If you missed quota last quarter, you’re in good company. According to Pavilion, 78% of sales orgs missed quota in 2024, with win rates down 18%, deal values dropping 21%, and sales cycles lengthening by 16%. To make matters worse, only 17% of AEs drive 81% of total revenue—a distribution that mirrors the Pareto principle on steroids.
“We assume the sale is complex—but it’s not the sale that’s complex, it’s the buying process.” - Meredith Chandler
And that process has changed more in the last three years than in the previous twenty.
RevOps teams are supposed to bring order to the chaos, yet most forecasting models still rely on one of the most unreliable metrics in business: rep confidence.
“If I had a dollar for every time I heard, ‘I feel good about this deal,’” said Meredith, “we could fund our own CRM platform.”
When forecasting is built on feelings rather than facts, deals slip for three predictable reasons:
“Salesforce makes it look like deals go from A to B to C. In reality, it’s more like Sorry!—you think you’re about to win, then you draw a card and go back six spaces.” - Rebecca Elgin
And because reps hate admitting setbacks, they rarely move deals backward in the CRM—creating a false sense of progress that corrupts forecasting models across the org.
To learn more about forecasting, you should also check out this post RevOps Co-op Blog: 5 Steps to Better Forecasting in Salesforce.
For many sellers, “ghosting” is the most frustrating outcome—no feedback, no closure, no data. But Rebecca argues that ghosting says more about trust than process.
“When a buyer ghosts you, it’s not that they hate you. It’s that they didn’t trust you enough to be honest. They didn’t want to admit they were confused or lost internal support.”
This lack of trust can stem from:
The fix isn’t sending more “just following up” emails—it’s about mutual accountability and process clarity, both of which RevOps can enforce through better system design and rep enablement.
Modern CRMs are phenomenal at tracking activity (calls, meetings, notes) but nearly useless at tracking buyer intent. That’s why RevOps leaders should stop measuring what reps say they’ve done, and start measuring what buyers actually do between meetings.
“RevOps can’t fix forecasting until we start tracking what happens in the 95% of the buying journey when we’re not in the room.” - Meredith Chandler
Think about it: you can have 30 logged calls, 15 follow-ups, and still have no idea whether your proposal has been shared internally or even opened. Until you can quantify buyer engagement, forecasting accuracy is just educated guessing.
For more on data hygiene and your CRM, check out RevOps Co-op Blog: Does Your Bad CRM Data Mean You Need a New CRM?
A mutual action plan isn’t just a checklist—it’s a shared roadmap that defines milestones, responsibilities and timelines for both sides of the table. The keyword, Meredith emphasized, is mutual.
“There’s no shame in a to-do list. I have one for work and one for home—why wouldn’t we run one for our customers?” - Rebecca Elgin
MAPs also expose blind spots. If the same buyer’s name appears on every task, that’s a red flag: the rep isn’t multi-threading. Aligned’s digital sales rooms automate this process, reminding both sides of upcoming milestones and capturing engagement analytics that inform future forecasts.
Check out a Mutual Action Plan Template from Aligned here.
RevOps has mastered seller enablement—training, playbooks, talk tracks—but few teams focus on enabling the buyer. The result: internal champions are sent into C-suite meetings armed with product slides instead of business cases.
“My CEO doesn’t care how sexy your product is,” Rebecca said. “They care if it saves time, saves money, or makes me look like a hero.”
Effective buyer enablement means matching content to stage and audience:
Aligned’s AI tools help reps automatically compile this material into shareable business cases based on call notes, recorded meetings and sales room interactions—removing guesswork and saving hours of manual prep.
Check out a Digital Sales Room Template from Aligned here.
Since 95% of buying happens asynchronously, visibility into buyer behavior is your best forecasting ally.
Key metrics RevOps should monitor include:
Tracking these buyer signals enables RevOps to identify early signs of disengagement—giving leadership time to re-strategize before the deal slips.
“Sales is emotional. RevOps is logical. We’re the BS filter that keeps both sides honest.” - Rebecca Elgin
For more on buyer signals and their impact on forecasting, check out RevOps Co-op Blog: A RevOps How-To: Boosting Sales Forecasting Accuracy.
A major contributor to deal slippage is uniform performance management. When every rep is measured by the same quota or comp plan, nuance disappears.
Rebecca’s approach:
“Every rep is different,” Meredith noted. “If we treat them all like clones, the same 17% will keep driving all the revenue.”
Ultimately, RevOps exists to inject realism into forecasting. Sales wants to believe every deal is winnable. Finance wants a predictable number. RevOps sits in the middle—translating optimism into operational truth.
“If sales says they’ll close 80% of the pipeline and history shows 42%, RevOps has to be the rational adult in the room,” said Rebecca. “We’re not here to say no—we’re here to show why.”
This discipline doesn’t just improve forecasts—it builds credibility across the business. When RevOps grounds projections in behavioral data, it shifts the perception of sales operations from reporting function to strategic partner.
For more on account and contact data management best practices, check out RevOps Co-op Blog: Data Management for Busy RevOps Pros.
Deals don’t die because buyers don’t care—they die because the process overwhelms them. Forecasts slip not because reps are lazy, but because systems still measure the wrong things.
To fix that, RevOps leaders must:
Meredith’s closing advice summed it up best:
“Forecasting accuracy isn’t about getting the number right. It’s about creating visibility into what’s really happening between meetings.”
And in a world where 95% of buying happens out of view, that visibility is the new superpower.
Explore the RevOps Co-op blog for more insights, upcoming events, and playbooks on forecasting, buyer enablement and revenue process design. Join the RevOps Co-op community to connect with 18,000+ operators redefining what operational excellence looks like in modern GTM.
And don’t forget to grab the templates and check out the blog from Aligned as well.
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