I posted here last Friday about the new business planning tutorials posted on the (relatively) new business.gov information site for small business and entrepreneurs. I’d like to point out a special section of that focusing directly on the problem of forecasting sales for a new business.
I get that question a lot: “How do I forecast sales for a new company?” Or a new product, or new service, of course. A lot of people make the implicit assumption there that if you don’t have data on past sales, then you can’t forecast. In the illustration here below, you see part of the video where we look at how you would forecast a new restaurant–just one example–using the specifics of the chairs and tables available during prime meal serving time.
The three videos covering sales forecasts take a combination of only about 20 minutes to watch. They cover the standard structure, a simple example, and a lot of tips on how to develop a sales forecast for a new business.
The way that site works, you can select from 11 different portions of the business plan tutorials. If you’re interested in the sales forecast portion, browse down the page and find the ones shown here.
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