Rapid forecasters (companies that collect and prepare reliable sales forecasts in less than half an hour) significantly outperform slow forecasters (companies that collect and prepare reliable sales forecasts in more than half an hour) in terms of their current and year-over-year performance in sales effectiveness.

One of the pain/pleasure aspects of sales forecasting is the trade-off between the efforts it can take to produce a solid, accurate view of the sales pipeline versus the effort it takes a stakeholder to gather, calculate and publish the numbers. The amount and quality of effort put in to gather and utilize key information on the sales pipeline reduces the time it takes to produce accurate and reliable forecasts.

In analyzing the performance of rapid forecasters whose sales analytics automation allowed them to pull a reliable forecast in under a half-hour, data reveals that they consistently outperform slow forecasters in several key performance metrics.

In order to support sales forecasting efforts, rapid forecasters leverage certain differentiators. Regular forecast reviews among sales reps and line managers is one such differentiator adopted 30 percent more by companies that forecast rapidly, compared to slow forecasters. Having such a "health-check" mechanism is crucial to decrease the possibility/risk of last-minute adjustments as well as to ensure further accuracy into the sales forecasts.

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