The Exact Steps To Building Sales and Gross Margin
You must first know the customers and products that account for 80% of your sales and profit. Please note that this required in-depth analysis of product sales and gross margin by customer. For some companies they may have a select number of customers that account for a large percentage of the revenue but do not account for the same percentage of profits.
Once you have this data then it is a matter of implementing programs to increase sales (see bonus below). Do not ignore gross margin. You cost of delivering a product or service to a customer could possibly be reduced with a resultant increase in profits, pricing may need to be adjusted or both.
Bonus Note: There are only three ways to increase sales:
1) sell more to existing customers
2) increase the transaction size of sales to existing customers and,
3) acquire new customers.
Also please note that increasing sales does not mean that profits will increase at the same rate or at all. For example, it can cost you more in the first year to acquire a new customer than that customer brings in first year profits. If that is the case you might be asking why would you do that. You might do that if the lifetime value of the customer exceeded the cost of acquiring that customer by enough of a margin to make it worth you time, money and energy.
Recently I completed this exercise with a client and directed the sales manager to schedule a meeting with the largest customer. The purpose of the meeting was to negotiate higher prices. The meeting was successful and the client realized an immediate benefit to profits as a result of this work. The effort was then extended to remaining customers and this client went from a break even profit model to earning 7-9% net income before tax on sales volume of approximately $12 million. Does the process work? It works every time.
| Steve’s Law of Growing Market Share Part 1:
If You Use Half The Tools Available For Growing Sales and Gross Margin You Will Be In The Top 20% of Companies In Your Industry As Measured by Annual Sales Growth. |
| Steve’s Law of Growing Market Share Part 2:
If you use 90% of the tools available to you for growing market share and profits, you will achieve elite status. If you consistently use those tools each day, week and month, you will maintain elite status and be healthier and happier along the way. |
May You Achieve Success Beyond Your Most Amazing Dreams
Steve Pohlit,
Business Development and Real Estate Investment Coach
Managing Partner,
Steve Pohlit International LLC
www.stevepohlit.com
