Forecasting

The Future of Forecasting: Animated Forecasts

Headshot photograph of Webster Pilcher

Webster Pilcher
Former Employee

Published

Updated

Ready to take your revenue to new heights?

Stylistic illustration showing a sun, shopping cart, and dollar sign
Stylistic illustration showing a sun, shopping cart, and dollar sign

Selling is fire-in-the-belly ambition in action. Why is forecasting so static?

You're in sales because you're comfortable in the heat of battle—where the action is. Dancing. Responding. Facing a "no" and still getting to "yes." So why doesn't your CRM embrace action and change? Why does your forecast always feel a little like yesterday's news?

Old-school CRM systems rely on batch reporting. The forecasts they create are point-in-time snapshots. But you want to know what's moving. For that matter, you want to know what's not moving.

You don't want a snapshot—you want a movie. You want to see how the action is playing out and what roles you and your team can play.

Seeing at a glance the movement in your deals and forecast—as well as the stalls—is a game-changer. It informs your coaching, resource allocation, and forecasting. It compresses the time from insight to action. And it gets even better when your forecasting system and your rep's mobile deal support is all one system. See a close date drifting out? Notice that the exec sponsor isn't engaged? A quick recommendation on account strategy goes right into the rep's pocket. That's how you bring your forecast into the heat of battle.

The best part: seeing what I mean by an "animated forecast" that shows the action and changes in a deal takes all of five minutes to see and understand. I kid you not when I say I have seen jaws drop when I show this.

It is time to change the game. Let's get to it.