If you're running a growing B2B sales team and tired of forecasting feeling like educated guesswork, you're not alone. Most forecasts are off, sometimes by a mile. Misses hurt—miss your number, and you’re in for some tough conversations. Overestimate, and you might over-hire or overspend. It’s stressful, especially when you're scaling up and there’s more at stake. This guide is for sales leaders, ops folks, and anyone who just wants a straighter path to calling their number right.
Let’s dig into how Aviso claims to fix this, what actually helps, and what’s just noise.
Why Sales Forecasting is a Pain (and Why It Gets Harder as You Grow)
Most B2B companies start with basic forecasting: rep-entered CRM numbers, a spreadsheet, and maybe a manager’s gut feeling. That’s fine for a small team. But as you grow:
- There are more deals, more reps, and more moving parts.
- Data quality drops—people forget updates, or pad their deals.
- Your pipeline visibility gets murky.
- The pressure to “hit the number” means there’s more wishful thinking.
You end up with forecasts that are either sandbagged (so you always “beat” them) or way too optimistic. Neither helps you actually run the business.
What Aviso Actually Does (and Doesn’t)
Aviso bills itself as an AI-powered forecasting and sales guidance platform. Ignore the buzzwords—here’s what that means in practice:
What Aviso Does:
- Connects to your CRM (like Salesforce) and pulls in all your pipeline data.
- Analyzes historical data—win rates, sales cycle length, rep performance, deal changes.
- Uses machine learning to spot patterns your team misses (e.g., deals that always slip, deals that close when a certain sequence of activities happens).
- Surfaces a forecast—a number backed up by data, not just rep optimism or sandbagging.
- Flags risky deals so you can focus coaching and inspection where it matters.
- Tracks forecast changes—so you know who moved what, and why.
What It Doesn’t Do:
- It can’t magically fix bad data. Garbage in, garbage out still applies.
- It doesn’t replace manager judgment. It gives more signal, but you still have to decide what to do.
- It won’t make reps update CRM any more than they already do—though it can highlight where the gaps are.
Honest Take: If your CRM is a mess, Aviso will surface that, not solve it. But if you’ve got the basics covered, it can give you a much clearer, more honest forecast.
Step-by-Step: How to Use Aviso to Tighten Up Your Forecasts
Let’s walk through what it looks like to use Aviso in a growing B2B sales shop—warts and all.
1. Connect Aviso to Your CRM and Email
- Get all your data in one place. Aviso connects to Salesforce, HubSpot, and more. It can also pick up signals from email and calendar (think: meetings, follow-ups).
- Pro Tip: Don’t try to hide bad data. Let it sync everything—warts and all. It’s better to see the mess than pretend it isn’t there.
2. Clean Up the Worst Data Offenders
- Reality check: If your CRM is full of dead deals, wrong close dates, or missing fields, do a cleanup sprint. Aviso’s insights won’t mean much if the data’s junk.
- Quick wins: Close out old zombie deals. Make sure basic fields (stage, amount, owner, close date) are filled in.
3. Review Aviso’s Forecast vs. Your Team’s Forecast
- Get both numbers: See what your reps/managers are calling, and what Aviso’s AI thinks will happen.
- Look for big gaps: If Aviso is way more pessimistic (or optimistic), dig into why. Is your team sandbagging? Are there deals the AI is missing context on?
- Pro Tip: Don’t just trust the AI blindly. Use it as a “second opinion” to challenge team thinking.
4. Inspect Deal Risk and Pipeline Movement
- Aviso flags deals that look shaky based on past patterns (e.g., no activity in weeks, constantly slipping close dates).
- Use this to coach. Don’t use it to hammer reps—ask questions. “This deal’s been stuck for a month. Are we being realistic?”
- Watch for pipeline movement: Aviso tracks changes over time, not just snapshots. You’ll see deals moving in/out, slip, or vanish—no more surprises at the end of the quarter.
5. Adjust and Iterate
- Don’t let the AI replace real judgment. Sometimes there’s context the machine can’t see (a relationship, a customer’s internal drama).
- Treat every forecast as a learning moment. If the AI called it right and you missed, dig in. If you were right and the AI was wrong, figure out why.
- Over time, your forecasting process gets tighter. People start being more honest, and your numbers get closer to reality.
What Works (and What Doesn’t) When Using Aviso
What Works
- Objective view: Takes some politics and wishful thinking out of forecasting.
- Focuses your attention: You can zero in on risky deals and fix issues early.
- Good for scaling: Handles lots of data and complexity as your team grows.
- Audit trail: Tracks who changed what and when—less finger-pointing.
What Doesn’t
- Won’t fix broken sales process: If your reps never update CRM or your stages are meaningless, no tool can help.
- Not a “set it and forget it” tool: You still need to review, coach, and adjust.
- AI can be a black box: Sometimes the “why” behind a forecast isn’t clear. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or push back.
What to Ignore
- Hyped-up “AI will close your deals” claims: Forecasting is about calling your shot, not winning every deal.
- Fancy dashboards over basic hygiene: Clean data matters more than slick visualizations.
Common Pitfalls (and How to Dodge Them)
- Relying only on rep-entered forecasts: Reps are optimistic (or sandbagging). Always check against data-driven models.
- Ignoring pipeline hygiene: Old, dead deals poison your forecast. Clean up monthly.
- Blindly trusting the AI: Use it as a check, not a crutch.
- Treating forecasts as “set in stone”: Forecasting is dynamic. Update often, and don’t be afraid to adjust.
Quick Checklist for Getting More Accurate Sales Forecasts
- [ ] Connect all relevant data sources to Aviso.
- [ ] Clean up the worst CRM data before you start.
- [ ] Review both human and AI forecasts every week.
- [ ] Use deal risk flags for coaching—not punishment.
- [ ] Track forecast accuracy, and adjust your process based on misses.
- [ ] Keep it simple: more data isn’t always better, but cleaner data always is.
Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Trust Hype
Forecasting will never be perfect—markets change, deals go sideways, and humans are unpredictable. But with tools like Aviso, you can cut the drama and get closer to the truth, faster. Don’t get distracted by AI hype or fancy dashboards. Clean up your data, use the machine as a second set of eyes, and focus on honest conversations with your team.
Start simple, improve a little each quarter, and remember: the goal is fewer surprises and less stress—not forecasting perfection.