[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"BlogPosting","headline":"What is sales forecasting: Definition, methods, best practices","description":"Sales forecasting is the process of estimating a company's sales revenue for a specific time period, and accuracy is vital for business success. Learn common forecasting methods and mistakes to avoid.","datePublished":"2021-09-06T05:01:00Z","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/09\/06\/what-is-sales-forecasting-definition-examples-methods\/","image":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/sales-forecasting-FTR-1200x630.png","name":"What is Sales Forecasting: Definition, Methods, Best Practices","dateModified":"2022-04-15T18:49:00Z","subjectOf":{"@type":"FAQPage","abstract":"Sales forecasting is one of the most important things a company does. It fuels sales planning and is used throughout an enterprise for staffing and budgeting. Despite its importance, many organizations use outmoded practices that produce bad forecasts.","name":"What is Sales Forecasting: Definition, Methods, Best Practices ","description":"Sales forecasting is the process of estimating a company's sales revenue for a specific time period, and accuracy is vital for business success. Learn common forecasting methods and mistakes to avoid","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"

Sales forecasting is one of the most important things a company does. It fuels sales planning and is used throughout an enterprise for staffing and budgeting. Despite its importance, many organizations use outmoded practices that produce bad forecasts.<\/p>

A comparison could be drawn with times past, when farmers depended on signals like cats washing behind their ears or the ache in an old-timer\u2019s knee to forecast the weather. With the advent of  supercomputers, weather prediction has vastly improved. But in large enterprises, the tools used to foresee sales<\/a> remain only somewhat more reliable than an arthritic knee.<\/p>

Just how dubious are sales forecasts? A full 55% of sales leaders, and 57% of quota-carrying sellers lack confidence in forecast accuracy,<\/a> according to Gartner.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

While you might think this state of affairs will improve over time, Gartner estimates that even by 2025, \u201c90% of B2B enterprise sales organizations will continue to rely on intuition instead of advanced data analytics or their B2B CRM<\/a>, resulting in inaccurate forecasts, sales pipelines and quota attainment.\u201d<\/p>

Sales audit process: 5 sales audit steps to better forecast & plan spend<\/h3><\/header>

\"sales Learn the best practices for the sales audit process, including what it is, who to include, what questions to ask, and how to complete the audit.<\/span> <\/p> <\/a> <\/article>","name":"What is sales forecasting: Definition, methods, best practices","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/09\/06\/what-is-sales-forecasting-definition-examples-methods\/#Answer"},"name":"What is sales forecasting: Definition, methods, best practices","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/09\/06\/what-is-sales-forecasting-definition-examples-methods\/#Question"},{"@type":"Question","name":"What is sales forecasting?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"

Sales forecasting is the process of estimating a company\u2019s sales revenue for a specific time period \u2013 commonly a month, quarter, or year. A sales forecast is prediction of how much a company will sell in the future.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Producing an accurate sales forecast is vital to business success. Hiring, payroll, compensation, inventory management, and marketing all depend on it. Public companies can quickly lose credibility if they miss a forecast.<\/p>

Forecasting goes hand-in-hand with sales pipeline management. Getting an accurate picture of qualification, engagement, and velocity for each deal helps sales reps and managers provide data for a reliable sales forecast.<\/p>

A forecast is different than sales targets, which are the sales an enterprise hopes to achieve. A sales forecast uses a variety of data points to provide an accurate prediction of future sales performance.<\/p>","name":"What is sales forecasting?","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/09\/06\/what-is-sales-forecasting-definition-examples-methods\/#Answer1"},"@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/09\/06\/what-is-sales-forecasting-definition-examples-methods\/#Question1"}],"@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/09\/06\/what-is-sales-forecasting-definition-examples-methods\/#FAQPage"},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/09\/06\/what-is-sales-forecasting-definition-examples-methods\/"},"author":{"@type":"Person","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/don-gordon\/","image":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/don-gordon-512x512.jpg","name":"Don Gordon","description":"Don Gordon works in global Customer Experience and Consumer Products marketing. Previously he led global retail industry marketing for big brands like SAP and IBM. He lives in Philadelphia.","sameAs":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dongordon5\/","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/don-gordon\/#Person"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","height":"96","width":"500","@id":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1"},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/","additionalType":"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q1193236","name":"The Future of Customer Engagement and Experience","description":"Relevant, timely information & analysis on commerce trends, both consumer-facing and B2B.","sameAs":["https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/a-call-for-a-better-experience\/id1479742201","https:\/\/twitter.com\/FutureOfCEC","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/4844282","https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/feed\/"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/"},"@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/09\/06\/what-is-sales-forecasting-definition-examples-methods\/"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2021","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"09","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/\/09\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"06","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/\/09\/\/06\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"What is sales forecasting: Definition, methods, best practices","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/09\/06\/what-is-sales-forecasting-definition-examples-methods\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]