Uses of Sales Forecasting

Name: Uses of Sales Forecasting
Author: Kersten Kelly Brunner

Learn how to customize a sales forecast based on your business structure.

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 5 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

(contemplative music) Throughout these next lessons, you will learn about the applications of forecasting for three different business types: startup businesses, small businesses and large businesses. You'll gain perspective on the process, methods used and why it's important to consider the scope of your business before you project sales. You will also understand how online and digital sales forecasting varies from traditional methods. Let's discuss how startup companies utilize the forecasting process to help them launch their business. Your business size drastically influences how you should conduct your business. Startup businesses usually have limited amounts of cashflow and need to carefully plan inventory and labor to begin generating a profit. To do this, it's important to create a strong, accurate forecast. This forecast enables a startup to optimize the limited resources that are available by highlighting priorities that will build the business. It also helps a newer business predict seasonal demands of products and services so they can drive production in times of increased demand. Since new businesses don't have much history to predict their data, the best approach would be the qualitative method. For example, if you have a new smartphone product enter the market, you'll want to gather as much information about potential consumer behavior and sales of similar products to more accurately predict how your phone will be received. Since it will be different from what already exists, it's critical to get information and data from multiple resources to predict how the advantages and disadvantages of your product will compare. Initial forecasts for a startup are slightly more difficult because there isn't much information about how consumers will react to the new product or service. Some are extremely successful, and others can fail after some time, despite what a forecast predicts. As these new companies grow, they must track their sales data to help with future forecasts, which builds the database so they can eventually use quantitative methods. One way to prevent negative impacts from an inaccurate forecast is to implement the rolling forecast. This provides an opportunity to make changes, reallocate resources and stay in-tune with your growing business. If necessary, changes can be made as needed without waiting an entire fiscal year for the forecast to be revised.

Intermediate Provider : Kersten Kelly Brunner 5 Lessons · 12m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Chinese

Course Description

Your business size drastically influences how you should conduct your business. With these lessons, you’ll soon know how to create a forecast that benefits each business type, and the benefits and advantages of forecasting. A forecast is a useful tool to project how your sales and marketing efforts will do. You’ll also discover how online and digital sales forecasting vary from traditional techniques. This course will demonstrate the different types of applications for forecasting startup businesses, small businesses, and large businesses. You’ll learn about the methods used, and why the type of business you’re forecasting is important to understand before forecasting. You will also learn about online and digital sales forecasting. You can use the information you learn to maximize your organization’s profitability.

What You'll Learn

Differentiate sales forecasting approaches for startup, small, and large businesses
Create a forecast suited to each business type and its size
Apply the rolling forecast approach and revise forecasts over time
Determine the best pricing strategy for your business
Distinguish online and digital sales forecasting from traditional techniques
Identify forecasting opportunities for businesses based on their size

Key Takeaways

Business size drastically influences how forecasting should be conducted, so the type of business must be understood before forecasting.
A forecast is a useful tool for projecting how sales and marketing efforts will perform.
Online and digital sales forecasting vary from traditional forecasting techniques.
Forecasting has different applications for startup, small, and large businesses, as well as online platforms.
The information learned can be used to maximize an organization's profitability.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is this course for?

It is for anyone forecasting sales across different business types, covering startup businesses, small businesses, and large businesses, as well as online platforms.

What topics does the course cover?

It covers forecasting for startup, small, and large businesses, digital sales forecasting, how to revise forecasts using a rolling forecast approach, determining the best pricing strategy, and identifying forecasting opportunities based on business size.

How is forecasting for startups different from large businesses?

The course teaches the differences between forecasting for startup, small, and large businesses and explains why the type of business being forecasted is important to understand before forecasting.

What lessons are included?

The lessons are Startup Businesses, Small Businesses, Large Businesses, Digital Sales Forecasting, and a Test Your Knowledge assessment.

How can I apply what I learn?

You can use the information learned to maximize your organization's profitability and to project how your sales and marketing efforts will perform.