Sales Management Sales Forecasting Topic 13
Sales Forecasting What is it? Why do it? Qualitative vs Quantitative Goal = Accuracy Commonly Done by Marketing
Forecasting Overview Hard to do, but must be done Shorter Time Frames are more accurate Harder for New Products No Substitute for Actual Demand Done for Each Product, Territory, ….. Multiple Methods often used
Goal is…. Accuracy And Accuracy
Mean Absolute % Error (MAPE) Why Mape (or MSE)? All past forecasts Does not control for external shocks
Patterns Trend Seasonality Cycle Outliers
Market Potential Buying Power Index NAICS Trade Press Chain Ratio Leading Indicators
Qualitative Methods Turning Points & Shocks Sales Force Composite Jury of Executive Opinion Survey of Customer Buying Intentions
Quantitative Methods Strong & Weak Points Seasonal Adjustments Naïve Moving Averages Exponential Smoothing Other Methods
Naïve Method Previous Period = Forecast More Accurate than you think
Moving Averages 2PMA 3PMA Ex 2PMA: t1 = 100 t2 = 150 Forecast = 125
Exponential Smoothing 2 Formulas Usually High Alpha (why done)
Exponential Smoothing Example Alpha = = = = forecast =.9 (1200) +.1 (1000) = forecast =.9 (1100) +.1 (1180) = 1108
Regression Dependent vs Independent Variables Can you get data? Better than using dependent variable alone?
Trend Projections Why Done Problems With
Most Firms Use > 1 Method