A forecast call is the weekly meeting where a sales manager and their reps agree on the number for the period and the deals behind it. The manager runs it, each rep brings their committed and best-case deals, and it takes 30 to 45 minutes for a team of six to eight.
Most forecast calls go wrong in the same few ways: nobody has written down what commit means, the rep's numbers and the CRM disagree, the hour goes on arguing about figures, and nobody leaves with a next step. The fix in this guide is narrow. Define each forecast category by what the buyer has done, ask the same five questions of every committed deal, and send every gap to a coaching call. Deal risk in general is covered in our deal risk guide; this page is the weekly meeting where that risk gets priced.
What a forecast call is for
A forecast call has one output: a number the manager can stand behind, with every deal in it backed by buyer evidence. A second output follows from it, a short list of deals that need a coaching conversation this week.
- Who signs, and when did they last hear the case?
- What did the buyer say the problem costs, and who said it?
- What are the approval steps from here, with names?
- Has another option come up, including doing nothing?
- What is the buyer's date, and what depends on it?
It sits between two other meetings and should not become either. The pipeline review covers the whole book and stages deals. The deal review works one deal in depth. The forecast call covers only deals that could close this period, and it decides where each one sits.
Define the categories by buyer evidence
"Commit" means something different to every rep until someone writes it down. Write it down in terms of what the buyer has done, so the category cannot be argued from confidence.
| Category | Definition (buyer evidence) | Typical question that settles it |
|---|---|---|
| Commit | The economic buyer has heard the case, the cost of the problem has been stated by a named buyer, every approval step is mapped with an owner, and the close date is tied to something on the buyer's calendar | "What is the buyer's date, and what happens on their side that day?" |
| Best case | The economic buyer is identified and a named buyer has stated the cost of the problem; one item (the signer hearing the case, steps, alternative or date) is open with a planned conversation | "Which item is open, and when is the conversation that closes it?" |
| Pipeline | Anything else that could close this period | "What would have to happen this week for this to be best case?" |
These definitions are our operating rules. Use your own method's language if you run one: in MEDDPICC terms, commit needs the Economic Buyer, Metrics, Decision Process and Paper Process confirmed (MEDDPICC). The point is that a category is a set of facts about the buyer, checked the same way for every rep.
The procedure: seven steps
Send the list a day early. Each rep posts their commit and best-case deals with the five answers below filled in. What good looks like: every answer quotes a buyer or names a dated event, and "strong relationship" counts as blank.
Open with the number and the gap (3 minutes). State the team's commit, best case and target, and the difference. Check coverage on deals that pass the evidence test, so the room sees how much of the gap is real. Our pipeline coverage entry explains the evidence-weighted version.
Walk each rep's commits with five questions (20 to 25 minutes). Ask them in order, every week:
- Who signs, and when did they last hear the case?
- What did the buyer say the problem costs, and who said it?
- What are the approval steps from here, with names?
- Has another option come up, including doing nothing?
- What is the buyer's date, and what depends on it?
What good looks like: the rep answers each with a quote, an email or an accepted meeting. A rep who says "I think" or "they told me it is fine" has found a gap.
Move deals on the spot. A commit that fails a question moves to best case. A best case with no planned conversation moves to pipeline. Say it plainly and move on: "That is best case until the CFO has seen it." How the rep feels about the deal does not come into it.
Name the conversation for every moved deal (in the same pass). For each deal that moved, the rep names the buyer conversation that would move it back and the date. The manager does not plan it in the forecast call; that happens on the coaching call booked in step 6.
Book coaching calls for the deals that matter most (5 minutes). Pick two or three moved deals with the most value and book a 20-minute call with each rep this week to diagnose the gap and plan the conversation, as in how to coach a stalled deal. What good looks like: each call ends with an opening line the rep has said out loud and a date.
Record the call and check it next week (2 minutes). Note the number, each moved deal, the conversation promised and its date. Next week's call opens with that list: did the conversations happen, and what did the buyer say?
The forecast call agenda template has these steps as a copyable agenda with timings.
A worked example
This example is illustrative.
