigid qualification criteria.
Review your pipeline and stay in control
Have consistent deal-review sessions to get an idea of progress, find risks and adjust your forecast accordingly. This is not just crucial for maintaining sales success but also to ensure you have the right amount of inventory at the end of the quarter. And this may actually be more important now than ever – given the volatile market and increased costs going around – and can be especially challenging for companies selling through channel partners. Luckily, SP_CE can help.
Use the technology
It may seem like a strange best practice, but succeeding with deal management does require a step away from manual spreadsheets and gut feelings – and replacing them with real facts, automation, analytics and collaboration through digital means.
What deal management is?
So, when all comes around, deal management is the process of managing the deals you and your channel partners are working on. It sounds simple, but it´s not that easy in practice. Modern CRMs can help your internal sales teams, but said CRMs typically don´t have good partner modules and you may need something more to maintain oversight of partner deals and keep your forecast right. Which is where SP_CE comes in: our Partner Portal can help you manage, enable and engage your partners in one place and get a total overview of all the deals taking place.
Curious to learn how SP_CE can help make your deal management a breeze? Contact us today to see SP_CE in action or check out our Partner Portal FAQ here.
