Sales Forecast

Overview

Note: Help content (except videos) has been updated to reflect the UI/UX changes in BQE CORE.

A sales forecast helps your organization predict how much revenue your sales team can generate in a given time-frame. When estimated correctly, it can play a significant role in your company's financial success. BQE CORE CRM offers a Sales Forecast screen for this purpose. You can now sneak peek into your sales pipeline and foresee the revenue that can be generated over a period. Additionally, you can track the efficiency of your sales team by comparing their sales goals to opportunities won.

The Sales Forecast screen allows data to be viewed in a Distributive or Summarized view. It brings up all the underlying active opportunities in your CRM and allows you to predict the future sales. You can view won as well as ongoing opportunities here. The Distributive view displays estimated sales of all open opportunities that have the probability of less than 50% to more than 90%, rolled up based on the target date. Usually, opportunities with a probability of 90% or higher are the candidates for sure-shot revenue. If you want to make changes to the pipeline, you can do it right here without leaving the screen. The Summarized view works on the same principle; however, the distribution is based on a year rather than the probability of winning and it focuses on the ongoing, committed opportunities. Click to watch this video on viewing sales forecast in CORE CRM.

sales_forecast_thumbnail.png

Note: The Sales Forecast security matches the Opportunities security for all profiles, including the custom profiles.

Field Descriptions

How To

View Sales Forecast

View Reports

Export Sales Forecast

Show/Hide Columns in Grid

Apply Filters

Mark Screen as Favorite

Field Descriptions

Field Name Field Description
Sales Forecast > List View
Show There are two views for you to choose from for the sales forecast:
  • Distributive: In this detailed view, you can see the sales forecast amounts for the selected interval, including won and lost opportunities. Based on the assigned salesperson and probability of each opportunity, the Distributive view allots opportunity forecast amounts to four probability sections, namely Committed (90% and higher), Best Case (75%-89%), Pipeline (50% to 74%) and Omitted (<50%). Usually, opportunities with a probability of 90% or higher are the candidates for sure-shot revenue.
  • Summarized: In this summary view, you can see the sales forecast amount for the selected interval, except for won and lost opportunities. Here the distribution is based on a year rather than the probability of winning. Although, this view by default focuses on committed opportunities only (ongoing opportunities with a probability of 90% or above), you can use the filter to include other forecast categories like Best Case, Pipeline and Omitted.
View By You can view the sales forecast by Prospect or by Resource. A forecast can be for an employee as well as a vendor (type contract employee or outside consultant).
Interval There are three time intervals for sales forecasts: monthly, quarterly or yearly. You can accordingly select the relevant period to display the forecast. This quick filter considers the Target Date of ongoing opportunities, and Closed On date of won and lost opportunities
Goal Sales goal set for a specific owner. There is a progress bar displaying the achieved target as compared to the goal. This is available only in the Distributive view with View By: Resource.

Committed

Aggregated (rolled-up) value of estimated sales of all open opportunities that have the probability equal to 90% or more. This is available only in the Distributive view.
Best Case

Aggregated (rolled-up) value of estimated sales of all open opportunities that have the probability equal or more than 75%, but less than 90%. This is available only in the Distributive view.

Pipeline

Aggregated (rolled-up) value of estimated sales of all open opportunities that have the probability equal or more than 50%, but less than 75%. This is available only in the Distributive view.

Omitted

Aggregated (rolled-up) value of excluded sales of all open opportunities that have probability less than 50%. This is available only in the Distributive view.

Won

Aggregated (rolled-up) value of sales that is generated for all won opportunities. This is available only in the Distributive view.

Lost

Aggregated (rolled-up) value of sales that is lost for all lost opportunities. This is available only in the Distributive view.

Sales Forecast > Sales Forecast Details >
Opportunity Name Name of the opportunity expected from a prospect.
Prospect This is the prospect associated with the opportunity. If an opportunity is converted to a project, this prospect becomes the client of that converted project.
Value Monetary value or worth of an opportunity.
Probability % Current possibility of winning the opportunity. This value is in percentage, say 50%, but you can change it. You can also update the probability of an opportunity later from the Opportunities screen.
Forecast Forecast refers to the revenue that you expect from the opportunity. It represents the monetary value of an opportunity.
Target Date The realistic close date by which you want to win the opportunity. It represents a deadline for an opportunity. It can be changed as needed.
Expiration Date Calculated as the last expected close date, the opportunity's expected or actual close date.

