There must be a better way to forecast sales.
Why are sales forecasts so unreliable?
Ask any sales manager and they’ll probably tell you that accurate sales revenue forecasting is a struggle. Some sales managers apply a plus or minus filter for each individual sales person depending on their conservative or aggressive tendencies. Each month, sales managers struggle to get a true picture of which deals are likely to close and which ones are simply ambitious thinking.
The cause of poor sales revenue forecasting is usually not lack of skills of the sales person, but the lack of a good forecasting model and process. The majority of forecasting models we see in our work are based on the selling process and the tasks and activities undertaken by the sales person. The reality is – delivering a quote might feel good but doesn’t increase the likelihood that you are going to close the sale.
The most effective forecasting model should be build on the buying process. What steps must the prospect take to execute the purchase and what do we need to provide them to take these steps? That is why at Red Giraffe we have built our sales forecasting model and process on definable, observable and measurable steps in the buying process.
If having more accurate sales forecasts would benefit your organization, contact us today. Remove the guesswork from the sales process.
