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Getting Started:

To begin using ASPEC, do the following:

Open your web browser.
Enter the web site address (URL) of ASPEC provided by your ASPEC administrator and press Enter.

Wait for a login screen to appear asking for your user name and password. Enter your login name and password and press Enter or the Log In button (Note: the actual display of the login page may vary from the one shown below).

Finding Your Way Around

ASPEC has been designed to provide an easy way of finding the information that is important depending upon your job function and task at hand. ASPEC has been divided up into different sections or areas that pertain to different tasks or job functions.

Let’s start with a look at the main layout of ASPEC and how to navigate to the different areas of ASPEC.

Navigator Bar and Sections

The navigation bar is located at the top of the ASPEC window and is used to navigate to the different areas of the application. When first opened, ASPEC will begin in the Home area as shown in the following image.

Selecting a heading on the navigation bar will activate that section of ASPEC. The navigation bar contains headings to allow you to navigate to the following areas:

General sections:

Home	Main starting page used to display a variety of information in a single easy to use portal interface
Account	Account area for viewing Accounts
Contact	Contact area for viewing customer information
Report	Section for setting up reports and downloading results

Sales sections:


IBO	IBO areas for managing and viewing all sales opportunities.

Details on the layout and navigation of each of the ASPEC areas are covered in greater depth in later sections of this guide.

Navigation: The number of records that display in the view is limited (up to

25). Users can choose to display between 25,50,75,100, 250 and 500 records in this view. Users can click on the dropdown located at the bottom of the list to change the number of records to display.

Main Menu Bar

The Main Menu bar of ASPEC is located at the top right of the window. This menu bar contains menu options that provide access to a variety of features and tools that may not be accessible elsewhere in the software.

The main items available on the menu bar are:

Online Help Allows users to access context-sensitive online help

Setup Navigates to ASPEC Setup, available to ASPEC Administrators

Logout Allows users to log out from ASPEC

The Quick Menu bar is located on a gray row beneath the navigation bar. The Quick Menu bar contains a list of options that pertain to the currently active area of ASPEC.

The options that appear in the Quick Menu bar will enable/disable as you navigate from one area of the software to another. For example, the options available in the Contact area will be different from the options available in the IBO area.

A detailed description of each Quick Menu option can be found later in this guide.

Account

The primary focus of this section is to view and maintain account information. The Account section has been designed to provide quick and easy access to the key information regarding the companies you deal with. Within the Account section, you can get a snapshot view of how a company is structured, what contacts reside within the account, and any leads, opportunities, or interactions for the Account.

The form

Account Structure

The left pane in the Account area is the Account Structure pane. The Account Structure pane displays the complete account structure, with all corresponding account levels. This pane is an ideal place to view the various sites, facilities, departments and functional units of a company you deal with.

Account Fields

Company: Type the full name of the organization in this field. The company name must be a unique name from any other organizations entered in ASPEC. This is a text field and is mandatory.

Legal Entity:

Address: The Address field contains the street address of the Organization. This is a multi-line text field, with scroll bars for entering multiple street address lines. This field is mandatory. Click on the blue map icon next to the address text box to plot the location of the typed in address. This will launch a new browser window and locate the address via Google Maps.

City: The City field contains the name of the city where the Organization is located. This is a text field and is mandatory.

State: This field contains the name of a state or province in which the

Organization is located. The State field is a drop-down list of states/provinces based on the Country selected. This field is mandatory if states/provinces have been configured in the setup area for the chosen Country.

Zip Code: This field contains the Zip Code or Postal Code of the Organization. This is a text field and is mandatory.

Country: This field contains the country in which the Organization is located. The Country field is a drop-down list of countries configured in the Setup area. The country will be automatically default for a new Organization based on configurations in the Setup area. This field is mandatory.

Communication Section

This section is used to document the organizations phone number details.

Phones: These field contains the main business telephone number of the Organization.

Web Site: The Web Site field displays the web site of the Organization. This field is optional.

E-Mail

Fax

Access Level:

The Access Level field contains a Role Hierarchy that this Organization has been assigned to. Roles are used to assign security access to specific Organizations, as well as for reporting on Organizations within specific Roles.

Select an applicable Role by clicking on the checkbox next to a Role.

Custom Fields Section

The Custom Fields section displays up to 14 custom fields. Custom fields may be used to track everything from an Account’s business number to the number of employees at the location. Custom fields are configured by the system administrator.

Custom fields can be text, date, date/time, time, number, currency or dropdown. Custom fields can be configured to be required or optional.

Attachments: There are five fields for attachments available in this section. An attachment can be entered into this section by clicking on the Browse button and searching a computer’s drives and network for a file.

Screenshot

Account Action Bar

Edit:

Close:

Delete:

Move:

Add Contact:

Widgets

Creating an Account:

The Create Organization Quick Menu option is designed to allow the creation of new account (e.g. Company).

Click the Create button and select Account from the Quick Menu bar.

Fill in all fields that are mandatory (A field is considered mandatory if it is marked with a red bar).
Press Save & Close to close the document or Cancel to close the document without saving changes.

Creating Sub-Account

An existing organization may have multiple Account levels assigned to it (sub-ordinate levels under an organization are known as Account). In addition each Account level may have sub-accounts assigned to it

To create a new Account level, follow the steps below.

The Account listview

Users can also choose to view Organization details in an Account list format. Users can click on this option located at the top of the accounts view. This will display all Organizations in a list format and also allows users to sort and search for specific organizations using the search bar.

Create: Click “Create” to create a new record
Delete: Delete accounts by selecting the account and clicking “Delete”
Merge: Start searching by typing in the box
Export: Sort your search results

Show Sub-Accounts

Quick Search

To locate an Account within the Account selection pane do the following:

Finding a Company by Name

Companies can be searched by beginning to type the name of the company in the Organization search field. The list of accounts will then display only those companies in the list that begin with the same letters or name typed into the search field. The list of company names matching the search string you type in will display in a drop down list. The list will update as you type more specific information about the company name. (E.g. typing ‘Ac’ will list companies that start with the letters ‘Ac’, typing ‘Acme’ will list companies whose name starts with Acme). Users must type in the first two letters of the account name in order for the search list to populate matching account names.

Sorting

Merging Accounts

See Appendix

Moving Accounts

See Appendix

Contact

The primary use of the contact section is to locate and view information regarding contacts. Contact information is available throughout ASPEC, but the Contact section is specifically designed for locating contacts.

The Contact page

Company: This field contains the name of the organization and any account level that the contact works for. A contact may be moved to a new organization or account level by choosing a new Organization or Account Level.

Salutation: This drop-down field has values with terms to address the contact. This list is customizable and is configured by the system administrator. The field may be configured as not available by the system administrator.

