1. QUARTER-END SALES PLAYBOOK Sales leader’s playbook for the last 30 days of your quarter

2. Initiate your 4 actions for this playbook: Identify your sales gap
It’s 30 days from quarter end. Time to define the path to hit your sales target.
Initiate your 4 actions for this playbook:
Identify your sales gap
Categorize your pipeline deals
Map your quarter climb
Initiate rep close plans
OpsPanda| Quarter End Playbook

3. NOTES ON 30 DAYS
Choose the best date for your business to initiate your end-of-quarter playbook. 30 days may or may not fit your business. When possible, use historical data to select when to begin “the big push”. If you don’t have the data, you can use your best guess, but definitely start collecting it so you’ll have it next quarter. The data you collect now feeds your ability to better execute in future quarters. Always be adapting (and planning)! Each company’s pipeline has a unique quarterly pattern. You may have a lull at the start as your team catches its breath. Then a steady pace until you begin your big push. This psychology often plays out on both sides. Reps habitually gun for quarter’s end, and buyers are conditioned to wait for the best deals at the end of the quarter. Nobody said this would be easy!
OpsPanda| Quarter End Playbook

4. #1 SALES GAP
$3M quarterly bookings goal - $800k Closed Won to date = $2.2M Competitive Situation = normal Discounting = better than expected [85% of list price vs. 80% goal] Pipeline Velocity = above expected [39 days vs. 45 goal] Deal Size = slightly below expected [$25k vs. $28k expected] Win rate = slightly below expected [23% vs. 25% planned] Sales Rep Bench = 90% capacity [lost 2 more reps than expected]
OpsPanda| Quarter End Playbook

5. SALES GAP NOTES
Measuring how much you need to close in the final 30 days of the quarter should be straight forward. This is also a good time to take stock of the sales landscape to see if strategy adjustments need to be made.
Are sales where you expected at this point in the quarter?
Is the level of competition a surprise?
Do you have the number of ramped reps contributing?
If possible, benchmark this quarter’s progress against the assumptions you made in your sales resource planning. There may not be a lot you can do about these specific things to affect this quarter. But putting the issues on the table enables you to adjust which and how many deals you focus on. And it sharpens your inputs for your planning going forward.
OpsPanda| Quarter End Playbook

6. #2 CATEGORIZE PIPELINE DEALS
Place deals into one of four categories to better build your forecast. CLASSICS: 135 $26k average. Weighted Pipeline = $1.2M FLYERS: 20 $22k. Weighted Pipeline = $450k WHALES: 2 $250k and $305k. Weighted Pipeline = $178k OUTLIERS: 13 $29k average. Weighted Pipeline = $310k 210 deals Total Weighted Pipeline = 2.5M
OpsPanda| Quarter End Playbook

7. CATEGORIZATION NOTES
How you categorize deals depends on your business. We’ve used the definitions below. Classics are your bread-and-butter. But if they’re not enough, add Flyers and Outliers (at a discounted probability) until your forecast is “whole”.
Classics: Deals that are following your typical pattern. They are of typical size, velocity and are progressing according to your sales methodology
Flyers: Your “reach” deals. They’re earlier in the pipeline than you would normally include in quarter close, but show potential for a rapid close.
Whales: Large deals. Similar to Flyers, these are not deals you normally include in the quarter end because they can easily stall. Be wary.
Outliers: Similar to Classics but something is not quite right. Maybe access to executives is difficult, or communication has slowed.
OpsPanda| Quarter End Playbook

8. #3 QUARTER CLIMB 30 days 23 days 16 days 9 days 2 days 95% 100% 90%
80%
THIS QUARTER
(goal)
THIS QUARTER
(actual)
75%
60%
75%
50%
50%
40%
50%
45%
35%
25%
LAST QUARTER
30 days
23 days
16 days
9 days
2 days

9. QUARTER CLIMB NOTES
As you begin your end of quarter push, you should already have mapped how your quarter will play out in terms of reps, new rep ramp, quotas, pipeline trending, etc. Now is time to identify waypoints from 30 days out to quarter end. Plan for the % of goal sales should hit each week. Plot that against how sales progressed in previous quarters. Eventually you’ll be able to map against a range of past quarters. But keep it simple at the start. And if you don’t have snapshot data available, use your best guess and start capturing the data for the future. But just because you hit your goal last quarter doesn’t mean you’ll want to exactly map the same course. Your secondary goal may be to change HOW you get to your goal. Typically, this means closing more deals sooner to reduce risk. Or, your goal may be to start the 30-day push with a higher percentage of overall goal already Closed Won. The point is to mark your progress so you have the visibility to know when to adjust strategies and tactics.
OpsPanda| Quarter End Playbook

10. Initiate the deal close playbook for each category.
#4 REP CLOSE PLANS
CLASSICS
Newton Corp.
Williams Inc.
Shasta Ventures
Kenyon Company
Charleston Inc.
Mack & James
Maines Paper
Azores Inc.
FLYERS
RVBC
Miles and Charter
Blaze Net
WHALES
Eli Lily
OUTLIERS
Hampton
Metro Inc.
Wilson
Michigan Tools
Initiate the deal close playbook for each category.
OpsPanda| Quarter End Playbook

11. CLOSE PLAN NOTES
With your path to your quarterly sales goal defined and your pipeline deals categorized it’s time to take action. Each rep should now have a clear strategy for each account. And as the sales leader you have a clear expectation for how each deal will play out. You’re not counting on the Whales, and you’ve discounted the chances of the Flyers and Outliers closing. In some form you’ll want reps to click into muscle memory to manage deals in each category. The only exception is perhaps the Whales. It may be you who is best to execute that playbook. It’s possible deals will move between categories as your reps progress. Most likely this will be a Classic slipping to become an Outlier. But it’s also possible a Flyer will join the pipeline. As quarters progress this whole process should become more refined. Your sales resource planning will become more accurate and your end of quarter push will be more predictable.
OpsPanda| Quarter End Playbook