Generate Intelligent Sales Forecasts with Market Demographics
IMPORT HISTORICAL DATA
First, import the historical data you’d like to factor into your forecasts. This can include:
- Deal size
- Lead cost
- Conversion rates
- Customer segments
- Commissions + bonuses
- Sales activity data
- Time to convert
- Lead quality
- ROI
This data can be pulled into your Mapline visualizations to empower you to compare and contrast key metrics and reveal new insights about your sales, operations, and customers.
CALCULATE TOTALS, AVERAGES, & MORE
To generate an accurate forecast, you’ll need to know some very specific metrics. These can include:
- Average number of touch points
- Average conversion rate
- Average deal size
- Average lead cost
- Average churn rate
- Average ROI
- Pipeline coverage
- Total paid commissions
- Total referral bonuses
- Total mileage driven
ENHANCE WITH DEMOGRAPHICS
Next, we’ll enhance your analytics even further. Add demographic data to your datasets and quickly pinpoint untapped markets and ideal expansion areas.
This is a fantastic way to inform your next big move, whether it’s opening a new location, hiring a new sales rep, or testing the waters in a new market.
Once you have the data you need, you can visualize it on your map pop-out bubbles or leverage it when creating new territories. The possibilities are endless!
Pro Tip: Segment your audience to compare your existing market segments against demographic data. This is a powerful way to hone in on your ideal audience and make truly data-driven decisions with your team.
SALES CHARTS
Let’s create a sales chart showcasing your historical sales, YTD sales, and projected sales.
First, add a new chart and name it. Click and drag the field by which you’d like to categorize your data into the X-axis, such as REGION or DIVISION. Then, drag your historical sales data columns into the Y-axis.
If you have a dataset column with projected sales, click and drag it into the Y-axis field. Click the OPTIONS drop-down arrow in your projected sales column, hover over TYPE, and select LINE.
Segment your chart data, or apply any other chart customizations you need, then you’re good to go!
Pro Tip: Automatically collect data from sales reps to feed into your sales forecasts. Ensure that your team reporting collects the metrics you need, such as pipeline stage, lead quality, deal size, and follow-up dates. These metrics will help you visualize progress over time, and adding them to your regular reporting ensures automatic updates with every touch point.
SALES REPORTS
Alternatively, create a report that uses data from your pipeline to forecast quarterly sales revenue.
Create a new report and name it. Then, click and drag your desired data into the COLUMNS and ROWS fields. Then, configure your report calculations, such as total projected increase by product. Make any other necessary adjustments to your report, then you’re all set!
Pro Tip: Keep everything in one place so you can focus on crafting data-driven strategies and wowing upper management. Add your visualizations to a dashboard to make it easy to present your findings to your team!