First Name: This text field contains the first name of the contact. This field is mandatory.

Last Name: This text field contains the last name of the contact. This field is mandatory.

Unsubscribe?: Placing a check mark in this field enables the exclusion of Event email blasts.

Address: The main physical or mailing street address of the contact is entered in this field. When first created, the contact’s address will default to the address of the account level or organization that this contact works for. The default value may be edited. Users can click on the blue map icon next to the address field to launch the address in Google Maps. This field is mandatory.

City: The main physical or mailing city of the contact. When first created, the contact’s city will default to the city of the account level or organization that this contact works for. The default value may be edited. This field is mandatory.

State: The main physical or mailing state/province of the contact. When first created, the contact’s state/province will default to the province of the account level or organization that this contact works for. The default value may be edited. The available list of States/Provinces depends upon the Country selected and may be configured by the system administrator. This field is mandatory if states/provinces are assigned to the selected Country.

Zip/Post Code: The main physical or mailing zip code/postal code of the contact. When first created, the contact’s zip/postal code will default to the zip/postal code of the account level or organization that this contact works for. The default value may be edited. This field is mandatory.

Country: The main physical or mailing country of the contact. When first created, the contact’s country will default to the country of the account level

Communication & Social Network Section

The communication and social network section tracks the contacts phone number details and social media accounts.

Phones: The main business phone number of the contact. The default value for this field is taken from the Organization or Account Level that this contact works for when the contact is first created. The number may be manually edited.

Email: This field contains the contact’s email address (e.g.

jsmith@acme.com).

Website: This field contains the name of the company’s website. The website is retrieved from the Organization or Account Level selected in the Company field. The website field is not editable from here.

Account Pane

This left pane on the contact form displays the Organization and Account that the contact is tied to.

Custom Fields Section

The Custom Fields section displays up to 14 custom fields. Custom fields may be used to track everything from a Contact’s birthday to their hobbies. Custom fields are configured by the system administrator.

Custom fields can be text, date, date/time, time, number, currency or dropdown. Custom fields can be configured to be required or optional.

Contact Action Bar

Edit:

Close:

Delete:

Move:

Add IBO:

Add Interaction:

Widgets

Creating a Contact

The Create – Contact button allows for the addition of contacts to an existing Account.

1.
Select the Create – Contact button from the Quick Menu bar in Account listview, Account form.

2.
A new page will appear displaying the available contact fields.

3.
Select an Account by typing in first characters in Account pane. This will populate a new window prompting the user to select an existing Account or Sub-Account

Fill in all fields that are mandatory (A field is considered mandatory if it has a red bar).
Click Save & Close to save the record.

Possible Match

ASPEC can automatically warn a user during the creation process if a duplicate Contact is being created. A Possible Match message will appear informing the user that a possible duplicate already exists.

For Contacts, the Possible Match Pop-up works with matching the email addresses, First Name and Last Name fields. This will suggest possible duplicate contacts existing under the same organization.

See the Contact Fields section later in this manual for details on each of the sections and fields available on the Contact form.

Moving a Contact

See Appendix A

Contact Listview

The contacts in the page can be sorted by First Name, Last Name and Organization. The page displays contact information in a variety of panes.

Sort by: The entire list of contacts can be sorted in three ways: First Name, Last Name and Organization. Once a sort has been selected, users can begin typing in the criteria in the search bar.

IBO

The IBO Section is designed to display information regarding sales opportunities (Identified Business Opportunities). Information regarding Identified Business Opportunities (IBOs) can be found throughout ASPEC, however this section has been specifically designed for a person to quickly review their IBOs and related interactions.

The top half of the IBO view is devoted to viewing various lists of Identified Business Opportunities (IBOs). The IBOs view can display opportunities grouped by Priority, Forecast, and All Opportunities. Although IBOs can be located throughout the entire product, this pane has been designed specifically for a person to work all their IBO’s at the same time.

IBOs on this page can be grouped/navigated using one of three different views: Sales Cycle Planner, Sales Forecast, or Flat list. Depending which view is chosen, the pane will display different columns and options.

To choose the view format to display in the IBOs view, select an option from view links located underneath the IBO tab. View columns and data that should appear in each pane can be configured by your system administrator.

About Opportunity Management..

Assigning Probability to an IBO – SalesWays Method

Every opportunity is unique; no two opportunities involve the same combination of products, customers or time constraints. After careful consideration, it can be determined that some opportunities are more significant than others. The challenge is determining exactly how important each opportunity is.

Sales representatives evaluate opportunities by considering factors such as total value of the opportunity, amount of work already completed and progress in the sales cycle. However, it’s easy to overlook the most important factor of all—probability.

Probability must be considered when setting priorities because factors like total price and amount of work completed are irrelevant if the opportunity is out of reach to begin with. Because probability counts for so much, considerable emphasis should be placed on it. With information provided by the user, every opportunity is assigned a probability ranking. As the opportunity moves through the sales cycle, the user is expected to update the ranking to reflect new realities. Probability rank is used to prioritize opportunities, provide the salesperson with realistic forecasting totals and generate intelligent feedback on how to win the sale.

Calculating Probability

There are many possible ways to arrive at a probability ranking for an opportunity. The challenge is implementing a universal method that can be used effectively.

Some software applications ask the sales representative to randomly assign a percentage from zero to one hundred. Without explicit guidelines, these percentages are far from accurate. If everyone on the sales team has a different formula, the end result is inconsistent data and a misleading forecast.

ASPEC minimizes the guesswork and standardizes the way probability is assigned. Each time a lead is qualified or an opportunity reviewed, the user is given a chance to input or revise information in the IBO Essentials section of the Opportunity form. To determine probability, the following questions prompt a response with ranks of High, Medium, or Low:

Will it happen?
Will we get it?

Responses to each question (High, Medium, or Low) are applied to a grid called the “Probability Matrix” (shown below). There are nine boxes, or “points,” on the matrix, one for every possible combination of rankings. The nine points are known as the “Probability Index.”

Each point on the “Probability Index” is given a probability percentage. The grid breaks down as follows:

Prioritizing Opportunities

The probability rankings you generate help ASPEC prioritize your opportunities. Along with probability, ASPEC also considers another essential aspect of the sale—time. This is because the sales representative’s answers to “Will we get it?” and “Will it happen?” will mean something different depending on the phase of sales cycle they are in.

In general, the probability ranking will have more significance as the sales cycle nears its conclusion, and this is true for a number of reasons. Firstly, since the close of the sales cycle is when the customer will or will not be buying, it stands to reason that the probability assessed at that time will give a better indicator of whether or not the sale will happen.