View Sales Forecast

To view the sales forecast, watch this video or follow these steps:

  1. Open the Sales Forecast screen from the side menu > CRM > Sales.

    sales_forecast_view1.png

  2. Select your view from the Show drop-down. There are two views for you to choose from for the sales forecast. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
    • Distributive
    • Summarized
  3. Then select the criteria for displaying the sales forecast. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
    • View By: Prospect or Resource
    • Interval
  4. Depending on your selection, you can view the sales forecast on the grid. Click dropdown-caret.png on a row and select View Details.
  5. On the Sales Forecast Details screen, review the sales information and edit the values, if needed. Check Field Descriptions above for details.

    sales_forecast_view2.png

    • Opportunity
    • Prospect
    • Value: Monetary value or worth of an opportunity
    • Forecast: revenue that you expect from the opportunity
    • Probability %
    • Target Date
    • Expiration Date
  6. Click Done to save the changes.

View Reports

To view a report:

  1. Open the Sales Forecast screen from the side menu > CRM > Sales.

    sales_forecast_reports.png

  2. In the list view, click More > View Reports.
  3. Select a report from the Report List dialog. It opens in the viewer.
  4. Preview the report and then choose to export or print it.

You can also check the detailed video on running and managing reports in CORE.

Export Sales Forecast

In CORE, you can export sales forecast to the Comma Separated Values file format. CORE exports data from all available columns and not just columns visible in the grid.

To export sales forecast records to a .CSV file, watch this video or follow these steps:

  1. Open the Sales Forecast screen from the side menu > CRM > Sales.
  2. In the list view, click dropdown-caret.png on a row and select View Details.
  3. On the Sales Forecast Details screen, click More > Export as CSV.

    Sales forecast export.png

  4. A .csv export file is created and saved on your system at the default download location, say your desktop. Click to open the spreadsheet.

You can also check the detailed video on exporting data in CORE.

Show/Hide Columns in Grid

You can configure the fields or columns that appear on the grid in the list view. You can hide or show columns, and sort the order of columns according to your requirements.

To do so, watch this video or follow these steps:

  1. Open the Sales Forecast screen from the side menu > CRM > Sales.

    sales_forecast_show_hide.png

  2. In the Distributive list view, click More > Show/Hide Columns on the action bar.
  3. Select or un-select the column names in the drop-down list, say Pipeline.
  4. Next, click the column name you want to sort the data by, say Best Case.
  5. Click once for ascending order (A-Z) and twice for descending order (Z-A).

Note: You can resize the column widths on the grid and then reset them, if needed (More > Reset Column Widths).

You can also check the detailed video on navigation and customizing grids in CORE.

Apply Filters

When using the filter search or applying filters, CORE intelligently updates the info bars to reflect the values of the filtered list.

To view selective data on the grid, watch this video or follow these steps:

  1. Open the Sales Forecast screen from the side menu > CRM > Sales.

    sales_forecast_filters.png

  2. In the list view, click filters-01.png on the right.
  3. On the Filters panel, select a filter from the drop-down and specify individual records or range.
  4. Click Add Filters to specify more filters.
  5. When you have finished, click Apply Filter. You can see selective data now.
  6. In the list view, you can remove the individual filters by clicking remove-01.png on each. To disable applied filters temporarily or remove all filters, click filter_icon.png next to the Filters icon and select Disable Filters or Clear All, respectively.

You can also check the detailed video on applying filters in CORE.

Mark Screen as Favorite

You can mark or flag the most-often used and important screens in CORE as your favorites up to a maximum of ten. These favorite screens then display separately on the side menu under the Favorites list. You can manage all your favorite screens in CORE from User Settings.

To mark this screen as your favorite, watch this video or follow these steps:

  1. Open the Sales Forecast screen from the side menu > CRM > Sales.

    Sales forecast fav.png

  2. In the list view, click favorites.png on the top-right.
  3. You can access this screen from the side menu under Favorites.

You can also check the detailed video on marking screens as favorite in CORE.