Excel Sales Forecasting For Dummies

If you're a sales or marketing professional, you know that forecasting sales is one of the biggest challenges you face on the job. Unlike other books on the subject, Excel Sales Forecasting For Dummies, 2^nd Edition leaves arcane business school terms and complex algebraic equations at the door, focusing instead on what you can do right now to utilize the world's most popular spreadsheet program to produce forecasts you can rely on.

Loaded with confidence boosters for anyone who succumbs to sweaty palms when sales predictions are mentioned, this trusted guide show you how to use the many tools Excel provides to arrange your past data, set up lists and pivot tables, use moving averages, and so much more. Before you know it, you'll become a forecaster par excellence—even if numbers aren't your jam.

• Choose the right forecasting method
• Find relationships in your data
• Predict seasonal sales
• Filter lists or turn them into charts

Consider this guide your crystal ball—and start predicting the future with confidence and ease!

Introduction 1

Part 1: Understanding Sales Forecasting and How Excel Can Help 5

Chapter 1: A Forecasting Overview 7

Chapter 2: Forecasting: The Basic Issues 23

Chapter 3: Understanding Baselines 41

Chapter 4: Predicting the Future: Why Forecasting Works 53

Part 2: Organizing the Data 69

Chapter 5: Choosing Your Data: How to Get a Good Baseline 71

Chapter 6: Setting Up Tables in Excel 87

Chapter 7: Working with Tables in Excel 103

Part 3: Making a Basic Forecast 119

Chapter 8: Summarizing Sales Data with Pivot Tables 121

Chapter 9: Charting Your Baseline: It’s a Good Idea 141

Chapter 10: Forecasting with Excel’s Data Analysis Add-in 159

Chapter 11: Basing Forecasts on Regression 173

Part 4: Making Advanced Forecasts 189

Chapter 12: Entering the Formulas Yourself 191

Chapter 13: Using Moving Averages 219

Chapter 14: Changing Horses: From Moving Averages to Smoothing 237

Chapter 15: Smoothing: How You Profit from Your Mistakes 259

Chapter 16: Fine-Tuning a Regression Forecast 285

Chapter 17: Managing Trends 311

Chapter 18: Same Time Last Year: Forecasting Seasonal Sales 329

Part 5: The Part of Tens 349

Chapter 19: Ten Fun Facts to Know and Tell about Array Formulas 351

Chapter 20: The Ten Best Excel Tools 363

Index 373

Conrad Carlberg is a nationally recognized expert in quantitative analysis, data analysis, and management applications such as Microsoft Excel, SAS, and Oracle. He has been a sales engineer and also worked in product marketing. Conrad has written numerous books on Excel and other Microsoft Office applications. He holds a PhD in statistics.

Choose, manage, and present data

Select the right forecasting method for your business

Use moving averages and predict seasonal sales

Create sales forecasts you can trust

You don't need magic, luck, or an advanced math degree to develop reliable sales forecasts; you just need Excel and this book! This guide explains how forecasting works and how to use the tools built into Excel. You'll learn how to choose your data, set up tables, chart your baseline, to create both basic and advanced forecasts you can really use.

Inside...

• Prevent common issues
• Why baselines matter
• How to organize your data
• Tips on setting up tables
• Working with pivot charts
• How to forecast seasonal sales revenue
• Forecasting with regression