Forecasting Clarity: Understanding HubSpot's Revenue Goal Update

For sales leaders and revenue operations professionals, this has been a persistent frustration, setting goals with confidence only to discover they're nowhere to be found when you need them most. That critical target you carefully calculated? Mysteriously absent from your forecast. That quarterly objective your team is working toward? Somehow not reflected in your projections.

This inconsistency hasn't just been annoying, it's been undermining the very purpose of goal-setting and forecasting tools that should be making your sales planning more reliable, not less.

The Root of the Forecasting Confusion

At the heart of this issue has been HubSpot's dual approach to revenue goals. The platform has always offered two types of revenue goal templates:

1. "Forecastable Revenue" - Designed specifically for sales forecasting
2. "Revenue" - A more flexible template with customisable options

The problem? Sometimes those "Revenue" goals would appear in your forecasts, sometimes they wouldn't, and there was no clear pattern to predict when they would show up. It was essentially a roll of the dice every time you set a goal, hardly the predictability you need when steering your sales organisation toward success.

As one sales director put it: "It's hard enough getting the team aligned on targets without having to explain why the numbers we agreed on aren't showing up in our forecasting tool."

HubSpot's Solution: Clear Boundaries for Forecasting

HubSpot has now implemented a straightforward solution that eliminates this ambiguity once and for all. With their latest update, they've established a clear rule:

Only goals created with the "Forecastable Revenue" template will appear in your forecasting tool.

No more guesswork. No more "where did my goal go?" moments. And definitely no more awkward explanations when your numbers don't add up in that Monday morning sales meeting.

This change creates a clear boundary between goals that are designed for forecasting and those that serve other purposes. It's a simple distinction that brings much-needed clarity to the process.

Why This Matters for Your Sales Organisation

Accurate forecasting is the backbone of effective sales strategy and operations. Here's why this update matters:

1. Alignment Between Goals and Projections - When your goals consistently appear in your forecasts, you create alignment between what you're aiming for and what you're tracking. This consistency is crucial for keeping teams focused and accountable.

2. More Reliable Decision-Making - Sales leaders make critical decisions based on forecasts—from resource allocation to hiring plans. When your forecasting tool accurately reflects your goals, those decisions become more reliable.

3. Reduced Administrative Overhead - No more time wasted hunting down missing goals or recreating targets that should have been visible in the first place. This efficiency means more time for what matters: coaching your team and closing deals.

4. Improved Forecast Accuracy - With clearer goal visibility comes better forecast accuracy. When you can consistently see and track progress against your targets, your projections become more dependable.

How the New Process Works

The updated approach is refreshingly straightforward:

Setting Forecastable Goals

When you want a goal to appear in your forecasting tool, you'll need to use the "Forecastable Revenue" template. This template is specifically designed for sales forecasting and automatically aligns with your account's forecasting cadence—whether you operate on a monthly or quarterly basis.

You can create these goals in two ways:

1. Navigate to Reporting > Forecast and click "Create Goal"
2. Go to Reporting > Goals, choose "Create from Template," and select "Forecastable Revenue"

Follow the guided setup process, set your targets, and you're done. Your goal will now reliably appear in your forecasting tool.

Using the Flexible "Revenue" Template

The standard "Revenue" template still exists for situations where you need more customisation with cadence or pipeline options. However, with this update, HubSpot is making it explicitly clear that goals created with this template will not appear in the forecasting app.

This isn't a limitation, it's a clarification that helps you choose the right tool for the right purpose. Need forecasting visibility? Use "Forecastable Revenue." Need flexibility for other types of revenue tracking? Use "Revenue."

What About Your Existing Goals?

If you're concerned about goals you've already set up, there's good news: this change is forward-looking only. Any existing goals you've created using the "Revenue" template and marked as forecastable will continue to appear in your forecasts.

This update only applies to new goals created from this point forward, so there's no need to recreate or adjust your existing targets.

The Bottom Line: Forecasting You Can Count On

At the end of the day, this update is about making your life easier, your forecasts clearer, and your sales planning more reliable. By guiding you toward the right goal template, HubSpot ensures that only the appropriate goals get a seat at the forecasting table.

No more hide and seek with your targets. No more confusion about which goals should appear where. Just clear, consistent forecasting that helps you lead your sales team with confidence.

The next time you set a revenue goal in HubSpot, you'll know exactly where it's going to show up, and that's a change worth celebrating.

Ready to streamline your sales forecasting? Log into HubSpot today and create a new goal using the "Forecastable Revenue" template to experience the clarity for yourself.