Sales forecast is one of the important tools for enterprise management and marketing decision-making. Through the analysis and prediction of historical data and market trends, reasonable decisions can be made. The following are the main steps of how to make sales forecast in practice:

1. Collect and collate historical sales data.

First of all, we need to collect and sort out the company's historical sales data, including data from different time periods, different regions and different channels, and store them in databases or spreadsheets. It is best to adopt a standard format so that the data can be easily analyzed and compared.

2. Analyze sales trends and changes.

According to historical data, various analyses can be made to determine sales trends and changes. Common analysis methods include trend analysis, seasonal analysis, periodic analysis and regression analysis. These analyses will help you predict future trends and development trends, and make corresponding business strategies.

3. Consider market and competition factors

Sales forecast should not only consider historical sales data, but also consider market and competitive factors in a planned way. This includes industry changes, consumption trends, competitor strategies and so on. If your company sells the same products or services, you need to conduct comparative competitiveness analysis to measure the company's position in the market.

4. Make a sales forecast plan

According to historical data, market trends and competitive factors, sales forecast plans can be made. The plan should include monthly or quarterly sales targets and specific action plans. Enterprises need to establish budget, resources and manpower arrangements to ensure that sales targets can be achieved.

5. Monitor and evaluate the sales forecast results.

After the sales forecast plan is implemented, it needs to be monitored and evaluated. The company needs to collect and record the actual sales data and compare it with the forecast data to determine the differences and reasons. If there are differences, these differences should be corrected and adjusted.

In a word, sales forecast can help enterprises make reasonable strategic decisions and resource allocation, so as to obtain better sales results. In order to obtain more accurate results, it is best to use various methods for analysis and prediction.