Secondly, the probability ranking will be more reliable as the sales cycle nears completion because the longer the opportunity persists, the more can be learned about the sale. This means that more will be known about the sale in the Close phase than in the Probe phase. Because there is less time to attempt new strategies in the Close phase (unlike the Probe phase which has come and gone), the probability ranking assigned later in the sales cycle is more likely to hold water, and it is the one that the sales representative will have to sink or swim with.

The Relationship Between Probability and Sales Cycle Phase

The way probability ranking is interpreted will change depending on the sales cycle phase. This means the same point on the “Probability Index” in one phase will mean something very different in another phase.

Consider this scenario: In the Probe phase of the sales cycle, the customer has expressed that funding would not yet be available. Even if funding materialized, the customer is favoring the competition. The rank assigned to “Will it happen?” and “Will we get it?” will be “Low” for both.

In the Probe phase, when there’s still plenty of time before the customer makes a decision, a Low/Low ranking would be discouraging, but not worth abandoning the sale altogether. However, in the Close phase, when the opportunity is nearing the end of the sales cycle, the same ranking would indicate the opportunity is almost definitely lost.

Here is another example: An opportunity is so promising that it has been given a High/High ranking. The probability of winning this sale is high, so the opportunity requires less attention in the Probe phase. Instead, focus on the opportunities that require more work. The High/High ranked opportunity will later become a top priority in the Close phase, when it’s time to get the deal done.

Six Priority Levels

ASPEC helps salespeople manage their time by prioritizing opportunities. Each opportunity is assigned one of six priority levels, as shown below. The priority assigned is based on the opportunity’s probability ranking and sales cycle phase. Priority lists are displayed in various Sales Cycle Planner views.

The first priority is the “Overdue” category. In this case, the customer has passed the date expected in the sales cycle and the sale is at risk of slipping away. Immediate attention is necessary.

The next most important category is “Review First.” These represent the best prospects, as well as opportunities that are likely to happen but still require a lot of selling. “Review Second” opportunities are less pressing than “Review First,” but still a fairly high priority. “Review Third” opportunities are typically out of reach or already likely to be won if the customer decides to buy.

ASPEC puts up a red flag for opportunities in trouble. Opportunities that are given a “Break through Needed” priority status require a bold strategy in order to get the customer’s attention, or get them more enthusiastic about buying. In these cases, a sale is likely to happen, but it’s also likely that the competition will get it.

If a break through cannot be achieved, an opportunity might be given a “Leave it Alone” ranking. “Leave it Alone” opportunities are of the lowest priority. Little or no time should be spent on these opportunities because the chances of winning the sale are extremely low.

Priority levels are determined by both the probability ranking and the sales cycle phase. Consider this example: An opportunity ranked as “Low” for both “Will it happen?” and “Will we get it” would be a “Review Second” priority while in the Probe phase, but would shift to “Leave it Alone” if no improvements were made by the Close phase.

Similarly, an opportunity ranked High/High would be a “Review Second” priority in the Probe phase, but would improve to a “Review First” priority in the Close phase, when the customer’s decision is imminent.

Sales Advisor

The Sales Advisor is one of the ways ASPEC helps salespeople sell more. As opportunities are being worked on, Sales Advisor provides feedback on how well a salesperson is doing and offers strategic advice for improvement. To do this, simply submit information about the progress of an opportunity— Sales Advisor does the rest.

The amount of information required by Sales Advisor depends on the

‘configuration’ selected. ASPEC comes equipped with both Sales Advisor ‘Pro’ and Sales Advisor ‘Expert’. A set configuration for specific product groups and/or salespeople can be chosen during the installation procedure.

Sales Advisor Pro

Sales Advisor Pro helps salespeople assess probability, prioritize opportunities, and plan the next move strategically. The only information required by Sales Advisor Pro is the salesperson’s answers to two simple questions about sales probability, and the expected date of purchase for the opportunity. By considering sales probability and sales cycle phase, the computer is able to ‘understand’ the situation and provide basic coaching on what to do next.

Sales Advisor Pro can help users manage time more effectively by assigning a priority level to each opportunity. This way, opportunities can be worked on in order of importance. Sales Advisor calculates priority in a unique way. Since the probability assigned will mean something different depending on where the opportunity is in the sales cycle, Sales Advisor takes both factors into consideration when determining priority levels.

Sales Advisor Expert

Sales Advisor Expert provides a more thorough analysis of the opportunity than Advisor Pro by employing Intelligent Response technology. Advisor Expert demonstrates its intelligence by comparing current progress on each opportunity with an ideal model of how the sale should unfold, based on a schedule of customer interactions that the Sales Manager enters during installation. As the sales cycle progresses, Advisor Expert monitors user progress and detects “gaps” between the real and ideal situations, keeping the user on target to make the sale.

Another way Advisor Expert can be used for support is by analyzing information you provide about the sales ‘environment’. Factors such as competitive pressure, pricing, and relationship with decision-makers are examined and a probability ranking for the opportunity is assigned. This ranking is displayed alongside a probability estimate that the user assigns. Comparing these two probability rankings should reveal whether a salesperson’s ‘gut feeling’ about the sale is accurate, or whether a reevaluation of the approach is necessary.

The IBO page

There are up to nine separate areas in the IBO form depending on the type of IBO. These sections are: IBO Essentials, Sales Environment, General Information, Team, Lead Information, Status, Product Table, Contact and Custom Fields.

IBO Essentials Section

The IBO Essentials section displays the Sales Cycle Dashboard which includes a variety of feedback from the Sales Advisor as well as the three crucial pieces of information of “Will It Happen?”, “Will We Get It?” and “When Will It Happen?” The IBO Essentials section contains the key summary of the opportunity and how the sale is progressing.

Sales Cycle Dashboard

The Sales Cycle Dashboard displays a visual report of the current status of the opportunity. The Sales Cycle Dashboard only displays if the “SalesWays” option is selected in ASPEC setup as the IBO Management option. The specific display of the Sales Cycle Dashboard will depend upon whether the IBO is set to use Sales Advisor Pro or Sales Advisor Expert.

IBO Number: The unique number assigned to the IBO. This is automatically assigned when the IBO was first saved.

Date Qualified: The date that the Lead was converted into an IBO (e.g. the creation date of the IBO). This is automatically assigned when the Lead was qualified into an IBO.

Total Value: The value of the IBO. This is computed based on the prices entered in the Products section.

WIH: Will It Happen?; a question that tests the salesperson’s opinion on whether a sales opportunity will go through to completion. The answer to this question can be one of three choices: High, Medium, or Low. It is one of the three IBO Essentials. This field is required.

WWGI: Will We Get It?; a question that tests the salesperson’s opinion on their chances of winning the sale over the competition. The answer to this question can be one of three choices: High, Medium, or Low. It is one of the three IBO Essentials. This field is required.

