The Interview

Kluster's Take

Josephine spoke with Dan Brayton, VP of Revenue Operations at Iterable. He explains his thoughtful approach to forecasting.

Dan believes everything starts with the sales process. He stresses the importance of having a clean sales process with clear stages and exit criteria. This is the first step towards accurate forecasting. The second step is the actual forecasting process. This involves reps reviewing deals on a weekly basis with their managers. He uses models around pipeline generation and creates forward-looking forecasts. Dan thinks the key to successful forecasting is looking at it in a number of ways. He defines forecasting success as clarity and forecast accuracy. At iterable the forecasting process goes deep and wide, starting with frontline reps. They own their forecasts from a deal-by-deal perspective. 

He explains that thinking through the sales process makes deal reviews easier. This avoids long conversations with reps, to see the health of the deals and the probability of them closing.