The best companies and
businesses don’t grow by accident or happenstance. They grow deliberately by looking into the future to understand and predict their prospects in the coming years using several methods.
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There are several forecasting methods used by companies to better their lot and stay ahead in the marketplace. They use forecasting methods to gain insights, which places them ahead and at the same time avoid pitfalls.
Forecasting methods are data-driven. Companies armed with data can create their success. In this article, I’m going to show you how to use several forecasting methods to stay ahead or make innovative moves and avoid costly mistakes built on costly assumptions.
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Buyer Surveys
Using the Buyer Survey Method allows you as a
business person to understand the reasons behind customers purchases. When you know why customers buy your products or why they do not buy, it arms you with information to either sustain, improve or upgrade the quality of your product/services. These surveys are carried out through focus groups or target participants interviews/questionnaires and general market research. This survey will help the businessperson and his business understand customer demography such as gender distribution, age, and occupation. With this information, they can know who to target most, sustain a group or set a price range.
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Business Intelligence Tools
One of the ways businesses can forecast growth is by carrying out intelligence (investigations with aim of extracting secret information) on how customers view their products, brand or general business service. Most often, companies use this intelligence to understand customers’ values, needs, and expectations from the company. Most importantly, this information is used to set marketing, sales and branding goals. There are a lot of survey digital tools, the most popular being Google Forms, Survey Monkey, Typeform, etc.
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Sales Data
Companies use data from previous sales to forecast future sales. These data are presented in statistical, analytical, historical, and graphical and chart manner. It also includes economic and historical analysis. For instance, a company can look back at their sales history and find out the year they made the most sales and understand the circumstances that led to such a record. With this information, they can study the circumstances and see if there’s a possibility of replicating the same in the present and in the future.
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Test Marketing
One of the techniques companies use to forecast business growth is Test Marketing which is all about putting out few products to test run their acceptability in the market. With the information gotten for customers’ response, the company can take stock and know how best to launch and distribute their products or not.
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Leading Indicators
This technique relies on in-depth research, especially by researches done by academics, consultancies, business and industry think-tanks. Companies use this information or analysis to understand industry trends and determine the future prospects of their business. Furthermore, they use this professional analysis to understand what modern business practices to adopt. For example, management consultancies like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte, Accenture have continued to serve as companies that research and analyse industry trends. Although, information from these indicators is not enough to determine sales or business growth due to certain factors like a company’s geographical peculiarities.
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This article was first published on 8th October 2021
nnaemeka-emmanuel
Nnaemeka is an academic scholar with a degree in History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a creative writer, content creator, storyteller, and social analyst.
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