Enterprise sales forecasting is evolving for 2025: are you ready?

As a sales or revenue operations leader, about now you're staring down enterprise sales forecasting for the upcoming fiscal, knowing the stakes are high and business models are rapidly evolving.  

Each quarter there's been fresh waves of economic uncertainty and while your leadership wants predictability and you're setting up cadences and data to achieve it, there's still a ton of uncertainty and complexity to manage. 

The consumption-based pricing model your organization adopted for flexibility? It's introduced volatility into projections. Meanwhile AI and predictive analytics tools can sound like silver bullets, but without a solid strategy, more tech is just noise.  

As pressure mounts, you need an approach to forecasting revenue that’s agile enough to respond to market swings and powerful enough to drive cohesive action across sales, marketing, and finance.

In a recent digital event hosted by revenue orchestration platform, Clari, Elizabeth Temples, GVP of Enterprise Revenue, and Seth Marrs, Principal Analyst at Forrester, had a terrific conversation on how to tackle forecasting challenges in a constantly evolving market.  

Below we'll explore some of the discussion takeaways to help you eveolve your 2025 forecasting.

First up, some overarching trends to be aware of...

Trend 1: Companies are pursuing flashy, quick fixes (but need to address core data gaps first)

According to Seth, while many organizations are hoping the latest tool or AI application will instantly improve forecasting or efficiency, many end up stagnating while trying to adopt. Seth attributed this to the degree of data infrastructure that needs to be in place as a foundation for these applications to work.

As he shared:

So why are companies avoiding addressing these data gaps?

As Seth indicated, many don't realize they're trying to move too fast; companies are simply starting to ask questions of data that isn't very good to start with:

"When you ask questions the data that's not very good, you don't get very good answers back." says Marrs.

In other words: AI or predictive analytics tools can only work with good inputs, and if the initial inputs are poor, the outcomes of what AI can produce will be too.

The takeaway? Invest in a solid data foundation ahead of new technology

Instead of eagerly trying to skip ahead, both Elizabeth and Seth recommended ensuring you've got clean, accurate data that can be trusted across teams first. Only then can you really see momentum with tools to support long-term agility and growth. Further, look to solutions that may also help unify the data to begin with.

As Elizabeth shared, we can acknowledge the need to “[go] slow to go fast” – addressing foundational issues upfront to enable rapid, effective scaling later.

Unified data is at the heart of accurate revenue forecasting, and having reliable data leads to reliable forecasts.  

Secondly, leverage RevOps to drive strategic growth and lead organizational change

For RevOps leaders, this current environment offers an unparalleled opportunity to spearhead transformative change. With the right focus, RevOps can go beyond traditional operations to become a core strategic function driving sustainable growth. As Seth described:

“if you’re a RevOps leader today and you aren’t fired up about your abilities to be able to do this, you need to rethink what you’re doing.”

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Companies that create a unified data system across functions like CRM, marketing, and customer success find it easier to gain a holistic view of accounts, spot risks early, and take proactive steps. This data-first culture forms the basis for forecasting strategies that are robust and adaptable, regardless of market changes.

Trend 2: There's been solid progress on the promise and effectiveness of AI

When it comes to changing how sellers sell, Seth remarked on the initial flood of AI-driven tools to hit the market and their promises of efficiency. Though now, he says, organizations are starting to actually realize the benefits or effectiveness of AI (and it's not always the value they were initially sold on).

For example, the initial value of auto capture for sellers was billed as efficiency, but leaders are realizing the actual value is the capability to ask questions on a data set that now includes so many extra signals and interactions thanks to more thorough capture.  

Teams are able to get very sharp, accurate answers back on queries thanks to this AI-driven capability to learn what exactly is going on with these accounts and the best way to talk to each given existing interactions or opportunities.

This is significant because as recently as a year ago Seth observed we were just able to ask general questions to a single data point (i.e. a transcript), but today, we can ask questions of broader sets of data and there's been more significant progress on the actual effectiveness of AI.  

On how to adapt to complex business models

Today, organizations are running complex models around GTM where you're needing to manage consumption, subscription, and figure out a lot of different elements around the business.

All the while, according to Clari's 2024 Revenue Leak Report, 61% of companies didn't achieve their revenue targets last year.

On this, it doesn't help that we know sellers spend a significant amount of time doing work that isn't selling. Sellers spend time contributing to forecasting, and this is a capacity consideration.

So how should you adapt to sell more effectively?

Seth recommended one of the biggest priorities should be improving your processes around forecasting and simply getting more efficient at doing it. This builds capacity for you to have your sellers do more selling. It allows you to enact more program pushes with the team to focus on a variety of different things that constitute real, tangible value.

Seth ultimately recommends leveraging technology in 2025 to displace the time that you spend analyzing and looking at your numbers. Direct this instead towards ways to sell deeper into your existing accounts.

On this, consider:  

• In what ways can you go deeper at the account level not just the opportunity level?  

• How can you get richer intelligence across your org; enhancing the richness of how you actually cover accounts?

For more accurate forecasts, prioritize unified data solutions over single-purpose tech investments

As Elizabeth shared, technology alone can't save the day. Even an incredible tech stack is nothing without great data enablement. And often, getting various data sources talking together can feel impossible.  

So how are businesses building discipline and using cadences to drive revenue growth?

On this, Seth sees businesses are making a common, yet critical error with a piecemeal tech acquisition strategy. I.e. they're purchasing software with a reactive, single-issue mindset.

The result of this problem-first mindset is a fragmented tech stack that addresses isolated, single issues without considering the bigger picture. This approach overwhelms sellers, who struggle to effectively adopt and use the growing number of tools. As a result, their productivity suffers significantly.

