The Best Sales Forecasting Software
- Connected Planning platform enables collaborative planning
- Hyperblock™ modeling and calculation engine
- Unified cloud-based software
- Aggregates historical data for trend analysis
- Customizable forecasting models
- Integrates with a large number of tools
- Near-total customizability
- Integrated gamification features
- Video guides help understand complex features
The best financial forecasting software includes Workday Adaptive Planning, Budgyt, and Planful. The right forecasting software will create financial reports of expected sales based on historical trends, economic conditions, industry behavior, changes within your company, and selected time periods.
We’ve reviewed 20+ options, and our expert picks showcase top solutions that enable businesses to predict future revenue, expenses, and growth trends with accuracy, while minimizing human error.
- Anaplan: Best Overall
- Sales Cloud from Salesforce: Best For Customizable KPIs
- Zoho CRM: Best For Predictive Forecasting
- Pipedrive: Best For Custom Dashboards
- Workday Adaptive Planning: Best For Large Enterprises
1 Anaplan - Best Overall
Why We Chose It: Anaplan excels in the realm of sales forecasting, offering a real-time, data-driven approach that makes it the go-to for any business looking to have a pulse on its sales metrics. Its cloud-based nature ensures accessibility for remote teams and it boasts an excellent track record.
What sets Anaplan apart is its flexibility in data manipulation. Users can zoom in on specifics like geography, SKU, or even a set of accounts to get an accurate forecast. This level of granularity enables sales teams to pivot strategies in real-time, much like a weather app that updates every second.
Additionally, Anaplan offers a holistic view of sales metrics, ensuring that not just sales teams but also finance, marketing, and executive leaders are on the same page. Its integrative approach brings together various data points into a single dashboard, thereby fostering enhanced communication and decision-making across the board.
Its scalable architecture means it’s not just limited to sales forecasting; you can add on modules for workforce planning, supply chain management, and more, as your business grows. This makes Anaplan a highly adaptive and future-proof choice for companies that want to keep all their eggs in one, highly efficient basket.
2 Sales Cloud from Salesforce - Best For Customizable KPIs
Why We Chose It: Sales Cloud excels in sales forecasting due to its real-time insights and customizable KPIs. Designed for both simple and complex sales organizations, it gives sales leaders a complete snapshot of their pipeline, enabling data-driven decisions.
Its standout feature is its robust Forecast Management. You can tailor KPIs to match your unique business goals, identify pipeline trends, and make quick adjustments to drive accuracy. For organizations with layered sales channels and revenue streams, advanced functionalities like Overlay Splits allow for precise revenue attribution.
The Einstein AI further enriches forecasting by flagging potential risks or trends, ensuring you’re not just reacting to the market but proactively steering your sales strategies. This makes Sales Cloud a tailored, real-time, and intelligent choice for sales forecasting.
3 Zoho CRM - Best For Predictive Forecasting
Why We Chose It: Zoho CRM shines when it comes to predictive sales forecasting, thanks to its AI-powered assistant, Zia. The software doesn’t just help you set targets based on past performance and current pipeline; it actually predicts which deals are most likely to close. By analyzing historical data and current deal closure patterns, Zia offers intelligent recommendations for both company-wide and individual targets. It gives sales leaders the tools to set multiple conditional forecasts, providing a comprehensive view of revenue prospects for different periods and conditions.
The platform offers granularity in its forecasting features that are second to none. Sales reps can categorize deals as “Best Case” or “Committed,” thereby offering management a transparent picture of the pipeline. This nuanced approach helps in setting realistic and achievable goals. Add to that the flexibility to adjust targets based on real-time performance and a hierarchical view that breaks down forecasts from top to bottom, and you’ve got a system that adapts to your sales process while giving decision-makers greater visibility and control.
4 Pipedrive - Best For Custom Dashboards
Why We Chose It: Pipedrive features real-time reports and complete sales pipeline visibility, enabling sales teams to focus on activities and deals that will help meet targets. The platform’s metrics-based approach fuels decision-making, allowing for quick adjustments in strategy to ensure that sales objectives are not just met but exceeded.
Its robust CRM is equipped with powerful forecasting features like the ability to measure historical sales performance to tweak future offers and pricing. This data-driven methodology minimizes risks and enables accurate revenue prediction.
