Your most important business tool, Part 2

04 Dec Your most important business tool, Part 2

How to map out your annual Sales Budget

Following from my last blog, by implementing a clear cash flow plan for my accounting firm I was able to turn it around, double it in size and sell when the time was right.

Sounds easy right, well to be honest at first it was very challenging, but with the help of my coach it became easy, and once it was done, the impact it really did have on our business was amazing.

So how did I do this? Today I will map out step one of this strategy.

Step 1: Develop your Annual Sales Plan

First of all I implemented a very detailed workflow plan. To do this I literally made a list of all our clients, and there were hundreds, I then listed each item of work that we did for each client with an estimated budget for each job. Then I allocated each job to a particular month of the year so that I had a fairly accurate monthly income budget. Finally, I allocated each job to a team member to ensure I had the capacity within my team to complete the work. 

Step-by-Step Guide to making your own Workflow/Sales Plan:

For Service Based businesses:

1. List all of your clients or customers
2. List out each service or product your customer purchases from you, or their average annual sales amount
3. Review which month they usually purchase from you and enter the sales amount for that customer to the relevant month/s

The above step-by-step guide can be easily adapted for most service-based businesses, such as a hairdresser, electrician, coach, lawyer, etc.

Tips for how to create a sales plan for a Product Based business:

1. List out all of your products
2. List the sales price for each product
3. List the average number you sell of each item per month
4. Review if there are seasonal peaks & troughs
5. Do you have repeat sales, eg: the item is consumable, how often does a customer repurchase
6. Review your previous year sales and make predictions for this year

In an accounting firm our work is fairly predictable from year to year. Is this the same for your business? Do you have seasonal peaks and troughs? Do you rely on certain customers for all of your income?

Without mapping out your workflow or sales plan, as explained above, it is very hard to predict your annual sales. Now I know this may seem like a very daunting task, I certainly was overwhelmed the first time I sat down to map out our workflow plan. Once I did however, it was like a big light was turned on and I could see the whole year’s sales clearly mapped out in front of me.

From this plan you can start to create strategies for your business of how to increase your sales, how to make more profit per sale and per customer.

* The Sales Budget enables you to analyse the services and products you sell and also your customers.

* You will be able to determine which customers and products are the most profitable.

 * It also enables you to start implementing a marketing campaign to increase the number of times your customers purchase from you, increase the dollar spend of each customer, which products to stop selling and the list is endless.

* Is there a risk to your business that the majority of your income is reliant on a handful of clients? If you determine the answer is yes to this question from doing the Sales Annual Plan you will now be able to take action to mitigate this risk and implement a well-planned out sales strategy.

By taking action on this one step so much of your business becomes clear and you can use this knowledge to sky rocket your business.
 

This is exactly what I did and it was magical.

If you would like assistance in preparing your business Annual Sales Plan, please get in touch, this is my absolute passion and I know firsthand just how important this one tool is in helping you to transform your business.
 

Dream big and create the life you want to live!

Hi, I’m Phoebe. I love business, especially the Numbers! As a sought-after qualified accountant, I come from a place of experience, with over 15 years of running my own accountancy firm, MGA Accountants, I scaled the business to double the size before successfully selling in 2015. Now I am focussing on what I love, helping female entrepreneurs create business success by understanding their business numbers so they can make smart, savvy business decisions to live the life of their dreams.

To find out more about how you can work with me, click here.