| People on the go, in
and out, trying to keep in touch by voice mail, email and notes
hastily scribbled and left in your in-box – is this any
way to handle the flow of vital information about important
assignments and events? Of course not. Your sales team can’t
afford the confusion and misunderstanding – the “but
I thought you said,” and “no, this is what I clearly
meant” that spell communication disasters. In our Sales
Management Training seminars we devote a lot of time to
helping you build sales management communication skills and
designing an effective communication system to make sure everyone
understands and gets it right the first time.
Creating reasonable sales forecasts for your company is easier
than you might think.
Q: How do I forecast annual retail sales revenue for my small
business?
A: Think of your sales forecast as an educated guess. Forecasting
takes good working knowledge of your business, not advanced
degrees or complex mathematics. It's much more art than science.
The research for a good forecast is almost always harder
than the final process of actually making the educated guesses.
Your business size can determine whether your forecast may
be simple or detailed. When the research is already done,
the mechanics of sales forecasting are relatively simple.
Forecasting is usually easier when you break your sales down
into manageable parts and then forecast the parts. Estimate
your sales by product line, month by month, and then add the
product lines for
all months. Typically you'll need to project monthly sales
for the next 12 months and annual sales for the following
three years.
Consider a forecast that projects $1,000 in sales for the
month, compared to one that projects 100 units at $10 each
for the month. In the second case, when the forecast is price
times units, as soon as you know the price is going up, you
know the resulting sales should also increase.
A narrative contained in your business
plan or similar document should summarize and highlight
the numbers you've entered in the sales forecast table. Make
sure you discuss important assumptions in enough detail and
that you explain the background sufficiently. Try to anticipate
the questions your readers will ask.
Somewhere near the sales
forecast, you should describe your sales strategy—how
and when to close sales; how to compensate salespeople; how
to optimize order processing and database management; and
how to maneuver price, delivery and conditions. Explain the
details of how you'll achieve these numbers you've forecasted.
By Steven K. Baker
Dallas
Sales Management Training - Know What the Numbers Mean
Sales Training Quote
"The most interesting thing about a postage stamp is
the
persistence with which it sticks to its job."
Napoleon Hill
Suggested Reading:
The Management of Sales
Training
by National Society of Sales Training Executives.
Proactive
Sales Management: How to Lead, Motivate, and Stay Ahead
of the Game
by William Skip Miller
A case study of sales management
training programs
by David A Erickson
Development and management
of sales training for microcomputer distributors
by Susan F Shapiro
Study of the educational and formal management training of
chief sales executives of large industrial goods firms
by Robert F Vizza
Secrets of Great Sales Management, The: Advanced Strategies
for Maximizing Performance
by Robert A. Simpkins
The Greatest Sales Training In The World
by Robert Nelson
Selling and management in appliance retailing, (Appliance
sales training)
by Pauline W Burbrink
Sales Training Basics (Kogan Page Better Management Skills)
by Elwood N. Chapman
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