Pipedrive offers custom dashboards, eliminating the need for manual spreadsheets and providing an interactive way to visualize important KPIs. From tracking customer churn rates to predicting cash flow with recurring revenue, Pipedrive offers a holistic toolset for forecasting, making it a top pick for businesses serious about leveraging data for growth.
5 Workday Adaptive Planning - Best For Large Enterprises
Why We Chose It: Workday Adaptive Planning excels in sales forecasting, particularly for large enterprises looking to capture every slice of the market pie. Its real-time functionality allows for rapid adjustments to territories and quotas, crucial for big players dealing with multiple markets and products. Think of it as a Swiss Army knife for sales planning: versatile, robust, and up-to-the-minute. With the capability to quickly model and distribute quotas, align sales resources to revenue targets, and integrate CRM data, it’s like having a command center that’s always ahead of the curve.
What sets it apart is its scalability and flexibility. Large enterprises often have to navigate complex planning needs, and Workday Adaptive Planning is built to handle that complexity without breaking a sweat. The software’s unified data core ensures that your sales plans are in sync with other departments like finance and HR, creating a streamlined, holistic strategy. It’s not just a tool; it’s an ecosystem that large enterprises can leverage for a comprehensive, data-driven approach to sales planning.
Criteria for Recommending Sales Forecasting Software
Here are the key criteria we used for recommending standout sales forecasting software:
Essential Features
- Real-Time Data Analytics: For any large enterprise, real-time data analytics are essential. The software should provide real-time updates on market trends, customer behavior, and sales performance.
- Quota and Territory Planning: Look for robust tools that allow you to set, distribute, and adjust sales quotas and territories. It should also offer features for aligning these metrics with revenue goals.
- Integration with CRM and Other Data Sources: Sales data often resides in CRM systems or other databases. Good sales forecasting software should be able to integrate seamlessly with these platforms, pulling in relevant data for more accurate forecasting.
- Scenario Modeling: The ability to create and compare various sales scenarios can provide invaluable insights. Make sure the software allows for “what-if” scenario planning to test the impact of different variables.
Advanced Features
AI and Machine Learning: Features that use AI and machine learning can offer predictive insights that go beyond traditional analytics, helping to anticipate market changes before they happen.
Industry Fit
Different industries have unique needs. Make sure the software you choose is versatile or specialized enough to handle the specific demands of your business sector.
Price vs Value
While cost is always a factor, the focus should be on the value the software delivers. Features like scalability, ease of use, and the quality of customer support are as critical as the price tag.
Cross-Functional Alignment
Large enterprises often have interconnected departments. Choose a platform that allows for alignment between sales forecasts and other business operations, such as HR and finance, to ensure a coherent business strategy.
Data Security
With sensitive sales data being processed, robust security features are a must. Ensure the software complies with industry standards and regulations to protect your data.
Each of these criteria plays a significant role in determining the suitability of sales forecasting software for your enterprise’s needs. So, whether you’re aiming for real-time analytics, seamless integration, or scalability, keep these guidelines handy.
Types of Forecasting Software
Forecasting software comes in various flavors, each designed to tackle specific aspects of business operations and planning. Here’s a breakdown:
1 Financial Forecasting Software
Financial forecasting software focuses on projecting your company’s financial health, diving deep into revenue estimates, budgeting, and expenses. It’s a staple for finance teams but can also be a standalone feature within broader accounting software.
Key Functions:
- Revenue projection
- Expense planning
- Budget management
2 Sales Forecasting Software
Sales forecasting software uses historical sales data to set realistic sales targets, helping you adapt your marketing strategies like discounts or bundling. It’s not just for the sales team–supply chain folks use it to plan inventory and production.
Key Functions:
- Accurate sales targets
- Marketing strategy analysis
- Inventory planning
3 Demand Forecasting Software
Demand forecasting software zeroes in on consumer behavior and market trends, letting you adjust your inventory before demand peaks or valleys hit.
Key Functions:
- Consumer behavior tracking
- Seasonal demand planning
- Inventory optimization
4 Capacity and Workforce Forecasting Software
Capacity and workforce forecasting software integrates demand and sales projections to help you determine staffing levels, workflow, and even production capacity.
Key Functions:
- Staffing level optimization
- Workflow planning
- Production capacity planning
5 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software
The jack-of-all-trades, ERP software can do a bit of everything. It combines features of many other types of forecasting software into one platform but usually comes with a hefty price tag.
