In the world of business, a well-executed sales forecast is the compass that guides you through the uncertainties of the market.
Sales forecasting is the cornerstone of success these days. We say this because the technique helps in estimating the future by predicting how much products and services will sell in the upcoming week, month, or year. In a nutshell, sales forecasting tools provide the sales teams with a projected measure of how the market is supposed to respond to their go-to-market efforts.
Importance of Sales Forecasting
We forecast to assume something that will happen in the future. While forecasting is not a sure shot, sales forecasts give us an idea of the approximate level of sales that our business can achieve. Various companies gain confidence in their business when leaders can trust the forecasts. For a few other companies, accurate forecasts build credibility in the market.
We cannot emphasize enough on the importance of sales forecasting. It adds value across an organization. Whether it is finance, marketing, or operations, they all rely on sales forecasting to plan their work cycle. Sales forecasts are of different types, and they are:
- Opportunity sales forecasting
- Retail sales forecasting
- E-commerce sales forecasting
- Services forecasting
- Run rate forecasting
- Consumption-based forecasting
Sales Forecasting Tools For 2024
1. Pipedrive
For the sales teams that are looking for a sales-focused CRM and pipeline management, there is nothing like Pipedrive. It is a tool that fits for teams of all sizes. The tool features a simple yet powerful design prioritizing productivity and usability. Additionally, the tool will help you automate most of the record filing, analysis, and sales forecasting process making the life of salespeople easy.
Pipedrive is the best tool for SME and enterprise teams.
2. HubSpot
Next on our list is HubSpot. While HubSpot is a popular CRM bringing everything from marketing, sales, customer service, and all other requirements in one place, the tool comes in handy with sales management and forecasting. What’s more, if you are using HubSpot CRM, you would probably get its sales forecasting tool free of cost.
The tool also provides sales teams with sales analytics and reporting. With these advanced capabilities, businesses gain valuable insights to make data-driven sales forecasts.
The tool is just perfect for sales, marketing, and customer service teams.
3. SPOTIO
A next-to-perfect forecasting tool for sales teams and sales reps, SPOTIO is said to improve field sales revenue by 23%. While SPOTIO is an outside sales engagement tool meant to improve sales efficiency, it is capable of tackling your lead nurturing, resource tracking, sales pipeline management, building revenues, and much more. Additionally, the tool offers custom pricing as per your business requirements.
The tool is a great option for on-field sales teams.
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4. InsightSquared
InsightSquared, one of the leading sales forecasting tools, leverages AI for forecasting sales. The AI-powered tool forecasts sales across a timeline and updates it automatically across all the sales and marketing teams. While the tool is occupied with forecasting and submitting information, the decision-making teams are free to focus on their strategic planning.
InsightSquared is an effective sales intelligence solution for high-growth sales teams. Sales operations leaders use the tool to produce reliable forecasts, understand sales pipeline trends, and enhance sales reps’ impact.
5. Anaplan
Anaplan is not just a sales forecasting tool, but it is a whole suite encompassing systems for scenario modelling, forecasting, and budgeting capabilities. The tool helps in sales and operations planning that enables businesses to align sales strategies with the overall financial goals. It supplies the sales and operations team with real-time data analysis that enhances performance and facilitates agile business planning.
Key features of the tool include integrated business planning, budgeting and financial planning, sales and operations planning, real-time data analysis, and visualization.
6. Aviso AI
Another impactful sales forecasting tool delivering advanced insights is Aviso AI. It supplies teams with important analytics for deal and pipeline management and enables data-backed decision-making. Additionally, the tool can also offer predictive analytics for revenue optimization and data-driven sales coaching and recommendations. Overall, the tool helps sales teams to increase their performance.
Key features of Aviso AI are AI-powered sales forecasting and insights, sales performance tracking and benchmarking, predictive analytics for revenue optimization, and data-driven sales coaching.
Wrapping Up
Sales forecasting makes your sales strategy impervious. Using the right tools at the right place makes a complete puzzle with no scope for loopholes. Sales forecasting is an irreplaceable part of your marketing puzzle and it involves plenty of qualitative and quantitative techniques that you can implement depending upon your niche industry.
Identify your organization’s needs for sales forecasting and use the right tools to sustain and improve your sales revenue. We hope our piece of information will help.