WWIH?: When Will It Happen?; a question that tests the salesperson’s best estimation of when the customer will finally decide which vendor will receive their business and awards an order. It is one of the three IBO Essentials. This field is required.

Description: Contains summary information about the Lead/IBO. This information is displayed in panes throughout the product.

Committed: Whether or not the total value of this opportunity should be displayed in the Binary forecast field in the Sales Forecast view. Inserting a check mark next to this field allows an account manager to generate a committed forecast made up of only those opportunities that they feel confident will be won on the date specified.

Probability Matrix: A grid of three-by-three that is constructed from the answers to the questions “Will It happen?” (High, Medium, Low) and “Will We Get It?” (High, Medium, Low). The Probability Matrix will display differently depending upon whether Sales Advisor Pro or Sales Advisor Expert is selected for the current IBO.

Sales Cycle Graph: Graphically represents the sales cycle. The sales cycle can be measured in units of time and is the lifespan of the sales opportunity. It displays where the opportunity is “today” in relation to the three phases— Probe, Prove, and Close.

Priority: A measure of its importance with respect to other opportunities that need to be worked. This is automatically calculated based on the IBO Essentials. See the section Prioritizing Opportunities for details on how Priority is generated.

Depending upon whether Sales Advisor Pro or Sales Advisor Expert is being used for the current IBO, up to two priorities may be displayed.

Probability: An expression of the chance that a sale will be won. It is expressed as a numerical percentage. See the section Calculating Probability for details on how Probability is calculated.

Depending upon whether Sales Advisor Pro or Sales Advisor Expert is being used for the current IBO, up to two probabilities may be displayed.

Figure: Probability Using Advisor Pro

Sales Advisor Feedback: Displays feedback regarding the status of the sale and items to be aware of. This is generated automatically based on input from the account manager.

Depending upon whether Sales Advisor Pro or Sales Advisor Expert is enabled for the current IBO, the level of feedback will vary.

Fundamental Selling Skills: Displays feedback as to the amount of relative effort that should be spent on each of the three fundamental selling skills of Probing, Proving, and Closing.

Probing: The fundamental skill of probing is the ability of the salesperson to find out everything about the customer’s requirements and to discover all the issues that are behind their decision to purchase a product or service.

Proving: The fundamental skill of proving is the ability of the salesperson to provide evidence to the customer to convince them that the solution they offer is the best.

Closing: The fundamental skill of closing is the ability of the salesperson to uncover any barriers that prevent the customer from placing an order, and to overcome those barriers such that a decision can be made.

Sales Environment Section

The Sales Environment Section, visible after clicking ‘Expert’ button, is a tool for gathering and recording information about the strategic aspects of a sales situation. The Sales Environment section displays for any IBO that has enabled Sales Advisor Expert and can be used to record details such as the competition, key decision makers, budget, etc. Once the IBO is converted to Sales Advisor Expert, scroll to the bottom of the page to view the Sales Environment Section.

The information gathered in the sales environment area can be used by Sales Advisor Expert to help formulate a sales strategy using Intelligent Response. This response is the computer’s best effort, based on established rules of selling, to provide assistance in strategizing this sale. It will display its own Priority value and Probability against your gut feel values. The user can then evaluate why the computer thinks differently and make changes to an assessment of the sales environment as necessary.

Probe Questions

As part of the Probing process, the Account Manager learns a variety of information regarding the customer, their requirements, and the competition. This information can be recorded in the Probe tab of the Sales Environment section.

The following table describes the various questions found on the Probe tab.

Question	Meaning
To what degree have you established the customer’s need for this product/service?	This question asks to what degree, as established by the user, the customer needs the product/service. All aspects that determine the need must be considered when answering this question.
What is the customer’s level of need for this product/service?	This question is different from the first because it asks what the user’s perception of the customer’s level of need for the product/service is.
To what degree does your solution match the customer’s need?	This question asks for the user’s opinion of where the product/service ranks in terms of satisfying the customer’s needs.
How does your pricing strategy match the customer’s budget?	This question inquires how the user’s pricing strategies compares with the customer’s budget.
What are the chances that the customer will receive the money needed for this purchase?	This question is asking for the user’s opinion on the customer’s budget for this purchase.
How familiar are you and your company with the customer’s organization?	This question asks the user to rate both the company’s and the user’s individual understanding of the customer’s organization.
What is the degree of competitive pressure in this sales opportunity?	This question asks the user to rate how strong a position the competition holds on this sale.
Who are the Competitors?	This question allows the user to enter the names of various competitors on this sale. Multiple competitors can be entered for any given sale.

Decision Makers

The decision makers’ area allows the user to enter the names of the three main decision makers who are affecting the outcome of this sale.

The three decision makers are classified as one of three types (Economic, Technical, and User).

Economic Decision Maker: The person who handles the financial considerations of the business.

Technical Decision Maker: The person who is making a decision on an opportunity from a technical standpoint.

User Decision Maker: The person who is making a decision based on whether the product/service meets the end user criteria.

Influence: The Influence drop-down field allows the user to rate the influence of each decision maker in the chance of acquiring the business.

Important: Select the category that best describes what feature or aspect of the product or service is most important to this decision maker (e.g. Price, Performance, Delivery, Specifications, Ease of Use, etc.).

Prove Questions

The Prove tab of the Sales Environment screen prompts the user for information related to proving skills. The information on the Prove tab provides the user with a chance to monitor their relationship with each decision maker and the degree of success in proving specific functionality to them.

Relationship: The relationship with each decision maker can be ranked by selecting Good, OK, or Bad from the drop-down box.

Degree of Proof: Select the degree of proof provided to each decision maker by highlighting each marker between the spectrums of “Not Convinced” to “Convinced.”

Close Questions

The Close tab of the Sales Environment screen prompts the user for information related to closing skills. The information on the Close tab allows the user to monitor closing effort and closing strategies regarding the current sale.

The Close tab also contains a running history of closing activities that can be used to review previous closing strategies.

Have your attempted a trial close?: The Trial Close question asks whether or not the user has attempted to close the sale. The default answer is No, indicating that a trial close has not been attempted. If the answer is changed to Yes, another set of questions will appear to record the outcome of the trial close.

Has the customer made a decision?: The Decided question appears if the answer Yes was given to Trial Close. This question asks whether the customer has made a purchasing decision. The default answer is No, indicating that the customer is still in the process of deciding. In the case where the customer has still not made their decision, additional fields are presented to record the barriers to closing, potential closing strategies and whether or not the strategy has been put into place.