Key Functions:
- Centralized planning
- Comprehensive feature set
- High configurability
6 Specialized Forecasting Software
Specialized forecasting software targets unique needs like cash flow, revenue, or budget-specific forecasting.
- Cash Flow Forecasting Software: Gives you the play-by-play on money coming in and going out.
- Revenue Forecasting Software: Makes educated guesses on your future earnings based on past revenue.
- Budget Forecasting Software: Helps you sketch out your financial game plan by projecting future budgets.
What is Sales Forecasting Software?
Sales forecasting software creates financial reports of expected sales based on historical trends, economic conditions, industry behavior, changes within your company, and selected time periods. An accurate forecast can provide the information your sales team needs to better understand and achieve sales goals.
Whether a small business or a large enterprise, forecasting tools help with tough decision-making. Sales forecasting software uses customizable templates to build visualizations of financial forecasts which can be adjusted at any time, letting you test out different “what if” scenarios. For example, something which negatively affects a sales process in the short-term could have increasingly positive returns in the long-term, and sales forecasting software will let your business predict those metrics.
There are a few distinct types of web-based sales forecasting software, such as quantitative and qualitative, which can make finding the right solution difficult. Things to consider in finding a system to provide an accurate forecast will be ease of use, affordability, and total functionality.
Features of Sales Forecasting Software
- Demand Forecast: Forecast by item SKU or location on a monthly or weekly basis; Create statistical-based forecasts to analyze levels, seasonality, trends, and intermittency of products
- Sales Planning: Track the sales process in real-time, from the initial lead to the final invoice, to measure performance effectiveness of the pipeline
- Financial Modeling: Generate graphs to create visualizations and simulations of your sales data
- Revenue Planning: Use automation to fill sales forecasts for your next periods; Import current sales prices and use historical data to align revenue forecasts with demand forecasts
- Approval System: Helps you see which forecasts have been viewed and approved, and which need further attention
- Reporting: Create in-depth forecast accuracy reports based on key performance indicators (KPIs) and other select metrics to measure performance over time
- Import Capabilities: Integrate your forecasting solution with tools you use to record data, such as Excel, accounting software, or an ERP system
- Assumption Management: Planned promotions not reflected in historical data can be manually accounted for to ensure revenue planning and overall sales forecasts are accurate
- Collaboration: Encourage communication between sales reps; Add notes to reports, spreadsheets, and other planning items to document the forecasting process
What Are The Different Methods of Sales Forecasting?
There are several different forecasting methods which software can cover, broadly defined as either quantitative (reviewing historical data) or qualitative (using recent data or expertise):
- Historical Sales Forecasting Software: A historical or quantitative sales forecasting software looks at previous performance of your company to determine a mean (or average) sales level you can expect for the following month, year, or whatever time period you’re looking at based on the seasonality of what is being sold.
- Surveyed Forecasting Software: This short-term qualitative forecasting method directly asks the customers what their intentions are for buying your product in the near future. Asking customers comes in the form of surveys or direct interaction with prospects themselves by the sales team.
- Pipeline or Opportunity Sales Forecasting Software: Blending qualitative and quantitative, pipeline sales forecasting software takes into account opportunities that already exist within your existing sales pipeline and helps determine a win rate to establish the priority they should be handled in. Look at: The value of an opportunity (expected sale price) with the age of the opportunity and the sales personnel working the opportunity.
Demand Planning Software vs Sales Forecasting Software
Demand planning software helps forecast demand for a product so it can be developed and shipped in as efficient of possible ways. It can also manage your overall sales and operations planning stage (S&OP). In sales forecasting, demand planning is the first step in calculating expectations of sales for a specific period. While demand planning helps gauge the interest of buyers and better assists in product development, sales forecasting provides the numbers for anticipated revenue.
Can Excel Work as a Sales Forecasting Software?
Excel can operate as a basic sales forecasting software by using historical time-based data and custom formulas. An Excel spreadsheet is often the first choice for many companies trying to create sales forecasts given its prevalence in the workplace. These forecasts can let your company get basic sale predictions, determine inventory requirements, or identify emerging consumer trends. However, using spreadsheets instead of an automated sales forecasting solution can leave you vulnerable to human error and simple mistakes.
