Sales Organizations Shape Industrial Product Demand

Much of the focus in the literature has been on demand forecasting for consumer product companies. There has been less written about demand forecasting for industrial product companies that market technically savvy products to businesses, largely via a direct sales force. Thus, a lot has been written about using historical, statistically based forecasts that incorporate promotional and new product impacts on demand, and that are adjusted by marketing intelligence. However, sales organizations are the major “demand-shapers” in the industrial-product industries, and what sales does needs to be more seriously considered when developing a demand forecast.