Who was it that said it was better to have tried and got the answer wrong than to have stuck our head in the sand because the question was a bit hard ?
............ that is the nub of the topic here.
Managed correctly the heart beat of any business must stem from a regular update of its sales forecast and yes, even in the current global pandemic climate, we still have to challenge ourselves as business leaders to find the answers.
A sales forecast may take many forms - Pipeline (sales funnel, prospects, suspects, targets); Current and short Term forecasts being the 2 book ends of the spectrum. And believe it or not, the PROCESS of forecasting has the potential to be is as important, if not more, than the ANSWER - the reasoning here is that the PROCESS will illuminate aspects of the business which are considering the reaches of the sales forecast (locations, people, capacities, machines, materials, supply chains) vs those that are not.
Reflecting on the planning cycles in other asssociated core business processes will also determine how much the thinking is joined up as the reality of the forecast starts to hit home. Anyone remember classic "tea lady video" as Penelope Keith commented on the increase in sales of white mice as she dispensed the morning cuppas ?
Pasted below is a graphic to illustrate the potential impact of a Sales Forecast Review, should the process be embraced in your organisation.
