logo

Sales Forecast: Efficiency, Techniques, Variances, Guidelines, and Report

13 Pages3363 Words110 Views
   

Added on  2019-09-22

About This Document

This report discusses the efficiency of sales forecasting techniques, the impact of poor sales forecasting, and guidelines for sales forecasting and trends. It also includes a sample sales target for a salesperson in London based on the data on cyber security.

Sales Forecast: Efficiency, Techniques, Variances, Guidelines, and Report

   Added on 2019-09-22

ShareRelated Documents
SALES FORECAST1
Sales Forecast: Efficiency, Techniques, Variances, Guidelines, and Report_1
Table of ContentsIntroduction:....................................................................................................................................3Task 1: Report on the efficiency of sales forecasting......................................................................3Task 2: Preparing a sales forecast report.........................................................................................8Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................10References:....................................................................................................................................112
Sales Forecast: Efficiency, Techniques, Variances, Guidelines, and Report_2
Introduction:Selling own products and attaining significant share in a market is the ultimate goal of anorganization. Thus, forecasting the accurate sales data and crafting right strategies to achieve thetarget is critical for every organization to reach the maximum number of customers and retaintheir position in the market. In this assignment the sales forecasting for a tech-startup thatprovides tailored security solutions to business organizations and individual clients are done. Thecurrent report also includes a sample sales target for the salespersons of the team also.Task 1: Report on the efficiency of sales forecastingEvaluation of qualitative and quantitative forecasting techniques:The qualitative sales forecasting techniques include customer surveys, Delphi method, sales-force composite and test marketing. The customer surveys help an organization to get an insightof what their customers are thinking (Möller & Parvinen, 2015). As it facilitates the organizationto involve customers directly to the forecasting process, analyzing whether a product seemsattractive to the customers and how the product attractiveness changes with the demographicalfactors, becomes easier for the organization. Seeking help from a panel of experts is anothercommon technique used by organizations to forecast the sales trends. In this method, multipleindustry experts share their views which act as valuable information for the organization.However, the experts in the panel often share their ideas and therefore, one’s thought’s may getinfluenced by others (Spillecke & Brettel, 2017). To mitigate the problems of the biased view, often Delphi method is used to forecast the sales. InDelphi method, each industry expert is given with questionnaire and they do not get chance toshare their opinion with other experts. Therefore, any chance of getting biased view reduces.Sales force composite is another method where each member of the sales team forecast thepossible sales of their lines and the individual forecasts are then composited. The sales forcecomposite is also an effective method to get a realistic idea on the potential sales data (Aydin &Kaya, 2016). Test product launch helps organizations to understand whether the customers arefinding a product appealing or not by launching the product for a limited period. However,3
Sales Forecast: Efficiency, Techniques, Variances, Guidelines, and Report_3
launching a product on test basis requires significant capital investment (Jobber & Lancaster,2009). Hence, using this technique may be difficult for the small organizations.The quantitative techniques to sales forecast include the methods like time-series analysis andcause-effect analysis. Use of time-series methods helps businesses to predict the future sales onbasis of the past data (Weymes, 1990). Cause and effect analysis is another method used for salesforecasts. In this method, the factors that can influence sale of a particular product are identifiedand their impact on the future sales is assessed. The qualitative methods depend heavily on the personal opinion of individuals and therefore, thefindings of this method may be influenced by one’s perceptions and values (Mcdonald &Leppard , 1986). On the contrary, the quantitative methods give an idea on the future sales in ascientific way , but it does not get an insight on what others are actually thinking about theproduct (Jobber & Lancaster, 2009).Effects of poor sales forecasting: Accurate sales forecasting is essential to utilize the stream thefinancial resources of an organization in the right way. Deviation of the actual sale from thepredicted data cause several costs for the organization including loss of inventory or workingcapital and administrative costs and losses due to missed sale opportunities (Möller & Parvinen,2015). Poor sales forecast also affects the relationship with suppliers which may have long termeffects on businesses.Recommendations: In the present organization, a combination of quantitative and qualitativemethods or the techniques like cause-effect analysis, customer survey, sales-force composite andDelphi method will be used together to forecast the future sales in a realistic way.Common causes of variances:The reasons for variances in sales forecast are –Lack of skill: Sales forecast is a complex task and therefore it should be done using accuratetools and by knowledgeable professionals only (Kaplan & Norton, 1996). Failure to use the righttools in the right way can cause mistakes in the prediction. Use of inaccurate information such aswrong past sales data, choosing the inaccurate timeline also can generate inappropriate results.4
Sales Forecast: Efficiency, Techniques, Variances, Guidelines, and Report_4

End of preview

Want to access all the pages? Upload your documents or become a member.

Related Documents
Demand Forecasting, Oligopoly Market, Cost-Minimization and Utility Maximization
|7
|1449
|306

Innovative Thinking And Practice
|8
|2538
|19

Role of Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Modern Marketing and Data Analysis
|19
|1507
|435

Qualitative and Quantitative Research Techniques and STP Analysis of Kit-Kat Products
|5
|938
|254

Manage Financial Resources: Financial Forecasting, Budget Planning, and Risk Management
|12
|1810
|221

Strategic Marketing: Market Audit, Competitor Analysis, Customer and Stakeholder Analysis
|10
|2198
|473