Webcast--
Selling Beyond the
Sales Force--
Leveraging Technology
to Improve Sales Effectiveness
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
1pm Eastern, 12noon Central, 10am Pacific
Dr. Jag Sheth, Marketing Professor Emory University
Click here to register

Webcasts--
Sales Forecasting—
How To Improve Collaboration
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
1pm Eastern, 12noon Central,
10am Pacific
Dr. Tom Mentzer,
Ph.D. Marketing & Logistics
Dr. Mark Moon,
Ph. D, Marketing & Logistics
University of Tennessee
Click here to register

Previous Webcasts--
Worlds Class Forecasting—A Process Perspective
Thursday, April 20, 2006,
1pm Eastern, 10am Pacific
Principal Speakers
Professor Mark Moon, Ph.D, University of Tennessee
Alluri Raju, Senior Manager, Steelwedge Software
Click here to view recording

Sales and Operations Planning--Leveraging Next Generation Technology
Wednesday, February 22, 2006, 1pm Eastern,
10am Pacific
Principal Speakers
Len Couture, Managing Director, GrowthCircle—Boston;
Craig Thomas, CTOs, Steelwedge Software
Click here to view recording


Guidelines for S&OP in the Multi-site Enterprise
Wednesday, January 11, 2006, 2pm Eastern, 11am Pacific
Principal Speakers
Share Green, Director,
Program Management,
Teledyne Technologies EMS ,
Glen Margolis, SVP Services, Steelwedge Software
Click here to view recording

Chief Supply Chain Officer June2006
S&OP Customers Go Cross-Functional and Show Results
By Jacqueline Emigh,

Sandhill.com Nov 28, 2005
A Hybrid Strategy for
On-Demand Success
By Timothy Campbell, President/CEO
Steelwedge Software

Manufacturing Business Technology (MBT) November 2005
Cover Story: Balancing Supply & Demand
By Sidney Hill, Jr.

Baseline Magazine (11/08/05)
Air Products in the Pipeline
By Mel Duval, 11/08/05

START Magazine July-August 2005
Looking Forward: Forecasting and Consensus Planning
By Christine Pfefferle, Director of Global Demand and
Order Management

Turbo Charging Your Sales Forecasting Process
By Anil Gupta, The Applications Marketing Group

The Sales Funnel - a Critical Part of the Demand Planning Process
By EJ Tavella, Senior Director
of Business Development, Steelwedge Software

How to Conduct a Sales Forecasting Audit

By Mark A. Moon and John T. Mentzer, Department of Marketing, Logistics and Transportation, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-0530

Abstract: Continuous improvement in sales forecasting can significantly affect overall corporate performance. Regardless of industry, or whether the company is a manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, or service provider, effective demand forecasting help organizations identify market opportunities, enhance channel relationships, increase customer satisfaction, reduce inventory investment, eliminate product obsolescence, improve distribution operations, schedule more efficient production and anticipate financial and capital requirements.

Improving a forecast requires companies take advantage of information systems including Radio Frequency Identification (RFI), Point of Sale (POS) data collection, Stock Keeping Unit by Location (SKUL) and). Originally, systems, were limited in their ability to select from multiple forecasting techniques for different products and services. Today, systems that offer alternatives and combinations of techniques are ubiquitous.

Yet, despite these advances, forecasting sophistication and performance have improved little, even at the more successful companies. Forecasting research to pursue improvements in the systems and techniques has identified gaps in the relationships between systems and techniques, and the behavioral factors associated with the management of forecasting.

Focusing on the management practice, the purpose of this paper is to describe a methodology for conducting a sales forecasting audit that has been tested in 16 companies to: (1) Understand the current status of their forecasting management practices; (2) Visualize the goals companies should be striving to reach in the various dimensions of forecasting management; and (3) Develop a roadmap for achieving these goals.

To download this definitive guide to conducting a sales forecasting audit, originally published in the International Journal of Forecasting in 2003,
click here.

About the Authors:

Dr. Mark A. Moon is Director of the Sales Forecasting Management Forum
and Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Tennessee ,
Knoxville . Prior to joining the UT faculty in 1993, Dr. Moon earned his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill .
He also holds MBA and BA degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor . Dr. Moon's professional experience includes positions in sales and marketing with IBM and Xerox. Dr. Moon has been nominated three times,
and has once been the recipient, of the Allen H. Keally award for teaching excellence. His primary research interests are in buyer/seller relationships, demand management, and sales forecasting. He has published in numerous journals including.

Dr. John T.(Tom) Mentzer is the Bruce Chair of Excellence at the University
of Tennessee , Department of Marketing and Logistics, and an internationally recognized expert in the field of Demand Management. He has written more than 180 papers and articles, authored or co-authored seven books and served on the editorial review boards of numerous journals. He is a board member of several corporations and has consulted with more than 100 corporations and government agencies, including AT&T, Coca Cola, Du Pont Corporation, Exxon, Federal Express, General Mills, General Motors,
Harley-Davidson, Hershey Corporation, U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Johnson & Johnson, Lucent Technologies, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Motorola, Nestle USA, Nike, Pfizer, Philips Consumer Electronics, SeaLand, Sony, Weyerhauser and Whirlpool, to name a few.