A board meeting is looming, and you must commit to a number. Not just any number—but the number. The one that influences budgets, hiring plans, marketing campaigns, and investor sentiment.
If you’re a CRO, head of sales, or revenue operations leader, you know this experience too well. According to research, 98% of revenue leaders struggle to produce accurate forecasts, and most have missed their projections multiple times in the last 12 months. The culprit isn’t just macroeconomic uncertainty. It’s something far more controllable: bad data.
That’s why we created The revenue leader’s guide to more accurate forecasting. This eBook explores how to build a genuinely data-accountable revenue organization that removes friction from reps’ workflows, empowers them to do the right thing, and gives leaders the trustworthy insights they need to call the quarter with confidence.
Forecasting is a pyramid, and most teams start at the top
In the eBook, we introduce a pyramid model for more accurate forecasting. At the top: the goal itself—accurate, confident forecasts. But that accuracy can’t exist in a vacuum. It sits atop layers of foundational practices that include trustworthy data, accountability, and frictionless workflows.
Too many revenue teams try to “fix” forecasting with better spreadsheets or rollups, when the real problem lies in the inputs. No forecasting model can save you if your CRM contains incomplete fields, skipped stages, and outdated price books.
You have to go deeper.
Build a culture of data accountability
Sales culture often focuses on outcomes: closed deals, pipeline coverage, and win rates. But when it comes to forecast accuracy, data matters just as much. If you want reps to treat data accuracy as a mission-critical responsibility, you have to make it a category-one priority.
Many leading organizations now treat data hygiene as a key performance indicator (KPI). This makes accuracy both a metric to measure and a best practice (or even requirement) that is baked into employee onboarding and training. But accountability can’t be top-down alone. Reps need to feel ownership, not just obligation.
Listen to your team and act on what you learn
Forecasting isn’t just a technology problem. It’s an experience problem.
Why are reps skipping fields? Why is that dropdown misused? Why are notes missing from high-value opportunities? The only way to find out is to ask. However, traditional methods like email surveys and manual audits are time-consuming, hard to scale, and often ignored.
With Pendo Listen, Pendo Analytics, and Session Replay, you don’t just know what is broken—you understand why. Now, you’re not just collecting feedback—you’re seeing the full picture.
Turn feedback into real, lasting change
Once you know what’s holding your reps back, the next step is to fix it. That might mean redesigning a workflow, simplifying a field structure, or retraining a segment of your team. But how do you do that without draining productivity or requiring a new three-hour training module every time?
Because Pendo Guides can be customized for different users, they make onboarding and upskilling seamless. That’s why so many companies use them to duplicate their high performers’ success.
From data chaos to forecast confidence
Essity, a global hygiene and health leader with 36,000+ employees, struggled with forecast accuracy due to inconsistent CRM usage. Pendo helped streamline the experience with in-app tips and targeted guides, improving compliance and empowering reps to focus on selling rather than wrestling with Salesforce.
“Pendo is helping us turn our software into something our users can really value.”
— Debbie Wiggins, Business Systems Director, Essity
Better experiences, better data, better forecasts
The modern CRO can’t afford to rely on gut instinct and scattered spreadsheets. To build a revenue engine that’s repeatable, predictable, and scalable, you need trustworthy data—and a team that knows how (and wants) to keep it clean.
That’s what The revenue leader’s guide to more accurate forecasting delivers. You’ll walk away with a blueprint for data accountability, frictionless workflows, and empowering your team when and where they need it.
Forecasting will always require judgment. But with the right foundation, that judgment can be informed, not guessed.
Download the complete guide now or request a demo to see how Pendo can help your revenue team forecast with confidence.
