CSO insights report that in 2016 only 45.8% of forecasted deals closed as predicted. The recent survey of over 270,912 closed won opportunities (making up over $18.1 B in closed revenue ) by InsideSales shows the story continues quite, well, predictably.
In the report CSO ‘The Gap Between Sales Forecast and Reality’ authored by Gabe Larsen, Stephen Hurrell and A J hunt of InsideSales Labs, the findings show :
1. Only 28.1% of closed-won deals were predicted accurately 90 days out.
2. On average, actual close amounts differ by 31% from forecasts made 90 days prior.
3. When sales reps’ predictions are off, they overestimate by nearly 2x as much as they underestimate
When the incorrect forecasted deals were separated in degrees of inaccuracies – 5%, 10% 20%, 50% etc. it was found that a ‘higher percentage of the deals in our sample were over forecasted. This means that the more important the deal, the more likely you and your reps are to overestimate its final outcome.’
How are your forecasts stacking up?
Download link to ‘The Gap Between Sales Forecast and Reality’ report – https://bit.ly/2XsHtzj
