In technology-heavy industries like manufacturing, your ability to invest in equipment and automation directly translates into output. Running a restaurant? The number of tables and locations likely drives your revenue potential - at least partially.

If you're struggling to keep up with demand (...which we can help with), the number of potential customers isn't very relevant to your sales forecast.

What is? The equipment and investments (capex) you plan to make in the next year. How much additional capacity can you create? What price can you demand? How much downtime does your production line typically have, and are you doing anything to increase it?

By multiplying estimated production (capacity correcting for average downtime) by the expected pricing, you can reach a sales estimate.

To build a reasonable range, consider the maximum perfect production rates for a high estimate. For the low range, consider experience from past catastrophic production outages, and the time it took to recover, or any other reasonable worst-case scenario.

This approach is simple, but enough to get you started. Want to talk through a more detailed approach? Reach out to our business coaches or ask for more help!