Sales Forecasting Template

The original template is a free Google Sheet with two tabs. Funnel Metrics holds the seven inputs and their help text, which you can also use in the calculator below. Forecast calculates 24 months of leads, meetings, opportunities, closed deals, and revenue, and includes the chart.

The shared sheet is view-only. Make a copy to get your own private version, then only edit the cells that have blue text. The other cells contain the formulas.

Sales forecasting helps your team allocate budgets, spot emerging trends, and catch potential pitfalls early. This template turns a handful of funnel numbers into a 24-month revenue forecast, so you can see what your current pipeline math adds up to before the quarter is over.

A good forecast is less about being exactly right and more about being prepared. Use it to answer three questions:

• Do we have enough pipeline to hit the number?
• Where are deals getting stuck?
• What needs to change this week to improve the outcome?

The model works one month at a time. Each month starts with a number of new leads. A share of those leads books a meeting, a share of those meetings becomes a new opportunity, and a share of those opportunities closes. Closed deals multiplied by your average deal size give you that month’s new revenue.

Two more inputs shape the timeline. Lead growth increases the number of new leads each month, compounding over the 24 months. Sales cycle sets how many months pass between creating an opportunity and collecting the revenue, so deals created in Month 1 with a two-month cycle show up as revenue in Month 3.

Change any input below and the forecast recalculates. The starting values are the sample numbers from the spreadsheet: 100 leads in Month 1, 5% monthly lead growth, a 10% meeting rate, a 25% opportunity rate, a 50% close rate, a two-month sales cycle, and a $1,500 average deal.

Replace them with your own numbers. If you are not sure of a rate yet, start with your best estimate and update it as real results come in.

Each input answers one question from the spreadsheet. The rates are stage-to-stage conversion rates: each one is a percentage of the stage before it, not a percentage of all leads.

# of leads, Month 1: How many leads will you generate in Month 1? Count the new leads you will actually bring in and contact that month.

Lead growth (per month): What lead growth will you aim for each month? The forecast applies this rate to the previous month’s leads, so growth compounds. At 5%, 100 leads in Month 1 become about 105 in Month 2, about 171 in Month 12, and about 307 in Month 24. Set it to 0% if you want a flat forecast.

Meetings booked: Of the leads you contact, what percent will you book a meeting with?

New opportunities: Of the meetings you have, what percent will turn into new opportunities?

Closed/won: Of the opportunities you create, what percent will close?

If you track these stages in your CRM, use your recent averages. If you don’t, this is a good reason to start. The forecast is only as useful as these three numbers.

Sales cycle (months): How many months does it take to close a deal once you create the opportunity? This moves revenue later in the timeline. It does not change how much each month’s deals are worth.

Average deal size: What is the average deal size? Use the revenue you book per closed deal, measured the same way you want the forecast to report revenue.

The forecast shows two views of revenue for each of the 24 months.

• New revenue is the revenue realized that month: deals from opportunities created one sales cycle earlier.
• Total revenue is the running total of new revenue from Month 1 to that month.

With the sample numbers, Month 1 produces 1.25 closed deals worth $1,875. Because the sales cycle is two months, that revenue lands in Month 3, so Months 1 and 2 show no new revenue. New revenue then grows with your leads, reaching about $5,224 in Month 24, and total revenue reaches about $72,197 over the 24 months. Deal counts can be fractions because they are averages.

The spreadsheet also charts both lines as a 24-month sales forecast graph.

What moves the number

Because every stage multiplies the one before it, a change in any conversion rate changes revenue by the same proportion. Raising the close rate from 50% to 60% lifts every month’s new revenue by 20%. So does raising the meeting rate from 10% to 12%. Compare the options and ask which one your team can actually move.

Lead growth compounds, so it matters more the further out you look. A longer sales cycle pushes revenue later, which lowers the 24-month total even when the monthly deals are the same.

Use the results to see whether a gap is about volume (not enough leads), quality (low conversion rates), or execution (a long cycle or small deals).

Make it a weekly habit

The biggest mistake teams make is treating forecasting as a monthly ritual instead of a weekly discipline. You don’t forecast to be right. You forecast to course-correct early. Update the inputs with what actually happened, and let the forecast tell you the uncomfortable truths while there is still time to act.