Comments on: How Accurate Is Your Sales Forecast

By: My Method for Accurate Sales Forecast | Front Office Box

My Method for Accurate Sales Forecast | Front Office Box — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:39:51 +0000

[...] a single deal? It’s never happened to me. In thirty years of selling I’ve never made an accurate sales forecast. Not as a rep, a manager or even a [...]

By: Qualifying Sales Pipeline Funnel | Front Office Box

Qualifying Sales Pipeline Funnel | Front Office Box — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:43:47 +0000

[...] Lots of people talk about it, but not many really understand the subject. Based on ways popular software works they’ll think it’s about sales forecasting. [...]

By: Right90 Blog

Right90 Blog — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:07:49 +0000

A weighted forecast: all you need from a sales forecast?…

How often have you heard a sales executive commit to a top-line revenue number by handicapping the forecast (by weighting the pipeline revenue number)? It happens in executive meetings around the world. As a quick refresher, weighting the forecast is t…

By: southardjones

southardjones — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:19:56 +0000

Happy to get the conversation going. If you get a chance check out the Right90 blog on sales forecasting (blog.right90.com) which has a wide variety of topics.

-Southard

By: southardjones

southardjones — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:19:56 +0000

Happy to get the conversation going. If you get a chance check out the Right90 blog on sales forecasting (blog.right90.com) which has a wide variety of topics.

-Southard

By: frontofficebox

frontofficebox — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:15:14 +0000

Thanks for stopping by and taking the trouble to comment.

Of course you're right and to be honest I wasn't thinking of inventory management when I wrote the post, just revenue as you've pointed out.

Anybody who's selling from inventory rather than make to order will need a different mechanism for inventory planning.

By: southardjones

southardjones — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:08:11 +0000

This a good article on weighted forecast (weighted pipeline.) However, there is more to forecasting, than just calling the top line revenue number. Many companies rely on the sales forecast to help them determine how many units of each sku they are going to build. For these companies, the weighted forecast method has many flaws. Example: A customer is forecasted to buy a specific product at 55% probability. In this case the customer doesn't buy '55% of 1000 units demanded' – they either buy 1000 units or 0 units. If the company builds 550 units of that sku for that customer, they are worse off. If they win the business, they can’t meet the fulfillment needs. If they lose the business, they have 550 units of excess inventory. While weighted forecast is useful tool for calling top line revenue, it’s only a component of a complete forecast.

By: Sales Forecasting Can Be Simple | Widespread Solutions

Sales Forecasting Can Be Simple | Widespread Solutions — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 11:36:24 +0000

[...] There’s an interesting post at Front Office Box about forecasting sales – How Accurate Is Your Sales Forecast [...]

By: Sales Forecasting Can Be Simple | Front Office Box

Sales Forecasting Can Be Simple | Front Office Box — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:58:29 +0000

[...] There's an interesting post at Front Office Box about forecasting sales – How Accurate Is Your Sales Forecast [...]