Witness the power of 'What-If' analysis: See every pricing outcome at once.
"Sarah, the investors want to see the full picture," Alex said. "Not just one scenario. They want to see: what happens at every price from $1,000 to $2,000?"
Sarah had just learned Goal Seek in Lesson 5. It was powerful—she could find the exact price for a target profit. But Goal Seek only gave her one answer at a time.
"I need something faster," Sarah said. "I need to see a whole matrix of outcomes at once, not one number at a time."
The Power of Data Tables
In Lesson 5, Sarah built a CVP model that could calculate profit. Now, she needs to see profit at every possible price without running Goal Seek 100 times.
Data Table is the answer. It takes her existing CVP model and instantly calculates the result for as many input values as she wants. One setup, infinite answers.
1. Sarah wants to know: 'What if we charge $1,200? What about $1,300? $1,400?' Instead of running Goal Seek three separate times, what Excel tool shows ALL these outcomes at once?
2. Sarah's investor asks: 'Show me a matrix of prices from $1,000 to $2,000 AND volumes from 10 to 50 units. What's the profit at each combination?' Which Data Table type solves this?
Discussion Prompt (3 minutes):
Think about decisions that require testing many options. Share with a partner:
- When has testing "all at once" been better than testing one thing at a time?
- If Sarah's investors ask for a "range of outcomes," what does that tell you about the business decision?
- Why would an investor care about seeing 20 price points instead of just one?