Instead, adopt a holistic technology investment strategy

To adapt more effectively, Seth recommends a proactive, systems-oriented buying strategy.

Instead of a micro approach seeking individual pieces:

• Isolate your overarching strategy. What would great look like for the business, and for the sellers? (i.e. "I need better prospecting integration; I need better content integration....")

• Then, which tools do you think are best suited for a seller to eventually be able to do everything in one place? Further, which can be integrated with what you already have?

Take a step back and work your way through the above narrative.

Think of it as a friction-free approach working back from your ideal state. The only thing a seller should be doing is providing great experiences for clients, and the tech can't get in the way of doing that.

If you start with this view first, identifying all the different things you need to do along your ideal outlined process, you ultimately build a process that works exactly the way you want it and know all the outliers that you need to address along the buying evaluation process.

On cadences: Transform forecasting meetings into collaborative, action-driven sessions

Another of the core themes discussed was that cadences are steadily evolving to become more collaborative.

Traditionally, forecasting meetings have often been reactive, focusing purely on a report of deal statuses rather than strategic insights. However, Seth noted that today’s high-performing organizations are transforming these meetings into proactive strategy sessions where managers support sellers in real-time.

“Instead of using the cadence for a download from the seller to the manager,” Seth explained, “I see it flipping to being an upload from the manager to the seller.”

"Instead of 'tell me the 10 deals you're going to [close to] make your number', companies are using the cadence for what it's really for which is "how can I put the might of the company in your hands to be able to help you....what help do you need from me?"

Considering managers can now see all the conversations around a deal, the cadence can become more about how they can strategize around putting the seller in a better position to win.  

This shift is empowering managers and sellers to discuss and address obstacles, optimize deal strategies, and work together to reach (or exceed) targets. Seth likened it to the difference between deal pursuit versus deal desk, where the manager's entire job is to now eliminate all the friction and help you win the deal (vs. sellers hitting a wall trying to push approvals through).

Elizabeth mentioned first-hand experience with the transition to this style of forecast call at Clari. In her case—prior to a cadence call—she's already inspected the base layer of all the accounts, read the emails, looked at mutual action plans, and asked Clari questions on whether timing has already been discussed with a prospect, or she's inquired about potential deal risks. From there, she's in a great position to use the call to consult more meaningfully with reps and sales leaders to move the needle on business objectives.

The takeaway? Restructure cadence meetings to foster collaborative strategizing

This upcoming year, focus on leveraging the strategic insights you have in your cadences (and do away with deal-status reporting). Further, you can leverage AI to support forecasting and inspire sales teams to exceed targets.

AI-driven tools are proving to be powerful in enabling more accurate forecasting. Seth emphasized that AI is most effective in prediction, helping overcome human tendencies toward over- or under-estimation. AI can provide teams with reliable baselines they can aim to beat.  ‍

To increase net dollar retention forget distractions, focus on your biggest opportunity

Lastly the pair addressed the challenge of churn.

With churn at all-time highs for businesses in tech, eroding a lot of predictability, maximizing net dollar retention has become key.  

But, in a frantic push to implement dozens of initiatives to unlock revenue everywhere possible, companies have added too many products and value adds to a seller's plate–all the while sales leaders wonder why nobody's selling any of them.

Seth recommends a far more focused approach:  

Use narrative-driven approach to unlock upsell and cross-sell opportunities

As Seth sees with clients, those doing net dollar retention particularly well have identified the buying sequence that best suits their ideal buyer, then created a narrative that guides customers through that natural sequence aligned to the customer’s immediate needs— all while reinforcing retention.

"They're not looking for opportunities, per se, and trying to pounce on each one. They have a narrative that they're talking to with their customer constantly where...every product has a follow-on product.  

...The companies that do it really well just orchestrate it so you're just going through that whole process and you're constantly putting another value-add product in front of your customers...you keep giving them value pieces that plug into the core solution."

This structured approach enables sales teams to guide customers through a long-term value journey. Instead of seeing each upsell as a disconnected offering, use a cohesive narrative to orchestrate cross-sells in a way that strengthens net dollar retention and enhances customer satisfaction.

Empower your CSMs to proactively reduce churn risk

Further, to effectively get ahead of renewals, be sure to assign CSMs to proactively deliver consistent value throughout the customer journey. When renewal time arrives, it'll become less about 'if' the customer will renew and more about simply finalizing the process when you've done this well.  

Seth suggested that once an account becomes competitive, it’s critical your rules of engagement shift where CSMs hand it off to a sales rep skilled in handling competitive negotiations.  

Ultimately, you want your most skilled salespeople in your biggest deals and all of your renewals are your biggest deals. You've got to treat renewals like a net new motion and ensure your people know where to play.  

Future-proof your revenue strategy by making forecasting a growth catalyst

As we move toward 2025, we hope the above takeaways offer a roadmap for future-proofing revenue operations and making forecasting a growth catalyst.  

By building strong foundations, aligning data and strategy, and embracing AI-powered tools, you can create reliable, adaptable forecasts.  

Further, you can consider using revenue orchestration platforms and sales performance management (SPM) platforms that offer powerful ways to align your sales teams with forecasting and revenue goals.  

By leveraging an SPM platform, for instance, RevOps leaders can gain visibility into which incentives are truly driving performance, which reps are excelling, and where misalignments may exist between compensation and business objectives. You can make strategic adjustments to incentives, such as increasing emphasis on key accounts or encouraging reps to focus on cross-selling.

Further, with tools like Clari, you can go from lead to close all in one platform and take the guess work out of growth with forecasting intelligence.

Ultimately, organizations that prioritize a proactive, customer-centric approach will be well-positioned to navigate economic fluctuations, maximize retention, and drive sustained growth.