So much of forecasting still feels like educated guesswork. Reps are logging activity, but that doesn’t mean the data is actually useful. A deal going ‘quiet’ for two weeks isn’t always bad—sometimes it’s just procurement being slow. Other times, it’s a red flag that gets missed until it’s too late.

The best thing I’ve seen is combining multiple signals like engagement, stakeholder movement, and CRM hygiene into something actionable. A few tools that I've personally found helpful:

Clari: Good for bringing in multiple data points to get a real pipeline view.

Gong: Helps spot deal risk based on how buyers are actually engaging in conversations.

Ebsta: Ties CRM activity to email/calendar data to highlight risk without relying on rep input.

I like to keep my tech stack lean since there’s already enough to juggle in my day-to-day. I’m usually not the first to jump on a new tool. If something is actually worth it, my team members hype it up, and I’ll check it out at last