Access Pipeline Insights from the main navigation bar in Ebsta's Console
Pipeline Insights enables you to review all Deals in your Pipeline, spot deals at risk, uncover those likely to close and review and make forecast calls.
By default Pipeline Insights will display all Deals that are set to close in the current quarter but you can use the filter to view a previous/future quarters or a specific time period of your choosing.
There are also a number of other filters you can use to take a closer look at certain Deals for example by Deal Type, Stage, and User/Hierarchy.
The Deal Stage filter by default is set to show Deals in an open stage. The stages that display blue are those selected and those in grey are inactive.
You can override this by clicking on any of the stages to create a new filter list. Ebsta, for example below is showing Deals in 3 stages as selected by the user. To reset and return to the default filter click Reset.
Smart Insights can you be used to quickly spot risk in the pipeline by filtering Deals with specific risk factors e.g. low relationship score.
Use the check boxes to filter the display. More than one filter can be selected but note Deals only need to apply to one of the smart insights selected not all of them.
There are additional filters that can be applied by clicking More filters.
This opens up the Filters side bar to access additional filters including Forecast Category and Status, Relationship Score and Deal Score. Managers will see 2 Forecast Status filters so they can view the Forecast Status as set by the rep and that set by them.
You can also use the tabs at the top of the table to adjust the view by Forecast status and those Deals that are categorised as High Risk*. Again Managers will have additional tabs to view the Forecast Status as set by the Sales rep and that set by them.
* Deals categorised as High Risk are those in the Best Case and Commit forecast categories with low relationship score (benchmarked against the average relationship score from your previous quarter).
Pipeline Insights displays key information about the Deals including deal amount, close date, next step and deal stage (all of which can be edited directly from the table). Ebsta also displays a number of other insightful metrics and information.
Relationship Score is a number between 0-100 that represents engagement. The more interactions your company has with a company – the higher their Score. It also takes into account the total activity count and days since last activity, but it also looks at the type of activity, its direction (inbound/outbound), duration and timing to derive a single engagement percentage metric.
Deal Score is a number between 1-99 which highlights the health of a Deal in your pipeline. It is calculated using multiple factors including relationships, deal stage, close date, deal value to indicates how likely the deal is to close successfully.
Warnings refer to the number of negative factors that relate to this Deal. To view these click the row in the table to open the sidebar.
MEDDIPICC Score is the display of the scores assigned to the each of the criteria in the Deal Qualification Guide which shows how qualified a deal is. To edit the scores click on the row of the Opportunity you wish to edit to open the sidebar and click the Qualify tab.
For more information about the Deal Qualification Guide, please refer to the following article:
Amount Converted is the Deal Amount displayed in an additional currency (only applicable for those customers that work in multiple currencies).
Forecast Status enables you to assign a forecast judgement to your Deals. Submitting manual forecasts will be covered further on in this article.
Negative and Positive Trends from the previous period are indicated by green and red boxes in the table. Where there has been a negative change (i.e. the Close Date has been pushed back and/or it has moved back a stage or the deal value has been lowered) the information is displayed in a red box. Where there has been a positive change (i.e. the Close Date has been brought forward, and/or it has moved forward a stage or the deal value has increased) the information is displayed in a green box.
If you hover over the Stage, Close Date or Deal Amount, Ebsta displays the historical changes that have occurred including when the change was made, who made the change, whether the change is positive or negative and the details of the change.
If you scroll across along the table using the scroll bar at the bottom, Ebsta also displays how long the Deal has been in its stage, how many activities related to this Deal have taken place in last 7 days, how many colleagues are involved in the deal and the number of contacts you have a relationship with at the company.
Editing Deals
You can edit key Deal values, such as Amount, Close Date, Stage and Next Step directly from the table and it will update the Deal in HubSpot.
To edit the Amount, hover over the row of the Deal you wish to edit and a pencil icon will appear and/or the value will be underlined. Type in your new value, select a new date or stage and save using the green tick icon. To cancel this change, click the red cross.
To change the Close Date, select a new date using the calendar pop up.
To update Next Step, type directly into the notes pop up window and click Save.
