Timing in Sales is difficult to manage, especially when teams are head down closing their deals today. It´s likely they miss to identify and qualify required opportunities to feed them tomorrow. Personally, it reminds me of the response we get when calling into a teenager bedroom - good intend but no sense of urgency!

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
Albert Einstein

The formula is simple and compelling, BUT, it is based on at least three critical assumptions: 1. History Repeating: The pipeline coverage formula uses historic facts to anticipate the need for the future. So, be aware that the rear mirror might give you a wrong impression on the direction of the road ahead - it is very unlikely that moving forward the circumstances for your business will be the same again. 2. Statistic Probability: The pipeline coverage formula uses statistical assumptions in a discrete business. Therefore, it will not work on small number of deals, significantly varying deal sizes or changing likelihood to succeed. 3. Sales Capacity: No matter how many deals you deem appropriate or how much effort you are willing to put into coaching, your cost of sales sets the practical limit.

Pipeline Coverage Expectations - The Matrjoschka Effect

Source: Shutterstock

Speaking with manufacturing industry customers is more exciting than ever. The Digital Transformation and Industry 4.0 meanwhile have arrived everywhere. However, the approach and progress vary significantly - especially, when it comes to the Intellectual Property Strategy. While some companies focus on internal digital end-to-end optimization of their product design- and production processes for shorter time to market, individualized product offerings and cost efficiency, others are taking the digital value directly to market - leveraging their enormous industry process know-how, specialized data insight and their ability to predict or optimize their customer´s value creation.

There is a chicken-egg-interdependency of business- and Intellectual Property strategy. This explains, why IP-strategy discussions without a deep understanding of business makes no sense.
Bowman Heiden – Deputy Director, Center for Intellectual Property, University of Gothenburg

The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man, and a dog.  The man will be there to feed the dog.  The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment.
Warren G. Bennis

Let´s have a short excurse into research intense industries like bio-tech or pharma. The use of new developed seeding material or next generation drug is primarily not limited by the physical reproduction but by rights the patent holders reserved to protect their IP. Even, if you don´t like gene modified crop, patenting- or trademarking nature, separating the intellectual contribution from its physical representation may imply revolutionary effects to the business establishment in your industry as well. E.g. the agricultural-technology and licensing exports from the Netherlands meanwhile surpassed their traditional food production exports in value. Decades ago, the Software Industry emancipated form Hardware Industry by introducing the commercial concept of selling usage rights for software independently from hardware - usage gets monetized while the IP remains in hands of the software vendor. This revolutionary approach explains the disruptive potential software has to traditional, hardware centric business models. Again, it´s about who takes control in a digitized industry to come.

European Patent Office [EPO 2017] - Annual Report 2017 Infographics - International patent, trademark and design filings under the PCT, Madrid and Hague systems (2016)

Source: Shutterstock

Imagine, sellers would be rational individuals like Mr. Spock, the fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise - the commander of Starship Enterprise who always followed the rules of logic, never distracted by emotions. I agree, this is neither realistic nor desirable to move mixed human-vulcans into sales roles. Some sales leaders would not want to lose their financial controllers either. Experience tells, winning a new customer means 6 times more investment than maintaining an already loyal customer. Isn´t this a really good reason for you as a commander to go deep on what is driving the Enterprise towards customer loyalty?

I don't know anything, but I do know that everything is interesting if you go into it deeply enough.
Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize in Physics 1965

Business Acumen remains key to success in increasing the likelihood to renew a contract. Even though you may find significant correlations, it´s the causation which makes it relevant. The correlation between growth on ice-cream sales and the outbreak of bushfires in southern California maybe a strong correlation but it´s not the cause. Mind the difference between correlation and causation. Turning good analytical work into concrete action is what makes the difference in business. Overhasty conclusions and bias on this last but most important step may put your whole endeavor at risk. Following historical anecdote shows why. The United States Statistical Research Group (SRG) once used to be on mission to help win world war II. Sales is not war and trying to find a way to minimize the loss of airplanes through better armor is not business optimization. Surprisingly enough, we still can learn from their work.

Source: Aberdeen Group, Sept. 2016 | "YoY Advantages of Analytical Grounded Sales Teams"