Article • 9 min read
10 free sales forecast templates to project future revenue
An accurate sales forecast can help ensure you hit your numbers. Learn how to forecast sales with our free sales forecast templates so you can track performance, make data-driven predictions, and achieve sales goals.
By Josh Bean, Director, Marketing
Last updated June 11, 2024
If you can’t anticipate revenue, then how can you anticipate the future of your business?
An effective sales forecasting process allows you to predict revenue by tracking sales data so you can make informed spending decisions and set sales metric goals based on those predictions. For example, if you forecast that you’ll earn $10,000 in sales next month, your company might plan to invest that money in future marketing campaigns.
From startups and small businesses to million-dollar enterprises, sales forecasting can be intimidating. That’s why we created these sales forecast templates: To help you get started with the sales forecasting process—wherever you are in your business journey.
Table of contents
10 free sales forecast templates
Our sales forecast templates make it easy to jump right in, whether you’re a seasoned pro or a novice asking, “What is a sales forecast?” Here are our 10 templates and how to use them so you can start seeing the future of your business take shape.
If you’d like to access all 10 templates at once, click on the “Download your free sales forecast templates” button at the top and bottom of the page. Otherwise, read on to download them separately.
- Daily sales forecast template
- Monthly sales forecast template
- 1-year sales forecast template
- 3-year sales forecast template
- 5-year sales forecast template
- Startup sales forecast template
- SaaS sales forecast templates (simplified)
- SaaS sales forecast templates (advanced)
- Ecommerce sales forecast template
- Retail sales forecast template
Daily sales forecast template
Our daily sales projections template is perfect for businesses that run through their numbers each day with a fine-tooth comb. This template allows you to estimate sales projections daily for the previous and next 30 days by plugging in sales data.
Enter units sold and revenue from the previous 30 days.
Future days will display projected units and revenue.
Monthly sales forecast template
This monthly sales projection template works similarly to the daily sales forecast but projects revenue month-over-month. This template is great for businesses that keep their eyes focused on the weeks ahead and want to know what their revenue will look like going into the next month.
Enter units sold and revenue from the previous 12 months.
Future months will display projected units and revenue.
1-year sales forecast template
The most popular sales projections template, the one-year sales forecast template—or 12-month sales forecast template—lets you jump ahead to see what kind of growth your business should see and helps you understand where you can make changes to stay on track.
Collect and enter last year’s sales into the Historical Sales Data column.
Enter your projected sales data for this year into the Projected Data column.
Once you press “Enter,” the Actual Growth Rate column will calculate your percentage of growth rate for the year.
Adjust the Expected Growth Rate field to view data based on the percentage entered.
The sales forecast graph will update in real time as you update the information in your columns.
3-year sales forecast template
Great for longer sales-figure projections, our three-year sales projections template helps companies understand how they can generate long-term revenue.
Enter last year’s sales into the Historical Sales Data column.
Enter projected sales numbers for the current year into the Projected Data column.
After pressing “Enter,” the Actual Growth Rate column will show your growth rate percentage for the year.
Projected data will adjust to reflect any changes made in the Expected Growth Rate field.
Watch the sales forecast graph update in real time each time you update the sales information data.
5-year sales forecast template
Where do you see yourself in five years? Our five-year sales forecast template can help you determine where you are on your sales journey and which path you can take to reach your financial goals.
Enter your sales data from the previous year into the Historical Sales Data column.
Enter this year’s projected sales data into the Projected column.
Press “Enter” to display an updated Actual Growth Rate percentage for the year.
Projected data will adjust to reflect any changes made in the Expected Growth Rate field.
Watch the sales forecast graph update in real time each time you update the sales information data.
Startup sales forecast template
Most startups have a tight budget, so being able to predict your revenue has a ton of value. Our sales projections template for startups lets you gauge your revenue and units from launch through your first 12 months of business.
Enter your average revenue per unit (ARPU) and initial growth rate.
Enter your month-over-month (MOM) growth rate to view how many units you will have to sell to reach your desired revenue.
Two graphs display visual data for units sold MOM and revenue MOM.
SaaS sales forecast templates
We created two versions of our SaaS sales forecast template—simplified and advanced—so it can benefit anyone with a SaaS business. Whether you’re a small business owner, executive, advisor, or consultant, this template can help you project revenue for the next decade.
