There’s sNOw Business without Planning
2 Feb 2015In light of last week’s rather…interesting weather forecast and the resulting emergency measures put in place along the U.S. Northeast coast, I think the whole concept of the reliability of forecasting has been pushed to centre stage.
I know we all joke about how unreliable weather forecasting is and how you can’t rely on anything meteorologists say, the number of times they get it right (or pretty close to right) I find impressive.
And when they get it wrong, it is very rare that the difference between the actual weather and what they forecast is huge.
In business, the ability to forecast next week or next month’s revenue can be vital. It can tell you if you’ll be able to buy those new computers you need. Or whether you can afford to splash out on that company social.
In OpenCRM, you can use the Opportunities module to provide these forecasting figures.
By having your sales team add the amount of the Opportunity and the date they expect it to close in the Revenue Forecast block, you’ll be able to run an Opportunity Revenue report to see what your sales team expect to sell in the coming weeks and months.
Just the like weather forecast, this might not be a to-the-penny exact for what you actually make in the coming weeks and months, but it should give you a general idea of whether the sun will be shining or if you need to bring your brolly.
Although I originally hail from northern California, as soon as I arrived in Yorkshire I knew it was the place for me! At OpenCRM, I started out in the Business Development team, and then moved into compliance and Q&A because I love telling people what to do…ok, that’s not the real reason, but it makes for a good bio one-liner. When I’m not in the office, you can usually find me tramping through the dales, crafting, gardening, or with my nose in a book.