前言
Salesforce Forecasting 正在不断演进，为未来、为下一代销售领导者而生。作为 Sales Cloud 的一个重要功能模块，Salesforce Forecasting 在过去几个版本中经历了全面升级，带来了更现代的界面和一系列新功能，使预测成为销售管理的核心工具。
Salesforce 预测团队基于大量客户的实际应用场景，并结合 Salesforce 自身内部使用该功能的经验，识别并实现了最急需的功能。本文将带您了解 Salesforce 预测的优势与特性，并介绍如何进行配置。
Collaborative Forecasts Concepts
通过机会（Opportunity）管道来预测销售情况，并可根据需要引入产品家族（Product Family）、产品计划（Product Schedule）、区域（Territory）、机会拆分（Opportunity Splits）以及自定义指标等维度。
REQUIRED EDITIONS\
- 可用于 Salesforce Classic（并非所有组织都支持）和 Lightning Experience
- 适用于 Professional、Performance 和 Developer Edition，以及启用了 Sales Cloud 的 Enterprise 和 Unlimited Edition
What is Sales Forecasting?
销售预测是对未来销售情况的预估 —— 哪些交易会成交，以及何时成交。企业通常会预测销售收入或产品数量。这些预测对于企业的关键决策具有深远影响，例如预算制定、库存采购、目标设定以及发现销售漏斗中的缺口。
不同公司的预测流程因收入模式、销售团队结构及行业特点而异。为了确保预测的准确性，选择一个能够适应你业务需求、销售流程和预测频率的高效工具至关重要。
Here, we explore key use cases for forecasting:
- By sales hierarchy: The structure of sales teams varies depending on the size of the organization. Smaller companies typically adopt a reporting hierarchy, with sales managers overseeing their respective sales representatives. However, as companies grow larger, they often transition to align sales territories and base their forecasts on the territory hierarchy. This approach provides a more granular understanding of sales performance across different regions.
- By sales role: Many organizations have specialist sales teams, commonly known as overlay teams, that support the direct sellers during the sales process. These specialists can focus on specific product lines or assume supporting roles, such as Sales Engineers. Overlay teams often have separate quotas and may be credited for a percentage of the deal value or based on product amounts. These individual forecasts are then consolidated to generate their team forecasts.
- By revenue model: While forecasting based on booking amounts is common, many industries now incorporate subscription or recurring revenue models where revenue is recognized over time. In these cases, forecasts need to consider the duration of customer subscriptions and accurately project revenue inflows throughout the defined periods.
- By segment: Companies are increasingly segmenting their revenue forecasts based on deal type, such as New Business, Renewals, and Upsells. Alternatively, they may segment forecasts by customer types, such as Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs) versus Enterprise clients. By categorizing forecasts in this manner, organizations can better analyze and predict revenue generation patterns within specific segments, enabling targeted sales strategies.
- By industry: In industries like Manufacturing, forecasting often occurs at the product level. This approach involves viewing and setting forecasts based on the products or services being delivered. In addition to revenue forecasts, quantity forecasts are also crucial in such cases. The forecasting period can be determined by the product delivery date or scheduled date.
It is important to select a flexible forecasting tool that can accommodate these factors, enabling organizations to tailor their forecasting models to their specific business requirements, sales processes, and industry dynamics.
Why Choose Salesforce for Forecasting?
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, such as Salesforce, is the best place to forecast since this is where you store your real-time sales data. It is time to move away from forecasting in spreadsheets and start using Salesforce Forecasting for a better, more scalable way to create effective forecasts. With Salesforce Forecasting, you can model any forecasting process with an easy-to-use, self-service configuration that enables companies to model any of the use cases listed earlier. Furthermore, sales teams are armed with integrated insights and analytics in their flow of work, to ensure both deal accuracy and forecast accuracy. The best thing? Forecasting is included with Sales Cloud at no additional cost!
How Does Forecasting Work in Salesforce?
Forecast Types
The first thing to understand about forecasting in Salesforce is Forecast Types. Forecast Types determine what is being forecast and how forecasts are rolled up.
When you create a Forecast Type, you’ll select:
- Object (forecasting supports opportunity, opportunity product, opportunity splits, product splits, and line item schedule)
- Splits allow you to allocate contributions by total opportunity amount or by product amounts when multiple sales teams are involved e.g. overlay teams, product specialists, and solution engineers. These teams can forecast off these split amounts instead of the total opportunity amount.
- With line item schedules, you can forecast revenue spread over time e.g. with subscription revenue.
- Product family
- Specific measure (revenue, quantity, or custom)
- Date type (close date, product, schedule date, or custom date)
- Hierarchy (user role or territory)
- Filters to configure segment-based forecasts e.g. new business versus add-on versus renewals, OR license versus maintenance versus services.
Forecasting hierarchy是和role一比一对应的，如果一个sales manager需要看到其下一级下属的opportunity以及对应的forecasting需要把他和下属配置到对应的forecasting hierarchy中 Salesforce: Intro to Forecasting and Setting Up the Forecast Hierarchy www.youtube.com/watch?time_…
Enabling override forecast permission in the Manager's profile will allow sales directors to view and update their teams' forecasts. This will give them the visibility and control they need to manage their teams' forecasts effectively.
From www.salesforceben.com/complete-gu…
Reference Link: Forecast Accurately With Collaborative Forecasts in Lightning Experience | Salesforce Collaborative Forecasting in Lightning Salesforce: Forecast Ranges and Quotas
