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what is forecast category in salesforce

by Sterling Boyle Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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What Is Forecast Category in Salesforce

  • Forecast Category Defined. A forecast category is a certain category to which opportunities are mapped depending on its stage in the sales cycle.
  • Types of Forecast Categories. ...
  • Considerations in Using Forecast Categories. ...

The Forecast Category field in Salesforce classifies each sales opportunity in terms of the salesperson's confidence in winning the deal in a given period. This classification is different from the opportunity stage field, which describes the pipeline in terms of the current position in the sales process.

Full Answer

How to use forecasting in Salesforce?

  • From Setup, click Customize → Forecasts → Settings.
  • If your organization: Doesn’t yet have any forecast types enabled, click Add a Forecast Type. ...
  • From the Forecast Type menu, choose the data source you want to use for the forecast.
  • Choose the Forecast Measurement you want to use. ...

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What are the record types in Salesforce?

Record Types in Salesforce . Salesforce Record Types allow us to specify a category of records that display different picklist values and page layouts.. Administrators can associate record types with profiles so that different types of users should see different picklist values and page layouts in the record’s detail page.

How to effectively use the forecast function in Salesforce?

Consider all the criteria that affect your sales forecasts:

  • Trends — trends that affect your products can increase or decrease the potential for your sales.
  • Competition – your competitor’s actions have a direct effect on your sales, unfortunately! ...
  • Future payments – When a customer will make payments over a period of time for a completed sale. ...

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How good is Salesforce?

“Salesforce has done a fantastic job providing training material through its Trailhead, Pathfinder, and Talent Alliance programs. But too few job seekers are taking advantage of this training and even fewer employers are hiring new Salesforce developers or administrators without relevant work experience.

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Can you change forecast category in Salesforce?

You can change the forecast category of an Opportunity stage by editing the Opportunity stage picklist value. Although forecast categories are linked to stages, it's important to note that users can change the mapped category on an Opportunity without changing the stage, as well by editing the Forecast Category field.

What is allow forecasting in Salesforce?

Enable Forecast Adjustments: With help of this feature, users can adjust forecasts without affecting close dates, amounts or forecast categories of the opportunities shown in the forecasts page. Enable Manager Adjustments: When enabled this feature, manager can adjust the amounts of their subordinates.

What is best case forecast Salesforce?

Simply put, the Best Case Amount forecast category in Salesforce represents the total amount that can be brought in by an account holder that is if all things turn out right in the account holder's sales and marketing efforts. It is actually the total amount under Best Case, Commit, and Closed categories.

What is a commit forecast?

Committed Forecast means the Forecast Period within the Forecast where the Communications Provider has committed to the forecast levels which cannot be varied by the Communications Provider; Sample 1. Sample 2.

What are forecast types?

There are three basic types—qualitative techniques, time series analysis and projection, and causal models.

How do I create a forecast in Salesforce?

Follow these straightforward steps to set up forecasting in Salesforce.Define Forecast settings. Here you get to select the most appropriate forecasts for your company. ... Enable Users. ... Create a Forecast Hierarchy. ... Choose a Forecast Currency. ... Determine the Forecast Date Range. ... Customize Forecast Categories.

What is the difference between forecast and upside?

Upside: This status is assigned to opportunities that are further along than Preliminary, but do not have the win confidence of a Forecasted opportunity. These are included in the Upside totals on the forecast screen. These opportunities also appear on the Opportunity Adjustments screen.

Forecast Category Example

Let’s say you have two opportunities. Both at the Proposal stage and you’ve presented your quote.

Adjusting Forecast Categories

You pre-define Forecast Categories based on the opportunity stage. (We’ll look at how to do that in a moment).

Forecast Category and Opportunity Stage relationship

In Salesforce, each opportunity stage has a pre-defined Forecast Category.

1. Salespeople must commit

If your sales team already uses the Commit concept then the Forecast Category is an excellent way to report on those deals.

2. Separating process from intent

The opportunity stage reflects your selling process. However, it says nothing about the customer buying process. Nor, indeed, does it indicate confidence in winning a deal.

3. Communicating upwards

In some companies, Board and executive reporting use Forecast Categories.

4. Summarize opportunity stages

If you have more than four or five pipeline stages, then you might want to rationalize them. This article will help you do that.

What is forecast category?

A forecast category is a certain category to which opportunities are mapped depending on its stage in the sales cycle. Forecast Categories segment opportunities as they are moved along a series of different stages.

What does 8:00 mean in Salesforce?

8:00. Definition. You can keep track of your business’s sales cycle by using a Salesforce tool known as Forecasting. This feature helps you predict how well your sales plans will go based on available Opportunities. How well your Opportunities go depends on several factors, including forecast categories.

Defining Forecasts and Forecasting Categories

Forecasts are a type of data that represents opportunity stages, dates and amounts. Forecast amounts are listed alongside their corresponding forecast categories.

Forecasting Category Considerations

In Customizable Forecasting, the Forecast Category and the Probability can be edited to change their values according to the specific business process it represents. But then, the Stages and the Status Category retains their original values. Changes will be visible in the reports, opportunity searches, list views, detail pages, and edit pages.

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What is CRM in sales?

Customer relationship management (CRM) is the best way to forecast sales revenue. A CRM solution helps you find new customers, win their business, and keep them happy. Salesforce is the #1 CRM, giving sales leaders a real-time view into their entire team’s forecast.

What is sales forecast?

A sales forecast is an expression of expected sales revenue. A sales forecast estimates how much your company plans to sell within a certain time period (like quarter or year). The best sales forecasts do this with a high degree of accuracy.

What should a forecast be based on?

What: Forecasts should be based on exactly what solutions you plan to sell. In turn, that should be based on problems your prospects have voiced, which your company can uniquely solve.

Is sales forecasting transparent?

No matter how a company calculates its sales forecasts, the process should be transparent. And at the end of the day, sales leadership has to be responsible to call a number. Whether met, exceeded, or missed, the forecast responsibility falls on them.

Salesforce Forecast Categories

The way each forecast category is defined may be different, based on your business process and sales cycle. It is always a good idea to define the meaning of each forecast category and share it with your sales team.

How to Adjust Forecast Categories

Change the forecast category of an Opportunity stage by editing the Opportunity stage Picklist value.

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Forecast Category Defined

  • A forecast category is a certain category to which opportunities are mapped depending on its stage in the sales cycle. Forecast Categories segment opportunities as they are moved along a series of different stages. An opportunity is assigned a particular forecast category to help determine its outcome based on how it behaves within your sales cycle...
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Types of Forecast Categories

  • Here are the default values of forecast categories in Salesforce: 1. Best Case– This value is assigned to opportunities that have high likelihood of closing, opportunity amounts that were already closed and won, and the amounts under the Commit Category. Opportunities belonging to this group have 50-75% probability. 2. Pipeline– This value may be assigned to opportunities wit…
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Considerations in Using Forecast Categories

  • These considerations must always be taken into account when working with Forecast Categories: 1. An opportunity’s Stage, Probability, and Forecast Category often go together. Changing the value under the opportunity’s Stage automatically changes the Probability and Forecast Category to match them all together. 2. Mapping forecast categories to its equivalent opportunities is onl…
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