Sales Automation | Your gateway to Accurate Sales Forecasting

What do you think is the most important but the most complicated activity right at the beginning of the year? Yes, the much-awaited and probably the most optimistic, sales forecast. Sales forecasting is ideally done to understand the realistic revenue potential for the year/quarter ahead given the market conditions and the sales talent available at hand. Much of sales budgeting and funding hinges on this important activity. The sales goals or quotas are decided based on this crucial yet cryptic activity. And yet it is an activity undertaken with a lot of manual inputs, inputs that are derived from data that are disparate and updated by multiple stakeholders. Whatsmore it is an activity conducted on spreadsheets in most sales orgs. How can we depend on the sales strategies and goals that are derived out of these manual, laborious and error-prone calculations? Sales forecast accuracy helps businesses put their monies where their mouth is.

Moreover, we will delve into the realm of ai sales forecasting, exploring how cutting-edge technologies can revolutionize the accuracy and reliability of predictions. By harnessing the power of AI, businesses can not only streamline their forecasting processes but also tap into deeper insights from vast datasets, enabling them to adapt swiftly to market dynamics and gain a competitive edge in today's fast-paced business landscape.

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What is Sales Forecasting?

What should be sales forecasting might be the right question to ask here, as every sales org takes up this annual/quarterly exercise. Everybody does sales forecasting but how many people get it right?

Gartner reports that over 55% of businesses do not entirely trust their sales forecasts. Also as per a study done by Miler Heiman Group, less than 20% of businesses enjoy 75% or more accuracy in their sales forecasts.

Sales coaching emphasizes the importance of accurate sales forecasting, which evaluates the ability to effectively sell products and services, taking into account market conditions and seasonal variations over a defined period, usually a sales year. It recognizes that sales organizations often make overly optimistic sales projections for the year based on individual perceptions. By applying sales coaching techniques, a more objective and realistic approach to sales forecasting can be adopted, ensuring a comprehensive assessment of sales capabilities and aligning projections with actual market dynamics, including the nuanced distinction of "forecast vs projection." Perceptions about how the market is going to shape up , the kind of talent pool they are holding and the demand in the market. No doubt there are times when these projections are bang on, but many times unscientifically done sales forecasting will be off by miles and throw off your sales targets for the year by a good measure.

What are the contributing factors of a Good Sales Forecast?

Budget Allocation

How much you allocate for your marketing and sales determine how far out you are willing to go for capturing the market. The more they spend on marketing and sales, the more generous your Sales Forecast is likely to be. This is more of a thumb rule, and this generality will only stand if the marketing and sales spend are in the right areas.

Economic conditions

Prevailing economic conditions determine the demand in the market. The ability to read the economic conditions well ahead and adapt to them quickly is one important trait every business should strive to develop.

Market Seasonality

There is a certain seasonality in every market, it could be in sync with other seasonalities like local govt announcements, elections, festive or holiday season and the like. These seasonalities are specific to industries and can be easily accounted for in sales forecasts.

Sales Talent

A lot depends on the caliber of your sales talent and your readiness to invest in them. The financial commitment you're prepared to make to attract and keep top-notch sales professionals also plays a pivotal role. Taking into account the available sales talent pool and factoring in other variables, you can accurately estimate the revenue forecasting for the year ahead.

Did you notice one thing common in all the factors discussed above? All of those factors depend greatly on the data you collect and harness, including sales forecast based on historical data. The accuracy of data in your system can guarantee a high degree of accuracy in your sales forecast.

How does automation help in Sales Forecasting?

There is no doubt that all the data around your sales performance and compensation form the bedrock for an accurate sales forecast.   This is, by the way, only possible if you maintain accuracy across your data systems and the only way to achieve high levels of data accuracy is sales automation.

First and foremost an automated sales performance management system ensures manual or human errors are completely eliminated. An efficient sales performance management system will allow deeper visibility of performance and pipeline data. With clarity on sales pipelines, sales leaders are able to paint an accurate picture of year-end or quarter closing.

With an efficient sales, performance management system comes access to real-time data and with that the power to answer complex questions closely related to sales forecasting. Along with accuracy, this enables sales and business leaders to be agile and nimble, allowing them to quickly adjust sales forecasting and compensation plans.

Lastly, thoughtful investment in a well-designed sales performance and compensation management system, including the MBO incentive, will ensure an accurate reflection of revenue and commission expenses. With accurate historical data on revenue and commission expenses, sales leaders will be able to accurately project sales forecasts, baking in factors like seasonality, demand cycles, and the sales talent pool.

Conclusion

An automated sales performance system that can work with an array of sales tools to extract, maintain and store critical data related to sales activities and sales spending is what sales leaders should invest in.

Kennect offers you cutting edge technology to automate your sales performance and compensation systems. The two solutions from Kennect, Sales Performance Management and Incentive Compensation Management work together seamlessly to automate your sales operations which will guarantee accurate sales forecasting.

Visit us at Kennect.io to know more about how Kennect can help you improve the accuracy of your sales data.