Sales managers often ask their sales team for forecasts on future sales, but they need to be careful because salespeople might guess too high or too low to influence their quotas.
An easy way for the sales manager to get a sales forecast is to get the sales force to
provide the data. All the salespeople are asked how much they plan to sell or estimate
they will sell in the next sales cycle, which can be anything from three months
to one year. The initial estimate will often be adjusted by the different levels of
sales management, be it the assistant sales manager, sales manager, divisional sales
manager, regional sales manager or similar in larger organisations, until the sales
forecast figures satisfy the expectations of top management.
One way in which the sales manager can make sure that the forecast by a specific
salesperson is accurate is to look at past estimates by that person or for that product
or territory. Once past estimates have been checked the current sales forecast can
be adapted if necessary. Sales managers must be very careful in analysing forecasts
provided by salespeople, because they may either over- or underestimate how much
they will sell in the next sales cycle. Many organisations make use of the salespeople’s
forecasts to determine their sales quotas. So salespeople might underestimate in
their sales forecasts to ensure a lower, more easily achievable sales quota; if they then
achieve their sales quota, it will look like they have performed strongly. As with the
other sales forecast methods, there are advantages and disadvantages to using the sales
force to do sales forecasts
paraphrase to one short sentence and use simple vocabulary
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