Simplified:
Enter your current monthly recurring revenue (MRR).
Enter (and adjust) your desired growth rate percentage to see the projected annual recurring revenue (ARR) by month and year.
Advanced:
Enter the data for your average contract value, number of customers, conversion rate, retention rate, win rate, and lead volume.
Adjust each column as desired to see yearly revenue output, and the graph will display year-over-year for the next 10 years.
Ecommerce sales forecast template
This easy-to-use revenue projection template is designed to forecast revenue for your ecommerce business over a period of five years. Simply enter your data into the appropriate fields to project sales revenue for the next 12 months. These fields include:
Average order value (AOV)
Conversion rate
Monthly visits
Growth rate (percentage)
Retail sales forecast template
If any industry can use a great sales projections template, it’s the retail industry. With our retail sales forecast template, simply enter and adjust the necessary data to forecast the next year’s revenue. This data includes:
Average transaction value
Conversion rate
Monthly foot traffic
Growth rate (percentage)
Sales forecast template benefits
Free sales forecasting templates are a dime a dozen. Here are a few benefits that set our projected sales templates apart from the others.
Simple and digestible
Many Excel revenue-projection templates online pack in tons of information, but they aren’t necessarily helpful. More information isn’t always better—it can overcomplicate things, especially if you’re a small business. We designed our Excel sales forecast templates for teams who want to spend less time in front of the computer and more time closing sales.
Easy-to-use format
All of our templates are easy to navigate. You know exactly which data to enter in what field so our pre-built formulas can give you the most accurate predictions.
10 templates to fit your business needs
No matter the time frame you want for your sales projection or the type of company you’re running, we have a sales projection template that fits.
Sales forecast examples
Example #1
Imagine you sold 100 of your company’s service subscriptions in October 2021. You estimate that you’ll grow 40 percent year over year.
That means you’ll sell roughly 140 subscriptions in October 2022.
The number of deals (or subscriptions, in this case) predicts future revenue.
Example #2
To calculate a percentage of sales, start by pulling your total sales for the month. Let’s say it’s $50,000. What would next month look like with a 5 percent increase?
You can use this formula to calculate the increase in forecasted sales:
Current sales x [1 + (Growth rate/100)] = Forecasted sales
Plug in your numbers to get:
$50,000 x [1 + (5/100)] → $50,000 x 1.05 = $52,500
Example #3
If you know your quarterly revenue growth rate based on historical data, you can calculate your predicted revenue with this formula:
Revenue + % of growth rate = Predicted revenue
Say your company’s revenue over the last quarter was $75,000 and your growth rate is 3 percent. Plug those numbers into the formula to find your predicted revenue:
$75,000 + (.03 x $75,000) → $75,000 + $2,250 = $77,250
Sales forecasting best practices
It’s important to have a data-driven process when determining a sales forecast. Here are a few best practices that can help you forecast your sales accurately.
Define your sales process and goals
Before you start forecasting, put a standardized sales process into action so your agents can focus on prospects and reach their sales goals. Clearly define the process and break it down into repeatable steps. This tells your agents exactly how to guide customers through the pipeline, resulting in consistent data for your sales forecasting.Ensure your data is accurate
With inaccurate data, your sales forecast is doomed from the start. A single, unified sales CRM platform can help you keep your data accurate and minimize errors and lost data. It’s always a good idea to enter your data in real time so you don’t forget to input key information later.Use and learn from historical data
Historical data shows you what’s worked in the past so you can better predict the future. It can also provide valuable information about where sales increased or decreased. If something worked previously, try it again while identifying any areas of improvement. You can also use current trends in combination with historical data to create your sales forecast.
How using a CRM creates faster, accurate sales predictions
The best sales CRM will help you streamline tasks, analyze metrics, and track sales performance. Zendesk Sell, our CRM and sales reporting platform, automatically collects and organizes sales data into forecasting reports on a sales analytics dashboard to save you time. This feature allows teams to make accurate predictions quickly, no matter how much customer data they’re juggling.
Besides forecasting, reps can also use Zendesk Sell to connect with prospects and automate outreach. With robust communication features, the sales CRM enables reps to build stronger relationships with prospects and close more deals.
