What is your sales target this month?
Knowing exactly how many sales you need to achieve instils confidence, which benefits all aspects of your business. A clear sales target focuses the mind and helps prevent any procrastination that may kick in. When you are employed in a company, working alongside others, there is usually some healthy competition and social chit-chat, which can increase in building sales. But when you work on your own, you may have to create an environment which motivates you to sell.
How do you work out your sales target?
You can make up a number that sounds good. When you achieve it, you feel fantastic; when you don’t, you doubt the target! But this is not the best way.
Look back at past performance and use that as a base. Most companies have months that are better for selling and months that give a worse result (i.e. “seasonality”). Peaks and troughs don’t just apply when you have seasonal products, but also around buying patterns. Many businesses can achieve half their turnover in the run-up to Christmas; holiday homes can charge a premium during school holidays; accountants are wise to spread their payments over the year, not just at tax time. If you are a B2B business, you will be affected by budget allocation, long sales cycles, and important events in the industry calendar.
You can score the possibility of a sale based on the strength of the market conditions, the quality of relationship with the customer, and, of course, your reputation.
All of these factors change regularly; therefore, it is worth recording and analysing your performance. Actively monitoring your sales and the selling conditions is essential. We all know the famous saying attributed to Peter Drucker: “What gets measured gets managed.” Small business needs to do enough measuring to understand what is happening, but not so much that it delays moving things forward.
You may need to cut expenses if you are not achieving your targets. Alternatively, spend more to become more proactive in selling.
Start-ups, in particular, have difficulty defining sales targets, but in times of change, all businesses need to look again at their goals. Time spent analysing the business will create more meaningful and sustainable sales targets that help you grow your business for the long-term.
For an impartial view of your business’s unexploited areas, contact Flourish to get your FREE Business Performance Assessment.
Businesses often mistakenly ignore quick wins in favour of new strategies
Many business owners prioritise the work they love before looking at the numbers in the business and inevitably encounter difficulties.
Clients who enthusiastically buy repeatedly and who help the business development sometimes aren’t your most profitable clients. Only by analysing the numbers can the real picture be seen.
There are so many stories of talented individuals who lost a lot of money to an unscrupulous – or ignorant – an accountant or financial “wizard”. Elton John loved performing and never wanted to sit down and look at his expenses. That resulted in a dramatic court case highlighting that in 20 months he spent £40m, including £293,000 on flowers alone! And although he recorded the dates and attendance of the concerts on his tours, he was happy to leave all other details to his manager. He said at the time “I have a flair for writing songs, I have a flair for composing, I have a flair for performance, I have a flair for recording. I do not have a flair for business.” That was an expensive mistake.
Rachel Elnaugh started Red Letter Days when she was only 24. She expanded the business very fast and was convinced that she had “the Midas touch”.
However, it got to a point where the business was in deep trouble, and she called in two of her “Dragon’s Den” colleagues for help. Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis then took 10 years to turn Red Letter Days around before selling it.
Her advice today is “Start as small as you can and be prepared to modify your business plan in light of developments”.
To repeat: looking at the numbers reveals your profitability.
Even if numbers are not your natural strength, the vital thing you need to know is the relationship of one set of numbers with others. You need a high-level “helicopter view” of where the strengths and weaknesses of the business lie. Flourish can provide this.
For an impartial view of your business’s unexploited areas, contact Flourish to get your FREE Business Performance Assessment.
Can you see your business numbers clearly?
Many business owners prioritise the work they love before looking at the numbers in the business and inevitably encounter difficulties.
Clients who enthusiastically buy repeatedly and who help the business development sometimes aren’t your most profitable clients. Only by analysing the numbers can the real picture be seen.
There are so many stories of talented individuals who lost a lot of money to an unscrupulous – or ignorant – an accountant or financial “wizard”. Elton John loved performing and never wanted to sit down and look at his expenses. That resulted in a dramatic court case highlighting that in 20 months he spent £40m, including £293,000 on flowers alone! And although he recorded the dates and attendance of the concerts on his tours, he was happy to leave all other details to his manager. He said at the time “I have a flair for writing songs, I have a flair for composing, I have a flair for performance, I have a flair for recording. I do not have a flair for business.” That was an expensive mistake.
Rachel Elnaugh started Red Letter Days when she was only 24. She expanded the business very fast and was convinced that she had “the Midas touch”.
However, it got to a point where the business was in deep trouble, and she called in two of her “Dragon’s Den” colleagues for help. Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis then took 10 years to turn Red Letter Days around before selling it.
Her advice today is “Start as small as you can and be prepared to modify your business plan in light of developments”.
To repeat: looking at the numbers reveals your profitability.
Even if numbers are not your natural strength, the vital thing you need to know is the relationship of one set of numbers with others. You need a high-level “helicopter view” of where the strengths and weaknesses of the business lie. Flourish can provide this.
For an impartial view of your business’s unexploited areas, contact Flourish to get your FREE Business Performance Assessment.