Forecasting Categories in Salesforce

An important and powerful part of Salesforce is forecasting, which allows you to predict future income and set revenue expectations.

However, effective forecasting is challenging—if not impossible—without assigning forecast categories.

These categories group opportunities based on their likelihood to close, providing a high-level view of your sales pipeline.

Forecast categories are essential for generating accurate reports and guiding decision-making.

They help you and your team focus on opportunities that matter most while filtering out noise.

When to use each Forecast category

Why Forecast categories matter

Forecast categories are more than just labels—they're critical tools for organizing opportunities and producing actionable reports.

By categorizing each opportunity, Salesforce enables you to:

• Group opportunities meaningfully;
• Produce accurate forecasts based on real-time data;
• Provide leadership with clear insights into the sales pipeline.