Did you win or lose this IBO?: This field allows the user to record the outcome of the customer’s decision and close the sales opportunity. The two possible answers for the Result field are “Won” and “Lost.” If the customer has made their decision and opted to purchase from the competition, then the user selects Lost as the result. If the customer has made the decision to purchase from the user, then Won is selected. In either case, the sales opportunity will be closed and marked as either “Won” or “Lost” depending upon the option selected. This field only displays when Yes is selected for the “Has the customer made a decision” field.

Date Won/Lost: This field allows the user to record the date that the opportunity was either won or lost. The Date field only appears when the opportunity has been either won or lost. Enter the date that the opportunity was won or lost by tapping once on the dotted rectangle to the right of the Date field. This field only displays when “Won” or “Lost” is chosen in the “Did you win or lose this IBO” field.

Reasons?: This field allows the user to enter the reason(s) why the sale was won or lost. This field only displays when the opportunity has been either won or lost. Enter the reasons for winning or losing by selecting them from the list. Hold down the CTRL key to select more than one reason.

Their Price: In cases where the IBO was lost, the competitor’s winning price can be entered in this field. This field only displays when the opportunity has been lost.

What are the barriers to close:
This field allows the user to record any barriers that affect the ability to close the sale favorably. The Barriers field appears only in cases where the customer has not yet made a purchasing decision.

What is your strategy to overcome barriers:
This field allows the user to keep a record of strategies for overcoming any identified barriers and winning the sale. The Strategy field appears only in cases where the customer has not yet made a purchasing decision.

Have you enacted your strategy:
The final question appears only when the customer has not yet made a decision, and asks whether or not the user’s strategy has been enacted. The default answer to the Enacted field is No meaning that the strategy has not yet been implemented.

In the case where the strategy has not been enacted, leave the answer as No. This will keep the Barriers and Strategy information available from the Close screen for later reference or further refinement.

In the case where the strategy has been enacted, change the answer to Yes. Choosing Yes will save the trial close information to the Close History and reset the Close screen for the next trial close.

Team Section

The team section displays the names of the users who are assigned responsibility and read/edit rights to the IBO.

Access Level: This is the Role(s) the IBO Owner belongs to. Users can select from various configured sales territories setup by the ASPEC administrator.

Owner: The “owner” (Account Manager or salesperson) or individual responsible for the lead can be selected from a list using the magnifying glass icon. The list of available account managers is taken from the list of account managers assigned to the parent organization/account of this Lead. If a name is not available in the lookup list, then it must first be added to the Organization/Account before it can be selected on the Lead.

Team: The technical manager (telemarketer), Inside Sales, Sales Engineers or individuals who assists the Account Manager with technical follow-ups, qualification and other support duties can be selected from a list using the magnifying glass icon.

Product Section

The product section displays information about the products and pricing associated with the current IBO.

Product Group: A general category of products can be selected from this drop-down field.

Product: A specific product from the general category stated in the Product Group field can be selected from this drop-down field.

Quantity: A numeric quantity can be entered into this field.

Unit Price: A price will be defaulted in this field once a product has been selected. Overwrite the default by entering another price for the individual product.

Ext. Price: The Qty multiplied by the Unit Price.

Add Button: The green plus icon in the Product area is used to enter and update products on the IBO. To add a new product to the list, click on the green plus icon and enter the information in the fields provided and select the OK button.

Edit Button: To modify an existing product on the IBO, click on the blue pen icon to open up the product that needs to be changed. Make any modifications required to the fields provided, and select the OK button.

Delete Button: To delete an existing product on the IBO, click on the red minus icon.

Status Section

The Status section is used to record information about the status of the IBO.

Status: Drop-down field containing the various status options for an IBO. Possible values are Open, Won, Lost, Cancelled. Default status of a new IBO is Open. Select Cancelled when the sale did not complete and was not awarded to either you or a competitor. Select Won when the sale was awarded to you. Select Lost when the sale was awarded to a competitor.

Date: Select the date that the decision was made. Required in cases where status is not Open.

Our Price: Displays the total value of the opportunity based on the information entered in the Product section.

Winning Bidder: The name of the winning bidder, in cases where the opportunity is Lost.

Their Price: The price offered by the winning bidder in cases where the opportunity is Lost

Difference: The difference between our price and the winning bidder’s price in cases where the opportunity is Lost.

Reasons: Multi select field for choosing the reasons why the sale was Won, Lost, or Cancelled. This field is not displayed when the Status is Open. To choose more than one Reason in the list, hold down the CTRL key while selecting options. The options in this field will change depending upon the Status selected. This field is required when Status is not Open.

Detail: Used to record any notes about the Reason selected. Useful for entering additional reasons when a generic Reason such as Other is selected. This is an optional field.

Comments: Type in field for entering any additional notes about the final status of the sale. This is an optional field.

Contact Section

The contact section displays the contact information of the contact that the IBO belongs to and allows the IBO to be linked to a different contact.

Related Contacts: Displays the other contacts who are involved with this IBO. This could be other individuals from the customer side or other users who are from a different company (i.e.: third party contractor). To add additional linked contacts, users type in the contact, company name or email, and then select from the available list. Selecting Add New Contact from the list displays a dialog for entering a new Contact record that will automatically be linked to the selected IBO.

Custom Fields Section

The Custom Fields section displays custom fields. Custom fields may be used to track everything from a customer’s favorite restaurants to their current credit rating. Custom fields are configured by the system administrator.

Custom fields can be text, date, date/time, time, number, currency or dropdown. Custom fields can be configured to be required or optional.

IBO Action Bar

Edit:

Close:

Delete:

Clone:

Add Interaction:

Widgets

Creating an IBO

The Create button on the Quick Menu bar is designed to allow the creation of new Leads/IBOs for an existing Contact. Before creating a new lead, it is necessary to first highlight an existing contact, and then select the Create- IBO from the Quick Menu option.

Highlight an existing contact (See the Sales section for details on locating and highlighting a contact).
Select the Create button from the Quick Menu bar, then select IBO.
Fill in all fields that are mandatory (A field is considered mandatory if it has red asterisk).
Press Save & Close to close the document, click on Save & Reopen to save the document and re-open the form. Click on Cancel to close the document without saving changes.

See the IBO Fields section below for details on each of the sections and fields available on the IBO form.

Forecasting an IBO

Any Open IBO will automatically appear in your sales forecast.

An IBO may also be added to what is described as the “Binary Forecast” by placing a check mark next to the ‘Committed’ checkbox on the IBO form.

Placing a check mark next to this field allows an account manager to generate a committed forecast made up of only those opportunities that they feel confident will be won on the date specified.

An open IBO can be added to the Binary Forecast by selecting the Edit button at the top of the form, making a change to the Forecast field on the form, and selecting Save & Close.

