Revenue Forecasting Requires Commitment
The purpose of revenue forecasting is to anticipate and facilitate planning activities and help automotive organizations identify buying and selling opportunities, reach targets and achieve the maximum potential from customers and territories. We find that revenue forecasting is often attempted but less often done well. More than one-half of organizations participating in our market research said that their revenue forecasting process is not reliable.
To be effective, the revenue forecasting process for the automotive industry must involve all stakeholders and use complete, timely information. The forecast should rest upon a single central data repository from which all authorized people can access information. While the revenue forecasting process must be systematic, forecasts themselves must be flexible enough to accommodate changes in deals including their status and amount. This requires everyone to provide timely information that can be made available to whomever needs it. Therefore, management must insist that everyone in the demand and buying processes contribute the data they have and keep it up to date.