Sales managers risk their job and their reputation when operating blind. Sales people drive around, talking to prospects, and all looks OK, till the quarter ends with short sales. This happens over and over from company to company and needs not to be so. Consider a few simple steps to clear up sales invisibility. 

First, set up simple sales stages. Train your sales team. Teach them what each stage requires; the qualification questions and prospect response which puts the project in the correct sales stage. For example: 

Ok, Mr. Prospect, your top requirements are? 

"Mr. Prospect, what is the time frame for putting in and training your new solution?"

"And, Mr. Prospect, are you part of a decision making team, and if so, please tell me you else is on this team?"

"And, Mr. Prospect, this project carries a budget approved by executive management?"

BANT, the IBM standby, is easy, is correct, and should be known; budget, authority, need, time frame.

One sales stage should be Qualified. And to be qualified, the above queries must be known. This is good. This is good selling. Sales management trains sales to know what BANT, in this case is, what it means, and how to use the Qualifed sales stage.