Sales Forecasting Software

Create a sales forecast without crunching numbers

Works for Every Business in Every Industry

A thorough and believable sales forecast is the cornerstone of your business plan and financial projections. Learn how LivePlan's sales forecasting software makes the process fast and easy to repeat.

What is a Sales Forecast?

A sales forecast is a prediction of the sales and revenue that you're hoping your business will achieve over the next 3-5 years. Sales forecasts are usually done month-by-month for the first twelve months, and then simple annual predictions for the following 2-4 years.

Most companies create an initial sales forecast at the beginning of their fiscal year and then revise it on a monthly or quarterly basis. A sales forecast is a critical component of any business plan. Find out more about creating your business plan.

Why sales forecasts are important

When you're starting a business and building a business plan, putting together a solid sales forecast is one of the most important steps and the foundation of your financial forecast.

Meeting your sales projections is the goal that you're going to aim for as you get up and running. So, getting your sales forecast right is crucial.

More importantly, if you're seeking outside investment, investors will want to know what your sales goals are and how you're going to hit them. Projecting your sales in a way that's easy to understand and realistic is critical for investors.

Your sales forecast will also be one of the key tools you'll use to build your expense budget. Your sales will help determine how much you can spend and when you can spend it.

Without a forecast created with a sales forecasting software, you'll struggle to accurately measure your profitability or determine how much money you should spend on marketing and business operations.

Sales forecasting solutions for any business type

LivePlan makes forecasting sales easy for virtually any business type. Whether you're building a company that's selling products, or a company that's offering a subscription service, LivePlan's sales forecasting experts will walk you through the process step by step. You can even combine sales forecasts if your business has multiple offerings. For example, your company may offer a subscription service and a consulting service that bills by the hour. LivePlan's sales forecasting software lets you create forecasts for both offerings, and then seamlessly integrates the results into your financial plan.

Drag-and-drop makes forecasting sales easy

If your business has a busy season and a slower season, use LivePlan's visual sales forecasting tools to drag and drop your way to a professional sales forecast. Instead of simply entering numbers into a spreadsheet, you can draw your sales forecast with your mouse. You'll quickly visualize your sales goals and can make quick adjustments as you refine your forecast.

Forecast your sales faster with AI help

The AI-powered LivePlan Assistant translates your ideas into a forecast that makes sense. It gives you suggestions for revenue streams, expense types, and other forecast categories that are specific to your business.

Sales charts automatically integrated into your documents

Present your sales forecast in a professional format that lenders and investors expect. LivePlan's sales forecasting solution automatically creates the charts and graphs you need and integrates them into your business plan documents and presentations. You don't have to link any spreadsheets or manually import charts into documents.

LivePlan's sales forecasting software also automatically links your sales forecast to all of your other financial forecasts, so you don't have to mess with any formulas or worry about getting the integrations correct. Your sales will automatically appear on your Profit & Loss statement and the appropriate numbers will flow through to the other financial forecasts, like your cash flow statement. You can learn more about all of LivePlan's financial forecasting.

Track your progress against your sales goals

When you're up and running, connect LivePlan to QuickBooks or Xero accounting software and automatically track your progress toward your sales goals. LivePlan automatically imports your actual sales from your accounting software and tracks how you're doing compared to your sales forecast. You can easily share reports with business partners and investors so everyone's on the same page and can track your company's progress.

Live Forecast your sales

If your business is already up and running, connect your accounting software to LivePlan to update your projected profit and cash balances, and view your actual performance alongside your forecast. Get a roadmap for making confident decisions about your business, including any adjustments you may need to make going forward.

Explore opportunities with scenarios

What if sales are better than expected? Create a sales forecast with LivePlan's software and you can easily explore different situations with the financial scenarios feature. Create scenarios for different ideas and then see how acting on those ideas will impact your bottom line.