Managing the sales forecast

The forecast provides a summary of the sales pipeline. This demo explains how to analyze and adjust the forecast as well as how to leverage close plans to add a qualitative element to the opportunity status.

In this video, you will learn how to evaluate and adjust the sales forecast as well as how to leverage close plans to improve the quality of the opportunity status.

To access the forecast, click Forecast.

Here you see the forecast for Terry Mason, a sales representative who owns the North East Territory.

The Override level allows you to specify if you are looking at data potentially overridden for the territory level or the actual opportunity data.

You can narrow down the forecast details to determine which opportunities comprise each forecast total.

You can filter the forecast using several criteria, such as Year, Opportunity products, Owner and Opportunity Partner.

Territory filtering rolls up according to the territory hierarchy.

Terry can filter opportunities in the North East territory that he owns.

Sarah Kendall, Terry’s manager who owns the entirety of North America, can filter opportunities by any territory in North America or by all North America.

The forecast displays the sales pipeline for the year, broken down by fiscal quarter and forecast category.

The Forecast category separates the opportunities according to the likelihood of the opportunity closing for the given quarter.

Closed means the sales representatives already won the opportunity.

Commit means the sales representative have high confidence that the opportunities are going to close in the given quarter.

Opportunities in the Upside category could close in the given quarter, but there is some uncertainty.

Stretch opportunities may close in the given quarter, but uncertainty is greater than in the Upside category. Larger qualified deals are separated out into this category to avoid providing an overly optimistic forecast.

Not Forecasted means the opportunities are not included in the forecast. Quarterly subtotals exclude these opportunities.

These forecast category definitions can be redefined according to your organization’s sales practices.

Each of the forecast categories can be viewed in one of three modes.

Unweighted displays the opportunity amounts submitted by sales representatives.

Predictive displays forecast numbers based on the AI-based opportunity insight win probability.

Weighted displays forecast numbers based on the sales stage of the opportunity. The sale is more likely to occur if it is further down the opportunity life cycle.

An alert is displayed on each category if the variance between the weighted and predictive values differ more than a set threshold. By default, the threshold is set to 20%.

Click on the amount in the forecast to display the opportunities for the given forecast category and time period.

Click the magnifying glass to adjust the forecast.

Terry, the owner of the North East territory, wants to adjust the amount to 10000USD and moved back the close date.

Refresh the screen to see the update.

The opportunity amount remains 20000USD.

When Terry’s manager Sarah who owns North America reviews the forecast she can see the value adjusted by Terry in the forecast.

This is because the forecast amounts roll up according to the territory hierarchy.

If Sarah recognizes that the opportunity amount is too optimistic, or if she realizes that close dates need an extension, she can adjust the forecast for all North America.

Refresh the screen to see the update.

The amount in the forecast has been reduced to 5000USD.

Terry will not be able to see this adjustment since this adjustment was made at the North American level.

When a sales representative or sales manager changes an opportunity date or amount, the application records the change in the Recent Changes tab.

This view provides an audit of changes to opportunity close dates and amounts to provide visibility into the reason for the changes and improve accuracy with future forecasts.

Close plans allow sales representatives to document the steps needed to close an opportunity in narrative form.

To access opportunity close plans, click the Close plans tab.

Because Terry owns the North East territory, he can see all opportunities in the North East territory.

Terry wants to add a close plan to the Dome Camera System for APW technologies opportunity.

Close plans allow free-form text to describe people and events that may affect the progress and outcome of the sale.

Close plans are typically added weekly by providing Updates since last week and Next steps for the coming week.

When Terry’s manager Sarah reviews the close plan, she can add her management insight to the close plan.

The close plan adds a qualitative element to the opportunity status and can provide a complete rendering of opportunity progress.

You have reached the end of this demo.

You now know how to evaluate and adjust a forecast and how to use close plans.