Question

What are the implications of the sales manager’s ability to accurately forecast sales? What role do B2B customers play in this activity? When using the sales pipeline or sales activity methods of sales forecasting, what should the sales manager consider?

Answer 1

The implication of accurately forecasting sales are:

• No loss of revenue due to unavailability of product or service
• Optimum inventory level for the organization helping to minimize spend on storage and handling
• Helps to optimize production run and Operational activities for smooth working

The B2B customers have important role to play in accurate forecasting as they have much wider visibility of their requirement which is usually stable in nature. The sharing of requirement in advance helps the sales manager to accurately forecast and share with manufacturing team. The stability of B2B customers is the key for forecasting accurately.

The sales managers should consider below:

• The inventory or stock held with customers. If the customer is having high stock, the demand will be low
• The marketing and promotional plans in future as it will boost up the demand and thus sales number may go up
• The historical market trend in regard to seasonality, purchasing pattern etc.
• Current market situation in regard to competitor's activity, economic condition etc.