Sales Forecasting Tips for 2020 vision
Sales forecasting is about getting 20 20 vision for your business. How many times have you looked back and asked yourself why did I not see that coming? For sure, if I could forecast the future more accurately, then I would be spending less time at work. But sales forecasting and forecasting the future is something that all business have to do – either to set goals, to obtain additional financing and for a host of other reasons. Sales Forecasting is, however, one of the most difficult and frustrating things that we have to do and few things cause as much pain as sales forecasts.
Sales Forecasting Control
Sales forecasts and sales are very hard to control as we can only control some of the things that have an impact on our forecasts. Then on the flip side there are others factors which directly affect our sales success but which are beyond our control. Some of these are known and can be reflected in the assumptions on which are forecasts are based. But those aside there are others to which we can only react, for example a sudden movement in the exchange rate and effect on our sales forecast.
Sales Forecasting Error
The most common sales forecasting error we see is overstating how much we can sell and how for much we can sell it. Trying to avoid these mistakes is hard enough and that is before we try to estimate how much our existing customers will buy. Adding any “new” dimension to your Sales Forecast with just add complexity.
Sales Forecasting to Existing Clients
Sales forecasting to our existing clients should be easy. We either forecast an increase in the volume of existing sales or include new product lines or services. The main sales forecasting tip here is to make your sales forecast based on detail knowledge about your clients and their business. Without it we can’t make informed judgments.
Sales Forecasting to New Clients
Sales forecasting for new clients requires two sales, the first is to convince them to move away from their current supplier and the second is to convince them to buy your product or service. All of this is quite easy to overestimate, so take your time and be realistic about your sales forecast.
Sales Forecasting Last Tip
Here’s a final tip on Sales Forecasting. Even if you’ve worked hard and spent time gathering detailed knowledge which you used to make informed judgments, don’t stop when you develop a “final” set of numbers. Call it your best case and review. Now think of the things that are most likely to go wrong in your sales forecast, assume that they will, change your forecast accordingly – and call that your worst case. Finally, it’s unlikely that everything will go against you but it’s equally unlikely that everything will go your way so take a third approach, which avoids either of the extremes, run the numbers again – and call that your most likely case.