Watch This · Module 05 · My Marketing

7 Simple Steps to Create a Successful Sales Forecast

Peter Thorsson, LivePlan’s senior director of sales · 9 min

Module 5 · Lab 5.1 — before you add marketing to the forecast

Why this video

He builds a coffee shop's forecast from nothing: list what you sell in words, guess how many, put a price on each, multiply — then subtract what each sale costs to see the margin. It's the same rhythm as your Module 4 lab, and his rule is the rule of this course: “Treat every guess about the future like it's going to need adjustment.”

What to watch for

Words first, numbers second — name the things you sell before you count them.
Every guess gets revisited. That is not a weakness of the forecast; it is the forecast.

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Video by LivePlan (Palo Alto Software), played here from YouTube in privacy-enhanced mode. If the player doesn't load, watch it on YouTube. Build Your First Business is published by Family Aspirations and is not affiliated with LivePlan.