Sales forecasting terminology

A sales opportunity that is being worked on by a specific sales rep.

The list of opportunities currently assigned to a sales user (in My CRM | Opportunities).

Each opportunity has a forecast value given to it by the sales user. This is the number the sales user expects to get if the deal closes.

A percentage certainty that this deal will close at some point in the future.

The date that the sales user expects this deal to close. This is mandatory, and it provides the basis for deciding which quarterly forecast an opportunity is to be included in.

A three month period.

A forecast for a given period of time (quarter) for a given sales user, which indicates how much a sales user feels they will close in business. Each forecast contains three values for each month in the quarter: Commit (worst case scenario), Likely and Best Case.

A sales user who has no-one 'reporting/rolling up' to them—they are responsible for their own pipeline only.

A sales user who has one or more other sales users 'reporting/rolling up' to them— they are responsible for including these sub-forecasts in their total forecast.

In the case of a sales team hierarchy, users can 'roll-up/report to' other users. This is similar to a reporting structure. For example Tim McGraw is the UK sales manager. Peter Johnson and Mathew Ebden are both UK Sales Reps whose forecasts should 'roll-up' to Tim McGraw. When Tim McGraw submits his forecast to the EMEA Sales Manager, he includes any deals he may be working on himself in the forecast. He also includes the forecasts of his team, Peter Johnson and Mathew Ebden.