If you want to calculate this type of sales forecast in real time and on an ongoing basis, this pipeline usa phone number list forecasting method is fully automated in a CRM vendite solution like Salesflare .
The "Forecasted Revenue vs. Revenue Goal" report in the "Revenue" dashboard not only forecasts your revenue for the selected period, but also compares it to your revenue goal . This way, you'll know if you're on track to reach your goal.
A good sales forecast will help you understand if you are on the right track to reach your goal
To obtain an accurate sales forecast, the following elements are important:
Have at least 10-20 unclosed/open opportunities in the pipeline with an expected close date within the reporting period.
Estimate the closing date as accurately as possible. One way to do this is to explicitly ask the prospect or customer for their estimated timeframe. Then adjust this estimate based on your experience.
Estimate the value of opportunities as accurately as possible. This usually becomes easier as the opportunity moves further along the sales pipeline, as the scope of the opportunity becomes clearer and quotes are made along the way. Fortunately, opportunities that are early in the sales pipeline are multiplied by a lower probability percentage, so a single opportunity in an early stage will have less of an effect on the outcome.
Estimate the win probability of each opportunity as accurately as possible. The simplest and most accurate way is to use a per-stage win probability. This “per-stage probability” can be adjusted based on historical performance. (Note that, exceptionally, for pipelines with a smaller number of high-value opportunities, setting a per-opportunity probability may produce more accurate results.)
To accurately calculate this win probability per stage, a sales CRM solution like Salesflare can analyze hisorical opportunity data. The result of this data processing is found in the integrated " Tunnel Analysis " report on the "Revenue" dashboard.
Let Salesflare calculate your real win probability per stage
This report also provides insight into the conversion rates from one stage to the next, as well as the average time each won opportunity spends in each stage of the sales pipeline.
Other Sales Forecasting Methods
There are several other sales forecasting methods, but most of them are overly complicated or require too large a data set to work. They are also unlikely to produce more accurate results than the pipeline forecasting method in most cases.
For completeness and in case you are interested, or if you just want to do a simple correctness check of the results of your pipeline forecasting method, here is a quick overview of some of these other methods, with a concrete example or formula for each of them:
Time Series Analysis
This method involves analyzing historical sales data to identify patterns and trends. It assumes that past sales patterns will continue in the future.
There are several time series-based formulas, such as the "naive method", simple moving average, weighted moving average, and exponential smoothing:
Metodo ingenuo : It is assumed that next month's sales will be the same as this or last month's.
Simple Moving Average : For example, to calculate the sales forecast for the next month, we take the average of the sales results of the previous x months.
Weighted Moving Average : For example, to calculate the sales forecast for the next month, we take the sum of (sales results in the month * weighting factor) for the previous x months. Typically, this weighting factor is higher for recent months and becomes progressively lower for older months.
Exponential Smoothing : This is usually a weighted moving average with an exponentially decreasing weighting factor. There are, however, more complicated versions that can also accommodate trends or seasonality (just Google "double exponential smoothing" and "triple exponential smoothing" - things can get a little
