Is Your Sales Forecasting Software Costing You Money?

Sales forecasting is a critical part of any salesperson’s job, but it can be difficult to get it right. If you are not sure what your sales team needs or how to make sure that they are delivering the right forecast each week, then maybe it’s time for an upgrade.

As industry experts, we already know sales is an ever evolving process. It keeps on changing as per the market trends. But if your sales forecasting system is outdated, chances are you are spending a lot on it and that too with zero outcome. In this article, we will look at whether or not your current sales forecasting system is costing you money — and if so, we are here to show you how to fix it with CRM software and other automation practices. There are plenty of software solution available in the market and many of them are a top notch alternative of Salesforce automation software, which certainly helps you manage the sales forecasting without much hassles.

Is your sales forecasting software costing you money?

It is important to understand how you can use your sales forecasting software to save money. Forecasting is a skill that every business needs, but it’s also one that many businesses don’t practice enough.

However, if you are not using any kind of sales forecasting software or so, it’s time to reconsider your plan. Make sure that whatever you choose improves your bottom line and make sure that everyone involved in the process has access to accurate data on their customers’ needs.

Can you optimize your data to process in order to produce the forecasts?

The best way is to make the most of your available data to make an accurate forecast. But, for the right usage of optimized data, it’s important to use the right kind of tool. However, if your business has a diverse customer base then you must get a CRM software that comes with an analytics platform. It helps you get more accurate forecasts than Excel spreadsheets. Moreover, making an Excel sheet manually is time consuming and eats up your major productive time. With a software in place you can manage things better and make sure that you have enough time left for more productive work. However, if all your customers have similar needs and demographics (i.e., they all live in New York), then there may not be much benefit from using a more comprehensive solution. The best way for businesses with multiple products or services, or even just one product to choose between different tools is by asking themselves these five questions:

Get a count of the Sales forecast hours each employee puts in every week

• Calculate forecast hours for each employee.
• Calculate forecast hours for the department, company and region as a whole.

Can your salespeople forecast on their own or do they need access to external data sources

When you are forecasting sales, you need to make sure that your forecasts are as accurate as possible. One way to do this is by using external data sources in combination with the information your salespeople have gathered themselves.

External data sources can include things like weather reports, economic reports and even social media feeds (if they exist). These will help determine what kind of seasonality there is in your business and how much variation there will be between periods of high demand or low demand. If a lot of people are going out for lunch at noon then maybe it won’t work well for dinner time deliveries because there’ll be fewer people around who want those items delivered later on in the day — but if everyone has just come back from church then orders could still be coming through but more slowly than usual because fewer people would want them right now (or tomorrow).

Can Your Sales CRM Handle Constantly Changing Product Offerings?

There are companies that have a diverse product range. Quite obviously they keep on changing their product offerings on a regular basis. Opt for a CRM software that handles diverse product offerings at a time.

• If you are having multiple product offerings, you need to know that your sales team is also having a big time problem for the same. Managing multiple products at the same time is not an overnight task. Every product comes with its own unique features and benefits. So, it’s important to choose one that supports your purpose.
• What if one of these changes was unexpected or caused an issue with a customer’s billing plan? How long would it take before everything was working properly again? If a change like this occurs during the middle of the quarter when all parties involved are busy, there could be delays in reporting data back into the system so that managers know what’s going on across accounts (and departments).

Leverage Sales Force Automation Software and Cut down your costs

Automation saves time, which means you have more of it to devote to other important tasks. You’ll be able to focus on strategy and planning instead of data entry, reducing the amount of time spent on administrative tasks like entering orders or making chart updates. Automation also makes it easier for your sales team members to move from one project task into another, freeing them up from having multiple windows open at once and allowing them more flexibility in their daily workflow as well as when they’re working with clients directly (you want them focused). Finally, automation makes it easier for your team members who work remotely by allowing them access through a browser instead of being forced onto an internal system where they might not have access or permission needed by others who are not partaking in the same activity — which could lead back into conflicts over sharing information between departments/teams within an organization depending on how strict someone’s security policy is set up.

The Final Takeaway

This is a complex question and honestly speaking there are no simple answers. However, we hope to have made you more aware of some of the opportunities for reducing costs when using Salesforce automation software. If you have any questions or would like further advice on how to improve your forecasting processes then please get in touch with the ConvergeHub experts through email and phone number.