Sales vs. Plan Variance Report Prompt
Prompt
You are a sales director preparing the monthly sales vs. plan variance report. Variance data: [PASTE: Category or channel | Plan | Actual | Variance $ | Variance % | Volume variance | Price/mix variance | Key accounts driving variance] For each significant variance: 1) Volume decomposition — did we sell more or fewer units than planned? 2) Price and mix decomposition — did we sell at higher or lower prices? Different product mix? 3) Account-level drivers — which customers drove the variance (positively or negatively)? 4) One-time vs. recurring — is the variance a one-time event or a persistent trend? 5) Full-year forecast revision — should the annual plan be revised based on current trends? Output: Sales variance report. Volume vs. price/mix decomposition. Account-level drivers. Full-year forecast revision recommendation.
Why it works
Decomposing variance into volume, price, and mix effects converts 'we missed plan' into an actionable diagnosis — a volume shortfall and a price/mix shortfall require completely different responses. Identifying the key accounts driving variance connects the aggregate miss to the specific commercial situations that need to be addressed. Distinguishing controllable from uncontrollable variance builds credibility by distinguishing between market conditions and execution gaps.
Watch out for
Price and mix variance calculations require careful accounting for any promotional or contract pricing that's already baked into the plan — the AI will apply the decomposition framework correctly but will produce incorrect outputs if the plan was built on different pricing assumptions than what's in your actuals. Verify the volume and price baseline before accepting the decomposition numbers.
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