When you first enter ASPEC, you see the “Priority” view. This will likely become your favored view for everyday work, for the planning and implementation of your strategy and tactics for winning the sale. The two other menu selections (top right) will open your “Forecast” view and your full “IBO List”.
What you see in the “Priority” view, is every open IBO in your portfolio organized by the “Priority” that ASPEC constantly updates based on your inputs and on the passage of time. (Be careful to check the Filter settings at the top right as you might be viewing a subset of your Opportunities.)
Across the top of the working frame you see the five priority categories plus the “Overdue” designation. These are plain-language descriptions to guide you on what to do next. Clicking each button will take you to that screen with all of the IBO’s within that category listed, ready to sort and scan.
Below that are the control fields and buttons. On the left, you can change the time scale of the Sales Cycle Timeline (the blue/green/red arrow showing the start, finish, and progress of your sales cycle) to show an increment appropriate to your sales cycle length. And you can “Add” or “Delete” IBO’s and even “Clone” an existing one to make data entry quick and easy. And you can “Export” your list to Excel and other programs for analysis, reporting, presentations, etc. On the right, you can change the sort criteria and select ascending or descending order.
Below those controls you have your actual Priority list, color-coded to the current phase of the sales cycle – blue for the early (Probe) phase, green for the middle (Prove) phase, and red for the end (Close) phase – so you instantly know where you are. By periodically scanning this list, in priority order, the user can be certain to focus on the entire portfolio of opportunities, and to keep up with what needs to be done to maximize results.
To expedite this process, the list includes all of the pertinent information. You can open the detailed IBO Form by clicking on the IBO, but this usually won’t be necessary. Right there on the list you have the Sales Cycle Analysis showing the probability that you will win this sale, the very important date the IBO was last reviewed, and the other elements of the sale so you can calibrate your progress.
Sortable criteria are included within each category because ASPEC only looks at the intrinsic value of your IBO when planning your priorities. That is, what are the specific characteristics of this IBO that affect it’s value in my portfolio of many opportunities? We’ve addressed those – the position in the sales cycle, the assurance that the sale will actually happen, and that you will win it.
But there are external factors driving your work, as well, pressures on you that ASPEC simply doesn’t know about. A sale may have some strategic importance, certain products may be being pushed by the company or maybe you just like to view your lists in increasing order by value or by when you last reviewed them. In any case, these are the external factors that you want to be able to consider as you work, so ASPEC provides the mechanism to do that.
Typically, scanning your list will take little time and effort as the normal daily management of your portfolio should keep everything on track and current. The scanning process is a refresher and guide.
It’s appropriate here to remember how ASPEC defines “most important.” It’s not always (although it might be in some cases) the biggest dollar value or the sale that is closing next week. It’s the one that needs your attention in order to effectively do your job and win the highest percentage of sales possible. That high-dollar-value sale? Maybe the customer already uses two of your competition’s systems and fully plans to buy a third. Why spend your time chasing it? Or maybe the sale closing next week is just the opposite – they already own two of yours and are certain to buy a third. Use your time on someone who hasn’t made that decision.
“Breakthrough Needed” and “Leave It Alone” – two sides of the same late-in-the-sales-cycle coin. “Breakthrough Needed” means someone is going to get the sale very soon, and it’s not you. Come up with a strategy quick if you don’t want to lose. “Leave It Alone” identifies that it is also very late in the sales cycle and a decision is about to be made. The problem is, that decision is probability to cancel the sale, and even if it isn’t, you aren’t positioned to win. It’s too little, too late and you might as well leave it alone.[:]