Select the Edit button at the top of the IBO form.
Modify the ‘Committed’ checkbox on the form
Press Save & Close to close the document or Cancel to close the document without saving changes.

The IBO listviews

Sales Cycle Planner Listview

The Sales Cycle Planner view is selected by choosing Sales Cycle Planner in the IBO section. Once selected, the following view will appear:

Opportunities in this view are ranked by priority and are displayed together. The Sales Cycle Planner view makes it easy to keep track of which opportunities need immediate attention, which need basic maintenance, and which can be left for later or discarded altogether.

Sales Cycle Planner Priorities: The Sales Cycle Planner Priority tabs are used to control which IBOs appear in the view. The available options are Overdue, Review First, Review Second, Review Third, Break Through Needed, and Leave It Alone.

Priority:	Description:
Overdue	Lists Open status IBOs that have a When Will It Happen date in the past. Opportunities in this list need to be reviewed to determine if they need to revise their When Will It Happen date.
Review First	Lists Open status IBOs that have a priority of 1. Opportunities in this list should be reviewed first.
Review Second	Lists Open status IBOs that have a priority of 2. Opportunities in this list should be reviewed second.
Review Third	Lists Open status IBOs that have a priority of 3.
	Opportunities in this list should be reviewed third.
Break Through Needed	Lists Open status IBOs that have a priority of Break Through Needed. Opportunities in this list are in jeopardy of being lost to the competition and require a break through strategy.
Leave It Alone	Lists Open status IBOs that have a priority of Leave It Alone. Opportunities in this list appear to be lost causes and should be reviewed after all others.

See the Prioritizing Opportunities section later in this guide for a further explanation of how opportunities are prioritized.

Bar Scale Drop Down: The Bar Scale drop down field allows the user to change the scale of the Sales Cycle duration graph for all IBOs being displayed. The scale can be set by typing in a number and selecting between the following options: Day, Week, Month, Year. Once this is has been selected the Sales Cycle Bar for all opportunities will change automatically.

Sort By: The sort by drop allows the filtering of the IBOs in the Sales Cycle Planner view by the When Will It Happen date, Date Qualified, Last Review date, Company, Probability and Total Price. Once a sorting option is selected, the IBO pane below will automatically reflect your new sort.

Sales Forecast Listview

The Sales Forecast view is selectable by clicking on Sales Forecast link located at the top of the page. IBOs in the Sales Forecast view can be displayed by Year, by Quarter, by Month and by the Forecast type: Unweighted Auto Weighted, and Committed and Won.

Once the sales forecast data has appeared in the graph, users can view corresponding IBOs in the listview below, grouped by a Month, Quarter, Year or as a flat list.

Total Value: The total value in the graph displays the total value of the IBOs listed. The value represents the total potential value of the opportunities listed.

Weighted: The weighted value in the graph displays the value of the IBO factored by the probability of the IBO being won. The value represents a forecast based on the combined value and probability of all IBOs listed. See the Assigning Probability to an IBO for more details on how probability is assigned and calculated.

Committed: The binary value in the graph displays the total value of any IBOs that have been flagged by the account manager as being certain to be won. Account managers can add a given opportunity to their forecast by opening the IBO and selecting inserting a check mark next to ‘Add to Binary Forecast’. See the IBO Fields section later in this guide for details on enabling or disabling the Forecast field. The value in the binary field represents a Committed forecast amount.

Sort By: The sort by drop allows the filtering of the IBOs in the Sales Forecast view by the When Will It Happen date, Date Qualified, Last Review date, Company, Probability and Total Price. Once a sorting option is selected, the IBO pane below will automatically reflect your new sort.

All IBOs Listview

The Flat List view displays a list of all opportunities regardless of their status. This view can be selected by click on the Flat List link located at the top of the IBO tab view. Once selected, the following appear:

This view displays all IBOs, regardless of their status. Its primary purpose is for the easy searching of any IBO recorded in ASPEC.

Sort by: Opportunities in this view are sorted by what is chosen in the Sort By drop down selection. The available options in the Sort by field are IBO#, When Will It Happen, Date Qualified, Last Review, Product Group, Company, Probability, Status and Total Price.

Interactions

Interactions between salespeople and contacts vary widely in scope and significance. For this reason, ASPEC distinguishes between Critical, NonEssential, and Relationship Interactions.

Opportunity-focused Interactions

An Opportunity-focused Interaction
is one that advances the sales representative’s knowledge of the sale. Such Interactions provide vital information about what the contact is thinking and feeling, giving the user and ASPEC important cues on how to proceed with the opportunity.

Most Opportunity-focused happen face-to-face, sometimes in the form of a meeting or presentation. However, indirect methods of communication can also be considered critical interactions. For example, having a phone conversation with a contact about a recent demonstration, or receiving an email from a customer requesting a sales proposal would both qualify as Opportunity-focused Interactions.

The most important thing to consider when judging if an Interaction is Opportunity-focused, is whether or not the interaction had an impact on the sales opportunity (positive or negative) or informed the salesperson as to the status of the opportunity.

A Opportunity-focused Interaction should be entered whenever something new is disclosed, even if the news isn’t positive. Negative responses can be just as critical as positive ones.

Relationship Interactions

Relationship Interactions are interactions where the Sales Representative’s knowledge of the sale is not advanced, even though an effort has been made to reach out to the contact/customer.

These types of interactions help tell the whole “story” about each contact. Keeping track of Relationship Interactions such as telephone calls, lunch meetings, or emails sent is crucial when it comes time to review a contact relationship.

A Relationship-focused Interaction has a primary objective of measuring, nourishing, and building a relationship with the customer (e.g. a birthday email).

The form

This is: Focus of the Interaction. If this is an Opportunity-focused Interaction,

select the corresponding Open IBO from a dropdown list.

Type: Standard interactions can be interactions such as a Phone Call, Meeting or some other customized interaction name (e.g. Invitation, Seminar, etc.).

Date: Keeps a record of interaction date. The current date will default in this field. Type the date or click on the adjoining icon to browse a graphical calendar. The date selected will be entered into the field.

Summary: The brief description of the results of the interaction.

Full Description

The additional information section contains extra information about the Interaction.

Purpose/Result: The purpose/result field contains the end result of the reminder and is what will appear in the reminder portlet on the user’s home page. Users can select from predefined items in the purpose/result field or click on the blue cursor icon which enables the field to turn into a text box. Users can then type in their own purpose/result.

Attachments: An attachment can be entered into this level by dragging and droppoing or clicking on ‘Select files..’

Custom Fields Section

The Custom Fields section displays custom fields. Custom fields may be used to track everything from the number of hours spent on the interaction, to a customer reference number for the interaction. Custom fields are configured by the system administrator.

