The reality is that, for a number of reasons, 30% of the opportunities currently residing in your pipeline will not translate into deals - do you know which ones they are? If you can weed out the weak leads early enough, you will create MUCH more time to follow up on those leads that have a higher chance of closing, and therefore, are worth your time. 

1. SALES FORECASTING TEMPLATE SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com

2. SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com Why Conduct Sales Forecasting?

4. Guiding Principles for Preparing, and Applying the Template: Your forecasting skills will improve with experience particularly if you treat it as a "live" forecast. Review your numbers weekly (depending on your sales cycle time from lead to close), insert actual numbers, and revise the forecast if you discover unusual events. If you follow these steps regularly, your forecasting technique will rapidly improve and forecasted numbers will become increasingly accurate. SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com

5. Guiding Principles for Preparing, and Applying the Template: The pipeline information in your sales force automation (SFA) system serves as a primary input into the sales forecasting process. Most account managers will use their own spreadsheet to input data into their SFA system. This template is designed to assist in creating and maintaining spreadsheet(s). SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com

6. Forecasting Progression The following graphic shows these levels and the data fill for each level. Step 5: Lead Level data is input into Step 4: Product Level , which is input into Step 3: Account Level , which is input into Step 2: Probability Level , which is input into Step 1: Time Level . The variables shown will be different for each business segment type, but the workflow is universally adaptable. The forecast time window is shown in weeks, but may be different such as by quarters. SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com

7. Forecasting Progression SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com

8. STEP 1: SUPPORTING INFORMATION SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com

9. STEP 2: LEAD LEVEL SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com

10. STEP 3: PRODUCT LEVEL SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com

11. STEP 4: ACCOUNT LEVEL SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com

12. STEP 5: PROBABILITY LEVEL SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com

13. STEP 6: TIME LEVEL SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com

14. You are now ready to go forward and begin your own forecasting with the functional Microsoft Excel Sales Forecasting Template. Download it here: http://www.salesquest.com/resources/sales-forecasting-template/ For more information or if you have any questions, please contact: [email_address] SalesQuest | 16 Haverhill Street | Andover, MA | 01810 | 978.749.9999 | www.SalesQuest.com