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Businesses need to plan for growth and revenue. Without the ability to forecast and predict your sales, it can be difficult to achieve these goals. Forecasting tools are tools that help you estimate future performance based on current data from revenue operations. A sales forecasting tool helps you align your sales targets with the actual needs of your business so you know exactly how many new customers or contracts will be required to reach your goals.
Sales forecasting 101
Forecasting is defined as the process of estimating future sales or revenue. Sales forecasting is an important step in the revenue cycle and can help you meet your revenue goals by providing insight into how much you should expect to sell and when.
Forecasting helps you plan for the future, which is essential for any business looking to achieve success. If there are any gaps between what your company expects in terms of revenue, sales forecasts will help close those gaps by providing a realistic view of what’s coming up next.
Aligning forecasts with the executive team
Aligning sales forecasting with the executive team is critical to a company’s success. The process of forecasting can be broken down into two main steps:
First, you need to assess your business goals and objectives, which will guide you in defining how you want to forecast. For example, if you’re in an industry where you need to grow as rapidly as possible, then forecasting should be focused on looking at how much growth is possible and how much revenue that would generate. On the other hand, if one of your goals is maintaining profitability or increasing margins, then revenue forecasts should focus on assessing what level of revenue can be generated without jeopardizing those objectives.
Secondly, once these strategic priorities have been determined by senior leadership within an organization—and communicated clearly throughout its ranks—they must also be incorporated into all aspects of day-to-day operations such as budgeting or resource allocation decisions made by managers at various levels within a business department.
Implementing a forecasting tool
Implementing a forecasting tool is the first step in aligning sales forecasts and revenue operations. This is because your forecast should be based on data, not feelings. And if you’re relying on yourself or other people to make those estimates, no way can happen unless the data is readily available to all involved parties.
Once everyone has access to this data, it’s up to them how they want their forecasts displayed: in one central place or across multiple platforms? The key here is finding an easy way for everyone from marketing through customer success and product management who needs access to get it quickly with no friction—and then be able to manage it easily as well.
Finding a forecasting solution for your business
To ensure your revenue forecasts are accurate, you need a system that’s easy to use and can help you catch changes. A forecasting solution should be something you can implement quickly without having to spend months on training and implementation.
Strategic forecasting is a critical process for any sales organization. While there are many tools to help with this, the key is finding one that fits your business and helps you achieve your goals. To find the right tool, you need to consider your business goals and how they align with a solution. You’ll also want to take into account the time and resources you have available. After that, you can test out different tools before deciding on one. Once you’ve selected a solution and trained your team, it’s just a matter of waiting for results.