To change Stage, select a new stage from the dropdown menu.
Pipeline Insights - Chart view
By default Pipeline Insights open up in Table view. Click the Chart button at the top to view them visually.
This chart visually represents Deals in the pipeline as bubbles and plots them against Relationship Score and expected Close Date. The size of the the bubble represents the deal value, (i.e. the bigger the bubble, the bigger the deal size).
If you hover over a bubble, Ebsta will display key information relating to the Deal including the Deal Name and Owner, Deal Value, Close Date and the Relationship Score.
If you click on a bubble it will turn orange and open the sidebar on the right to display more detailed insights relating to that Deal as detailed above.
The chart also can be filtered as per the table view. To return to the table view, click the Table button.
Submitting Manual Forecasts
You can use Ebsta to standardize and streamline your weekly, monthly and quarterly manual forecast submissions process. With Ebsta's Manager Forecast View, managers can review the pipeline, inspect Deals and change their reps forecast status as they see fit.
Deal Owner/Sales Rep Forecast Submission
1. Use the filters at the top to select the forecast period and click Submit Forecast.
2. This opens up the forecasting tab in the sidebar.
3. Use the Forecast Status toggle button in the table to assign a forecast judgement to your Deals:
P means the Deal is Pipeline
U means the Deal is Upside (Best Case)
C means the Deal is Commit.
Note: The red and green background displayed on the toggle button denotes a negative or positive change from the previous submission. The blue background means no change or a manual forecast has not been submitted previously.
4. If you want to add a comment to your submission hover over the toggle button until a + icon appears and then click it to add your comment.
Type your comment into the pop up window and click Update.
5. The sidebar displays the forecast submission to be submitted.
Information:
This is the user who will be submitting the forecast, the pipeline and reporting period this applies to along with the date of the last submission if applicable. You can adjust the forecast period using the dropdown menu.
Commit Forecast:
Won Deals: Total value of Deals closed Won.
Selected Deals: Total value of (and number of) Deals labelled C*
Total Amount: Total value of Won Deals and Selected Deals combined.*
* These values will automatically be calculated as the Deals in the table are assigned a forecast using the Manual Forecast toggle button.
Upside Forecast:
Won Deals: Total value of Deals closed Won.
Selected Deals: Total value of (and number of) Deals labelled U and C*
Total Amount: Total value of Won Deals and Selected Deals combined.*
* These values will automatically be calculated as the Deals in the table are assigned a forecast using the Manual Forecast toggle button.
6. Once each of the Deals have been assigned a forecast category, a final forecast figure needs to be inputted in the My Forecast field. If you click on the Total Amount value in the Commit and in Upside sections, these values are automatically copied into the My Forecast field. Alternatively you can input an adjusted figure into the box. Input any relevant extra details, reasoning or evidence in the notes section.
7. If you wish to submit another forecast, check the tick box next to Submit another. When you are happy with your submission, click Submit.
Manager Forecast Submission
If you're assigned as a manager in the Forecast Hierarchy in Salesforce, you'll be able to review pipeline, inspect Deals and change your reps forecast status as you see fit. The sales reps will have no visibility of any changes made to the forecast status.
In the table in the Forecast Status column you will see two toggles. The left-hand toggle is set by the Deal owner, the right is set by you the manager. As a manager, this separate forecast status for the Deal is only visible to you.
P means the Deal is Pipeline
U means the Deal is Upside (Best Case)
C means the Deal is Commit.
If the Deal owner has added a comment to accompany their forecast, a Note icon will display in the corner of the left hand toggle button. Hover over this to view the comment.
Use the right hand toggle to change the forecast if required.
You can add a comment to your forecast by hovering over the Forecast Status column so that a + icon appears. Click this to add comment.
Add your comment and click Update to save.
You can also amend the Close Date and Amount of the Deal based on your judgement. Hover over these fields and click the down arrow to edit the manager amount or to select a new date from the calendar.
The Forecast Calculator will prioritise the forecast status set by you and changes, if any, made to the Date and Amount. when calculating your forecasts. Click the Submit Forecast button to enter the submission.
All forecast submissions can be reviewed in the Forecasting section.