July 16, 2015- ISSN# 1545-2646
Sales Forecasting
I find it interesting that people will stay up late to watch the late news to hear what the weather forecast is going to be for the next day and next week but do not pay that much attention to their own business sales forecasting.
I additionally find it interesting that they listen to the forecaster and many times the forecast is incorrect or not as predictable as the weather person would lead you to believe.
So we stay up late to listen to an inaccurate forecast and repeat this activity nightly anticipating it is going to change when we can’t even influence the outcome…. Hmmm…..
On the other hand your businesses life blood is sales. Without a strong sales pipeline and forecast of conversion from proposal to closed sales, you are like watching the weather person guess.
Your sales forecast influences so many critical items in your business. Cash flow, inventory, payroll and many other major activities in your success.
The next step after making a firm commitment to putting in place a sales forecast is making it reasonably accurate and having a high degree of confidence in the probability of results. Just tossing numbers on a forecast with hopes of values, time frames and ability to deliver is nothing greater than looking out the window and seeing if it is actually raining and then telling your colleagues that there is a 100% chance of rain.
Forecast is part science, part art and part intuition. Getting the right mix of these components will make your sales forecast an invaluable tool in growing your business. Some of the elements you need to track are the value, the projected time frame for closing the sale, the probability or confidence in the value and time frame, the stage in the sales cycle the proposal is in, etc. Depending on your business/industry sales cycle there could be additional items to make the quality of the information more specific to your inventory and cash flow requirements.
This week identify your sales forecasting model. Does one exist? How is it being used? Does it need an update? What important tracking elements might it be missing? If you have one, are people faithful to maintaining it? How accurate is the data? Do you track to see how often sales reps miss their targets and why?
Once you have identified your forecasting process and tools then refine the process and enforce the use of the tool to get to a solid revenue projection system.
Concerned about your sales forecasting tools and system? Give JKL Associates a call at (313) 527-7945 to set up a time for us to review your operations and give you some input.
Questions or comments – email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945
Copyright – JKL Associates 2015
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