SALES BUDGET ,FORCASTING AND CONTROL

By:Jitendra Singh Roll No. - 19 PGDM IV SEM

Sales Budget
A budget is a plan expressed usually in monetary terms. It is a process of allocating a portion of an organizations resources for its various activities for a specified period of time. It helps in planning and coordination of the organizations activities. Sales budgets are developed for the smooth functioning of the sales function.

Cont.
Developing sales budgets serve two purposes As a mechanism of control and An instrument of planning. There are several benefits an organization derives from budgeting.

Cont.
They are Improved planning Better communication and coordination Performance evaluation Psychological benefits Avoiding uncontrolled expenditure.

Cont.
Interlink Role
Marketing Plane

Sales Forecast

Sales Force Budget

Types Of Budget
In practice, sales managers prepare three types of budgets Sales budgets Selling expense budget Administrative budget A sales budget gives a plan showing the expected sales for a specified period in the future.

Cont.
Selling expense budgets details the schedule of expenses that may be incurred by the sales department to achieve planned sales. Administrative budget specifies the budgetary allocations for general administrative expenses that would be incurred by the sales department.

Methods For Budgeting

The different methods for budgeting include theAffordability method Percentage-of-sales method Competitive parity method Objective-and-task method Return-oriented method.

Sales Forecasting
Sales forecasting is a difficult area of management. Most managers believe they are good at forecasting. However, forecasts made usually turn out to be wrong! Marketers argue about whether sales forecasting is a science or an art. The short answer is that it is a bit of both.

Cont.
Market Forecast refers to the estimates of future sales of a companys products in the market. Sales forecasting is very popular in industrially advanced countries where demand conditions are always uncertain than the supply conditions.

Reasons for undertaking Sales Forecast

Businesses are forced to look well ahead in order to plan their investments, launch new products, decide when to close or withdraw products and so on. The sales forecasting process is a critical one for most businesses.

Cont.
Key decisions that are derived from a sales forecast include:- Employment levels required - Promotional mix - Investment in production capacity

Types Of Forecasting
There are two major types of forecasting, which can be broadly described as macro and micro: Macro forecasting is concerned with forecasting markets in total. This is about determining the existing level of Market Demand and considering what will happen to market demand in the future. Micro forecasting is concerned with detailed unit sales forecasts. This is about determining a products market share in a particular industry and considering what will happen to that market share in the future.

Selection Of Forecasting
The selection of which type of forecasting is use depends on the several factors which can be described as:
(1) The degree of accuracy required if the decisions that are to be made on the basis of the sales forecast have high risks attached to them, then it stands to reason that the forecast should be prepared as accurately as possible. However, this involves more cost

Cont.
(2) The availability of data and information - in some markets there is a wealth of available sales information (e.g. clothing retail, food retailing, holidays); in others it is hard to find reliable, upto-date information. (3) The time horizon that the sales forecast is intended to cover. For example, are we forecasting next weeks sales, or are we trying to forecast what will happen to the overall size of the market in the next five years?

Cont.
(4) The position of the products in its life cycle. For example, for products at the introductory stage of the product life cycle, less sales data and information may be available than for products at the maturity stage when time series can be a useful forecasting method.

The Relationship of Forecasting to Budgets Relation

Sales Forecasts
Sales Budget

Revenue Budget
Revenue Budget

Production Budget Direct Labor Budget Cost of Goods Sold Budget Budgeted P/L Statement

Sales & Administration Expenses Budget Factory O/H Budget Expenses

Budgeted Balance Sheet

Budget

Purposes Of Short term Forecasting

Appropriate production scheduling Reducing cost of purchasing R/M Determining appropriate price policy Setting sales targets and establishing controls and incentives Evolving a suitable promotional program Forecasting short-term financial requirements

Purposes Of Short term Forecasting

Planning of a new unit or expansion of an existing unit Planning of long-term financial requirements Planning of man-power requirements

A common method of preparing a sales forecast has three stages

1) Prepare a macroeconomic forecast what will happen to overall economic activity in the relevant economies in which a product is to be sold. 2) Prepare an industry sales forecast what will happen to overall sales in an industry based on the issues that influence the macroeconomic forecast. 3) Prepare a company sales forecast based on what management expect to happen to the companys market share.

Forecasting Process
Forecast Objective Determined independent and dependent variables Develop Forecast Procedure

Select forecast Analysis method Evaluate Result versus forecast

Total forecast Procedure

Make & finalize forecast

Present assumption about data

Gather & analyze data

Cont.
Forecasting can be classified into qualitative forecasting and quantitative forecasting. The methods used in qualitative forecasting are:
user expectations, sales force composite, jury of executive opinion, Delphi technique and market test.

Cont.
The methods used in quantitative forecasting are: time series analysis moving averages exponential smoothing regression and correlation analysis, and multiple regression models

Control
Control was defined as a process used by managers to direct, regulate, and restrain the actions of people so that the established goals of an enterprise may be achieved. Revenue control is clearly an important goal of sales control, but it is not the only one.

Sales Control
Like any other control system, sales control requires the establishment of standards, the evaluation of actual performance and the correction of deviation in performance. Sales control implies not only managerial action with regard to actual sales, but it also embraces all other marketing functions required for the even flow of products or services form producers to consumers.

Cont.
All promotional and auxiliary efforts in marketing require as much control as the actual selling efforts demand. Nevertheless, control of promotional and auxiliary efforts in marketing is more difficult and cannot be exercised with that exactness which is possible in case of actual selling efforts.

Cont.
Because of their intangible performances, ancillary activities in marketing are placed under some broad measures of control, and they are measured and appraised by managerial judgment, skill or experience. The basic tool for controlling these efforts is to be found in the sales expense budget . For controlling performances of salesmen, the sales budget or in the absence of a sales budget, the sales programme provides the standard for control.

Goals of Sales Control

Optimize number of sales Maximize profit Control revenue

Systematic View
Sales Control

Behavioral Aspects

Cost Aspects

Sales Effort

Allocation of Selling-Time

Performance Expenses

Sales-function Administration