Ken Thoreson says, “”I can’t get an accurate sales forecast.” Just last week I heard this comment from a new client. Frankly, it is a common phase I have often heard from CFOs, presidents, and VPs of sales. But what’s the resolution?

Many consultants would drag out their “scorecards” or “methodology” to fix the issue.

But instead, let’s first learn to diagnose the signs and why the problem exists. This is what I generally see or hear when I begin to poke at the problem:

  1. The pipeline report lists all the closing dates at the end of the month.
  2. Beyond your current monthly pipeline values, future pipeline dollar values are not listed.
  3. The velocity of the sale or length of time a prospect has been in the funnel is 90 days longer than the average velocity for your business.
  4. Monthly forecasts by the sales team are always off by a wide margin. When asked, the sales team has no idea as to why they can’t predict accurately”.

Why You Can’t Get an Accurate Sales Forecast

HubSpot

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