The situation
An installation company sells projects of 50,000 to 2 million euros, often through tenders and always with several decision makers: client, architect, contractor, work planner. Every salesperson calculates differently, the forecast is too optimistic every month, and after a loss nobody knows exactly why.
The approach per building layer
- Building layer 2 · Sales process. Five stages with an exit criterion the customer performs: only to Proposal once the decision makers are known and the budget confirmed. Handovers from sales to calculation and to project management.
- Building layer 4 · Customer journey. Three win points in a long cycle: the proposal with drawing within 48 hours, the shadow day on a running project, one fixed project manager from quote to delivery.
- Building layer 7 · Steering. KPIs per stage and a forecast based on stage, not on gut feeling. Win/loss after every tender.
The first 90 days
- Weeks 1 to 3. Capture the stages and exit criteria based on the last ten won and lost projects.
- Weeks 4 to 7. Choose win points and capture the activities per stage: who does what, when.
- Weeks 8 to 12. KPIs per stage, forecast on stage, and win/loss entered after every decision. First quarterly check.
What you have then
A pipeline where "stage 3" means the same to everyone, a forecast the board can trust, and after every lost project a reason that flows back into the method. New project salespeople learn the cycle instead of a colleague's accidental style.
Further reading
This is a scenario: a recognizable situation, not an account of a specific customer.