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.

Revenue stream choices

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.

Unit sales chart
Revenue stream suggestions

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.

Financial highlights chart
Net Profit chart

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.

Live Forecast chart
Forecast Scenario feature

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.

Trusted by over 1 million small businesses and entrepreneurs like Becka

“Not having to labor in Excel and pivot tables to get the answers we need has been amazing, especially when it comes to forecasting our business.”
Becka Dente
Becka Dente
Conga

Frequently Asked Questions

LivePlan syncs with your QuickBooks or Xero accounting data in real time. Simply by pressing a “Connect Accounting” button, LivePlan immediately updates your forecasted cash and profit totals and key financial metrics compared to industry benchmarks. Your sales data automatically appears on your Profit & Loss statement, and relevant figures flow through to your balance sheet and your cash flow statement. These accounting integrations replace the frustration of linking different spreadsheets and manually adjusting Excel formulas. Instead, let LivePlan instantly create in-depth charts and graphs combining your accounting data and sales forecasts, and incorporate them into your business plan documents and presentations without any manual importing. Now, it’s easier than ever to share visually engaging reports with business partners, investors or lenders that take both a backward and forward-looking view of your business’s financial performance. LivePlan won’t alter any of your QuickBooks or Xero data, either. The syncing is one way, ensuring none of your past accounting data is affected.

LivePlan was built with a busy business owner in mind. That means its sales forecasting solution is designed for ease of use, with the goal of minimizing the learning curve for users. The software offers step-by-step guidance for each step of the sales forecasting process. And its drag-and-drop approach to creating financial forecasts enables users to create their sales forecast with simple mouse clicks, instead of inputting numbers and complex formulas into a spreadsheet. This approach helps users quickly visualize and adjust their sales goals. Users can also access the AI-powered LivePlan Assistant, which provides suggestions for revenue streams, expense types, and other forecast categories specific to their type of business, translating ideas into a sensible starting forecast. Plus, LivePlan’s Customer Advocacy team is always standing by to help.

Yes, LivePlan’s sales forecasting software is designed for adaptability and real-time updates. The platform lets users easily modify their sales forecasts as new data becomes available, business circumstances change, or owners seek out new revenue streams. Most companies using LivePlan start with an initial sales forecast at the start of their fiscal year, and then revise it monthly or quarterly. Just as business owners pivot to seek out new revenue opportunities, or seek efficiencies when cash gets tight, LivePlan’s sales forecasting tool allows users to go back and revisit their previous data. This data is also viewable in the Dashboard feature, which lets owners identify monthly, quarterly, and annual trends in their business. By connecting LivePlan to accounting platforms like QuickBooks and Xero, the dashboard helps visualize to users their actual performance and how those actuals compare to their sales forecast, tipping them off to areas where their previous forecast may need to be adjusted.

LivePlan uses the same iron-clad security that online banks do. The infrastructure of the LivePlan software is updated regularly with the latest security patches. LivePlan products run on a dedicated network that is locked down with firewalls and carefully monitored. LivePlan’s team runs third-party security scans every day to make sure its infrastructure is highly secure and completely up-to-date.

Yes, LivePlan offers multiple options for exporting data from its sales forecasting tool. For LivePlan Premium users, there’s a feature to export any Forecast category as a .CSV file, which can be opened in Excel or other spreadsheet software for further analysis and formatting. This allows for detailed manipulation of your forecast data outside the platform. Additionally, LivePlan provides several export options for different business plan presentations. From the Forecast section, you can download and print customized reports as PDFs, choosing which reports and level of detail to include. The Plan section allows you to download your complete business plan, including financial statements, as either a PDF or Word document. You can also export only the financial statements if needed. For those using the Dashboard feature, you can download a full set of metrics comparing actual results to forecasted figures as a PDF, with the option to include a cover page and summary. These export options ensure that you can easily share your sales forecast and financial data in the format that best suits your needs, whether for internal analysis, presentation to investors, or collaboration with team members.