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Making growth more predictable

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Prepared by Venture Executive Network with editorial reading paths and planning prompts. Updated .

Use this guide when your team needs to explain where growth will come from and what evidence supports the revenue plan. Bring your intended customer segment, recent opportunity data and the commitments you have made to buyers.

VEN wrote this reading path and the review prompts. The linked Playbooks distinguish recorded sessions, supplemental writing and editorial tools. They do not establish that following this sequence produces a particular growth rate.

Connect the customer, message and buying process

Section titled “Connect the customer, message and buying process”

Start with GTM as a system. GTM means go-to-market: how you reach an intended customer and help them evaluate a purchase. The session connects customer choice, message, positioning, channels and conversion.

Write down the customer you intend to win and the evidence that they have the problem you address. Then compare the proposed sales motion with how those customers buy and what your team can deliver.

Review comparable opportunities

Section titled “Review comparable opportunities”

Read Building a repeatable sales motion. Its qualification and measurement sections cover customer fit, stakeholders, technical blockers, close rate and cycle time.

Use comparable customer groups and periods when reviewing results. Record which opportunities have had enough time to complete an evaluation. In the management section, distinguish working through a deal’s blockers from deciding whether evidence supports forecasting its revenue in a particular period.

Examine evaluations and management support

Section titled “Examine evaluations and management support”

For a conversation with several stakeholders, use the sales call planning worksheet. Confirm what each participant needs to assess and the decision a next meeting would support. That worksheet draws on supplemental practitioner writing; it does not establish that a stalled deal will close.

Use Pilots that convert when an opportunity depends on a customer evaluation. Its editorial readiness checklist covers scope, stakeholders, success criteria and the commercial decision that follows. Preserve the source distinction between a paid pilot and the free-trial example in the sales-motion Playbook.

Before adding sellers, use the sales management capacity worksheet. Review the coaching, onboarding and deal support the team can provide. Check customer delivery capacity with Retaining and expanding customers.

Growth review worksheet

Section titled “Growth review worksheet”

For a deal that moves out of the period, keep a short change record alongside the forecast. The sales-session discussion separates helping a buyer through a decision from deciding when revenue belongs in the forecast.

VEN editorial forecast change record:

RecordQuestion to answer
Previous forecastWhich amount and close period did the team use?
New evidenceWhat did the buyer confirm, change or leave undecided, and when?
Outstanding workWhich buyer, technical, procurement or delivery decision remains?
Revised viewWhat changes in the forecast, and which assumptions remain unconfirmed?
Company consequenceWhich cash, hiring or delivery commitment needs another review?
OwnershipWho owns the next buyer action and the internal forecast update?

Record a buyer-confirmed date separately from an internal estimate. This record is a planning aid; it does not assign a probability or establish that the deal will close.

VEN editorial worksheet. Use these fields to connect the readings to your company’s evidence.

GROWTH REVIEW


Target customer and problem:
Evidence of fit and requirements we cannot yet meet:
Acquisition channel and observed results:
Qualified opportunity definition:
Comparable cohort, period and sales-cycle context:
Deal evidence behind the forecast:
Buyer decision or evaluation still outstanding:
Sales management and delivery capacity:
Assumptions needing a test:
Decision, owner and next review:

For an individual opportunity, use the mutual action plan. For a company target that needs revision, continue to Running against the plan.

Section titled “Related VEN sessions”

Check each listing for the current date, status and access details.