There’s no one question that sparks more debate among sales managers as, “How can I forecast closed deals more accurately?” Many sales people attribute accurate sales forecasting to pure luck or guesswork. As a result, close dates tend to be moving targets.
Typically, sales forecasts are derived from what stage the sales person thinks the buyer is in the sales cycle. In addition, sales managers may discern each salesperson’s tendency to under or overestimate their forecasts and then make adjustments accordingly. This is where all the guesswork comes in. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
My latest video explains the challenges and provides tips for consistently achieving accurate sales forecasting – rather than arbitrarily and wishfully filling in blank spaces in a forecast or pipeline.
How reliable is your sales forecasting? Is your organization forecasting from the salesperson’s point of view, or the buyer’s?