Custom fields can be text, date, date/time, time, number, currency or dropdown. Custom fields can be configured to be required or optional.

Create Interaction

The Add Interaction button on Contact and IBO forms allows for the creation of new Relationship-based or Opportunity-focused Interaction.

Open a Contact or an IBO
Press the Add Interaction button on the Quick Menu bar.
Select the appropriate interaction focus and type from the drop down list.
Fill in all fields that are required. Depending on the interaction, the amount of pages and the information that is stored will differ.
Press Save & Close to save and close the new Interaction.

Types of interactions (Phone Call, Meeting etc.) are configured by the system administrator.

Searching

The Search feature in ASPEC allows to quickly locate a variety of records such as Accounts, Contacts, IBOs, and Interactions that meet selected criteria.

Global Search is available throughout ASPEC and is accessed from the top right of the ASPEC window.

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Logging in

To begin using ASPEC, do the following:

Open your web browser.
Enter the web site address (URL) of ASPEC provided by your ASPEC administrator and press Enter.

Wait for a login screen to appear asking for your user name and password. Enter your login name and password and press Login button (Note: the actual display of the login page may vary from the one shown below).

Fig 1: Login dialog

Finding your way around

ASPEC track many record types – Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities (IBOs = Indentified Business Opportunities), Interactions and more.

It is designed to provide an easy way of finding the information that is important depending upon your job function and task at hand. ASPEC is divided up into different sections or areas that pertain to different tasks or job functions.

The main navigation bar is located at the top of the ASPEC window and is used to navigate to the different areas of the application. When first opened, ASPEC will begin in the Home area as shown in the following image.

Fig 2: Home page

Let’s start with a look at the main layout of ASPEC and how to navigate to the different areas of ASPEC

The top of the main navigation is divided into a Home Page (1), General Section (2), module selector (3) and the tabs (4) for the current module – Sales, Marketing or Service.

The General Section is always available, regardless of the current module. It contains the Home tab, Account, Contact, Calendar and Reports. All editions of ASPEC contain a Sales module, denoted by an orange hue. Sales tabs include IBOs by Priority, Forecast and as a flat list (All IBOs).

Depending on the edition of ASPEC, you may see more sections in addition to the Sales section. Marketing section lists Campaigns, Collections, Leads and Interactions. Service displays Devices, Requests and Orders. Depending on your setting, the latter two might be included in the Sales section.

The top right corner contains links to navigate to the Setup, to log out and to access Online Help.

Fig 2: links to access Setup and to log out

The Quick Menu bar is located on a gray row beneath the navigation bar. The Quick Menu bar contains a list of options that pertain to the currently active area of ASPEC.

Fig 3: Quick Menu

The options that appear in the Quick Menu bar will enable/disable depending on the available options. For example, the options available in the Contact area will be different from the options available in the IBO area.

Each listview contains a Create button in the Quick Menu. Use this button to create new records like Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities (IBOs). New records inherit some information if they are selected from a record that is selected in a listview or opened for reading. For example, if you select an Account in the listview, then clicking Create->Contact will load a new Contact with the Account information inherited from the selected Account.

Fig 4: Creating a new Contact from Account selected in a listview

Main records

Clean, consistent data is a must. ASPEC requires that an Account is entered before creating a Contact, a Contact is entered before creating an IBO (Opportunity) or a Lead. Interactions can be linked to Contacts or IBOs or Leads.

Account

The primary focus of the Account section is to view and maintain Account information. The Account section has been designed to provide quick and easy access to the key information regarding the companies you deal with. Within the Account section, you can get a snapshot view of how a company is structured, what contacts reside within the account, and any leads, opportunities, or interactions for the Account.

Contact

The primary use of the Contact section is to locate and view information regarding contacts. Contact information is available throughout ASPEC, but the Contact section is specifically designed for locating Contacts.

Opportunity (IBO)

To understand the innovative power that the ASPEC methodology and the ASPEC tool have to improve your sales effectiveness, it’s necessary to start with the basic fundamentals that underline everything – the IBO (Identified Business Opportunity). The IBO is your sales opportunity, your chance to sell your product or service to a customer who has a need to have it, and the ability to buy it.

The IBO Section is designed to display information regarding sales opportunities (Identified Business Opportunities). Information regarding IBOs can be found throughout ASPEC, however this section has been specifically designed for a person to quickly review their IBOs and related interactions.

Read more on IBOs starting with this post.

Interactions

Interactions between salespeople and contacts vary widely in scope and significance. For this reason, ASPEC distinguishes between Opportunity, Lead, Relationship and Marketing-focused Interactions.

Other records

There are many more record types that are stored in ASPEC. Read the following posts on Calendar, Reports, Marketing module and Service module.

Searching

The Search feature in ASPEC allows to quickly locate a variety of records such as Accounts, Contacts, IBOs, and Interactions that meet selected criteria.

Filters are available throughout ASPEC and is accessed from the top right of the ASPEC window.

Administration

Before your Organization starts using ASPEC, your Administrator should configure ASPEC to fit your Organization’s needs.

Administration of ASPEC is described here.[:pt]

Getting Started:

To begin using ASPEC, do the following:

Open your web browser.
Enter the web site address (URL) of ASPEC provided by your ASPEC administrator and press Enter.

Wait for a login screen to appear asking for your user name and password. Enter your login name and password and press Enter or the Log In button (Note: the actual display of the login page may vary from the one shown below).

Finding Your Way Around

Let’s start with a look at the main layout of ASPEC and how to navigate to the different areas of ASPEC.

Navigator Bar and Sections

The navigation bar is located at the top of the ASPEC window and is used to navigate to the different areas of the application. When first opened ASPEC will begin in the Home area as shown in the following image.

Selecting a heading on the navigation bar will activate that section of ASPEC. The navigation bar contains headings to allow you to navigate to the following areas:

General sections:

Home	Main starting page used to display a variety of information in a single easy to use portal interface
Account	Account area for viewing Accounts
Contact	Contact area for viewing customer information
Report	Section for setting up reports and downloading results

Sales sections:


IBO	IBO areas for managing and viewing all sales opportunities.

Details on the layout and navigation of each of the ASPEC areas are covered in greater depth in later sections of this guide.

Navigation: The number of records that display in the view is limited (up to

25). Users can choose to display between 25,50,75,100, 250 and 500 records in this view. Users can click on the dropdown located at the bottom of the list to change the number of records to display.

Main Menu Bar

The main items available on the menu bar are:

Online Help Allows users to access context-sensitive online help

Setup Navigates to ASPEC Setup, available to ASPEC Administrators

Logout Allows users to log out from ASPEC

The Quick Menu bar is located on a gray row beneath the navigation bar. The Quick Menu bar contains a list of options that pertain to the currently active area of ASPEC.