Jordan has four deals in commit for the quarter. The manager asks the five questions.
| Deal | Signer heard the case? | Cost stated? | Steps mapped? | Alternative? | Buyer's date? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A, $40k | Yes, on the 12th | Yes, by the COO | Yes, legal then CFO | None raised | Board meeting on the 20th | Stays in commit |
| B, $65k | No, champion is "taking it up" | Yes | Yes | None raised | Quarter-end board pack | Moves to best case |
| C, $25k | Yes | No number yet | Yes | Internal build discussed | None | Moves to pipeline |
| D, $30k | Yes | Yes | Yes | Competitor in final two | Go-live before their busy season | Stays in commit, flagged |
Jordan's commit drops from $160,000 to $70,000. The manager books one coaching call this week, on deal B, because it is the largest and the gap is clear: the signer has never heard the case. Jordan names the conversation in the forecast call (a 20-minute call with the champion to prepare the two points the CFO will ask about) and they plan the opening line on the coaching call the next morning. Deal D stays in commit because each question has an answer, and the competitor gets its own planned conversation.
The number went down. It also became a number the manager can defend upward, which is what a forecast is for.
Where it goes wrong
- The call turns into a deal review. One deal eats fifteen minutes and three reps never get heard. Move the deal, book the coaching call, keep going.
- Questions change week to week. If the manager asks different things of different reps, categories become negotiable again. Same five questions, same order, every week.
- Rep confidence decides the category. "I have a great feeling about this one" is information about the rep. The category comes from the answers.
- Nobody checks last week's promises. If moved deals are never revisited, reps learn that the call is theater, and step 7 is where that lesson gets reversed.
- Risk flags arrive with no coaching. Flagging risky commits before the call helps only if a coaching call follows the flag the same week.
Where the call sits among sales forecasting methods
Teams forecast in a few common ways, and most combine them:
- Rep roll-up. Each rep calls their deals and the manager adjusts. This is the method the call above improves.
- Weighted pipeline. Each deal is multiplied by a stage or category probability. It is quick, and it assumes stage reflects the buyer's progress. See weighted pipeline.
- Historical run rate. Last period's conversion applied to this period's pipeline. Useful as a sense check on the total.
- Signal-based scoring. Software reads activity and engagement to flag deals that look off.
Each method takes its input from the deal's stage or category. If those are set from rep confidence, every method inherits the error. Defining categories by buyer evidence, as above, and checking each moved deal on the call, is what keeps the inputs honest.
Here is an illustrative case. A manager's weighted pipeline says the team is on target. On the call, two large commit deals turn out to have no economic buyer engaged. Both drop to best case, the weighted number falls, and the manager knows a week earlier where the shortfall is.
Coaching every moved deal
A manager can run the questions in the call. What a manager cannot do is hold a coaching call on every moved deal, every week, for every rep.
Replicate Labs takes the coaching load. Bryce reads the deals behind the forecast and marks the ones carrying the rep's number with no buyer evidence, so the call starts from those. A rep whose deal moved talks it through with Caty on a call and preps the conversation that moves it back, in the team's own method; typing is there if they cannot talk. Bryce also coaches the manager on the forecast call itself. If your forecast calls run long and the same deals slip anyway, talk to us.
FAQ
How long should a forecast call be?
A forecast call for a team of six to eight reps should take 30 to 45 minutes. That leaves three minutes for the number, about 25 for walking each rep's commits with five evidence questions, and a few minutes to book coaching calls and record what moved. Longer calls usually mean one deal has turned into a deal review.
What questions should you ask in a forecast call?
A forecast call should ask five questions of every committed deal. Ask who signs and when they last heard the case; what the buyer said the problem costs; what the approval steps are, with names; whether another option has come up; and what the buyer's date is and what depends on it. Each answer should quote a buyer or name a dated event.
What is the difference between commit and best case?
Commit means the buyer evidence for closing this period is in place: the signer has heard the case, a buyer stated the cost, approval steps are mapped and the date is the buyer's. Best case means the signer is identified and the cost is confirmed, but one item, often the signer hearing the case, is still open, with a planned conversation to close it.
Who should run the forecast call?
The front-line sales manager runs the call with their reps, and RevOps prepares the data and definitions. At the next level, the sales leader runs a forecast call with managers using the same categories and questions, so a commit means the same thing at every level of the business.
What is the difference between a forecast call and a pipeline review?
A forecast call covers only deals that could close this period and decides which category each sits in. A pipeline review covers the whole book, stages every deal by buyer evidence and decides which deals get worked this week. Many teams run both weekly, the pipeline review first.
How do you stop reps sandbagging or inflating the forecast?
Define the categories by buyer evidence and ask the same questions of every deal. A rep who sandbags has to explain why a deal with every answer in place is not in commit, and a rep who inflates cannot answer the questions. Confidence stops deciding the category once the questions are fixed.