5 people who respond. Yet, you can give a presentation to 30 people and 15 of them will be very interested in staying in touch with you. Relationships with key stakeholders -- Identify at least one representative from each major stakeholder group and take them to lunch once a year. What seem as short, informal exchanges can cultivate powerful relationships of interest and concern. Special events -- These tend to attract attention, and can include, e.g., an open house, granting a special award, announcing a major program or service or campaign, etc. Special offers -- We see these offers all the time. They include, for example, coupons, discounts, sweepstakes, sales, etc.Sales forecasting is the process of organizing and analyzing information in a way that makes it possible to estimate what your sales will be. This document outlines some simple methods of forecasting sales using easy to find data. Books containing simple and sophisticated techniques of forecasting sales can be found in libraries and business oriented book stores. If you sell more than one type of product or service, prepare a separate sales forecast for each service or product group. There are many sources of information to assist with your sales forecast. Some key sources are: Competitors, Neighboring Businesses, Trade suppliers, Downtown business associations, Trade associations, Trade publications, Trade directories, Statistics Factors that can affect Sales.Distribution methods used Sales Forecasting for a New Business These steps for developing a sales forecast can be applied to most kinds of businesses: Step 1 Develop a customer profile and determine the trends in your industry. Make some basic assumptions about the customers in your target market. Experienced business people will tell you that a good rule of thumb is that 20% of your customers account for 80% of your sales. If you can identify this 20% you can begin to develop a profile of your principal markets...
