Chapter 21
Being Realistic with Forecasts
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding the fundamentals of forecasting new business
Letting your CRM do the hard work for you
Making sure your forecasts are accurate and qualified
You may have seen posters and T-shirts that proclaim “Managing Director: We do precision guesswork based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge.” Although this statement is funny on its face, there’s more than a grain of truth in it. Actually, it makes me cringe because I’ve been one of those new business salespeople who provided unreliable data!
This chapter is all about forecasting as it’s used in winning new business and its role alongside budgets and targets. Here’s a brief definition to these terms:
- Forecasting is the operational numbers. Simply stated, they are the numbers that count the most because they deal with reality on the streets and not a wish list in the boardroom. By operational numbers, I mean the revenue forecast that you see as being achieved in practice from each of your live deals, and not a plucked-out-of-the-air planning number based on a standard project. The operational numbers may be higher or lower than the expected ...
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