A detailed description of each Quick Menu option can be found later in this guide.

Account

The form

Account Structure

Account Fields

Company: Type the full name of the organization in this field. The company name must be a unique name from any other organizations entered in ASPEC. This is a text field and is mandatory.

Legal Entity:

City: The City field contains the name of the city where the Organization is located. This is a text field and is mandatory.

State: This field contains the name of a state or province in which the

Zip Code: This field contains the Zip Code or Postal Code of the Organization. This is a text field and is mandatory.

Communication Section

This section is used to document the organizations phone number details.

Phones: These field contains the main business telephone number of the Organization.

Web Site: The Web Site field displays the web site of the Organization. This field is optional.

E-Mail

Fax

Access Level:

Select an applicable Role by clicking on the checkbox next to a Role.

Custom Fields Section

Custom fields can be text, date, date/time, time, number, currency or dropdown. Custom fields can be configured to be required or optional.

Screenshot

Account Action Bar

Edit:

Close:

Delete:

Move:

Add Contact:

Widgets

Creating an Account:

The Create Organization Quick Menu option is designed to allow the creation of new account (e.g. Company).

Click the Create button and select Account from the Quick Menu bar.

Fill in all fields that are mandatory (A field is considered mandatory if it is marked with a red bar).
Press Save & Close to close the document or Cancel to close the document without saving changes.

Creating Sub-Account

To create a new Account level, follow the steps below.

The Account listview

Create: Click “Create” to create a new record
Delete: Delete accounts by selecting the account and clicking “Delete”
Merge: Start searching by typing in the box
Export: Sort your search results

Show Sub-Accounts

Quick Search

To locate an Account within the Account selection pane do the following:

Finding a Company by Name

Sorting

Merging Accounts

See Appendix

Moving Accounts

See Appendix

Contact

The Contact page

First Name: This text field contains the first name of the contact. This field is mandatory.

Last Name: This text field contains the last name of the contact. This field is mandatory.

Unsubscribe?: Placing a check mark in this field enables the exclusion of Event email blasts.

Country: The main physical or mailing country of the contact. When first created, the contact’s country will default to the country of the account level

Communication & Social Network Section

The communication and social network section tracks the contacts phone number details and social media accounts.

Email: This field contains the contact’s email address (e.g.

jsmith@acme.com).

Account Pane

This left pane on the contact form displays the Organization and Account that the contact is tied to.

Custom Fields Section

Custom fields can be text, date, date/time, time, number, currency or dropdown. Custom fields can be configured to be required or optional.

Contact Action Bar

Edit:

Close:

Delete:

Move:

Add IBO:

Add Interaction:

Widgets

Creating a Contact

The Create – Contact button allows for the addition of contacts to an existing Account.

1.
Select the Create – Contact button from the Quick Menu bar in Account listview, Account form.

2.
A new page will appear displaying the available contact fields.

3.
Select an Account by typing in first characters in Account pane. This will populate a new window prompting the user to select an existing Account or Sub-Account

Fill in all fields that are mandatory (A field is considered mandatory if it has a red bar).
Click Save & Close to save the record.

Possible Match

See the Contact Fields section later in this manual for details on each of the sections and fields available on the Contact form.

Moving a Contact

See Appendix A

Contact Listview

The contacts in the page can be sorted by First Name, Last Name and Organization. The page displays contact information in a variety of panes.

Sort by: The entire list of contacts can be sorted in three ways: First Name, Last Name and Organization. Once a sort has been selected, users can begin typing in the criteria in the search bar.

IBO

About Opportunity Management..

Assigning Probability to an IBO – SalesWays Method

Calculating Probability

There are many possible ways to arrive at a probability ranking for an opportunity. The challenge is implementing a universal method that can be used effectively.

Will it happen?
Will we get it?

Each point on the “Probability Index” is given a probability percentage. The grid breaks down as follows:

Prioritizing Opportunities

The Relationship Between Probability and Sales Cycle Phase

Six Priority Levels

Sales Advisor

The amount of information required by Sales Advisor depends on the

Sales Advisor Pro

Sales Advisor Expert

The IBO page

IBO Essentials Section

Sales Cycle Dashboard

IBO Number: The unique number assigned to the IBO. This is automatically assigned when the IBO was first saved.

Date Qualified: The date that the Lead was converted into an IBO (e.g. the creation date of the IBO). This is automatically assigned when the Lead was qualified into an IBO.

Total Value: The value of the IBO. This is computed based on the prices entered in the Products section.

Description: Contains summary information about the Lead/IBO. This information is displayed in panes throughout the product.

Depending upon whether Sales Advisor Pro or Sales Advisor Expert is being used for the current IBO, up to two priorities may be displayed.

Probability: An expression of the chance that a sale will be won. It is expressed as a numerical percentage. See the section Calculating Probability for details on how Probability is calculated.

Depending upon whether Sales Advisor Pro or Sales Advisor Expert is being used for the current IBO, up to two probabilities may be displayed.

Figure: Probability Using Advisor Pro

Sales Advisor Feedback: Displays feedback regarding the status of the sale and items to be aware of. This is generated automatically based on input from the account manager.

Depending upon whether Sales Advisor Pro or Sales Advisor Expert is enabled for the current IBO, the level of feedback will vary.

Fundamental Selling Skills: Displays feedback as to the amount of relative effort that should be spent on each of the three fundamental selling skills of Probing, Proving, and Closing.

Proving: The fundamental skill of proving is the ability of the salesperson to provide evidence to the customer to convince them that the solution they offer is the best.

Sales Environment Section

Probe Questions

The following table describes the various questions found on the Probe tab.

Question	Meaning
To what degree have you established the customer’s need for this product/service?	This question asks to what degree, as established by the user, the customer needs the product/service. All aspects that determine the need must be considered when answering this question.
What is the customer’s level of need for this product/service?	This question is different from the first because it asks what the user’s perception of the customer’s level of need for the product/service is.
To what degree does your solution match the customer’s need?	This question asks for the user’s opinion of where the product/service ranks in terms of satisfying the customer’s needs.
How does your pricing strategy match the customer’s budget?	This question inquires how the user’s pricing strategies compares with the customer’s budget.
What are the chances that the customer will receive the money needed for this purchase?	This question is asking for the user’s opinion on the customer’s budget for this purchase.
How familiar are you and your company with the customer’s organization?	This question asks the user to rate both the company’s and the user’s individual understanding of the customer’s organization.
What is the degree of competitive pressure in this sales opportunity?	This question asks the user to rate how strong a position the competition holds on this sale.
Who are the Competitors?	This question allows the user to enter the names of various competitors on this sale. Multiple competitors can be entered for any given sale.