Easy Techniques for Charting Expenses and Setting Sales Goals in Your Retail Shop
Setting goals for your business can keep you motivated and organized.
For a small retailer, a sales goal keeps you focused on moving your business from mere survival to success.
Often independent retailers operate day-to-day without knowing what they NEED to sell each day to survive, let alone make a profit.
In order to make a reasonable plan for both budgets and goals, the first step is to chart what you spend each month to keep your doors open.
If you are a "pen and paper" person, a monthly calendar is a great place to record necessary numbers you can consult each day.
You can list your monthly expenses on the "notes" area of each month, and record daily goals and actual sales on each day.
When you are listing your monthly expenses each month, include things like: Rent Utilities Marketing and advertising Office Supplies Insurance Merchant association fees Payroll if applicable In order to make sure you've remembered everything, go through your check register for the last couple of months and categorize everything you spend money on for your business.
Enter all recurring charges on your expenses list.
Once you have a number that represents your monthly expenses, divide that number by the days you are open each month.
This will tell you how much it costs to just to keep your doors open every day.
Remember, this number doesn't include your inventory purchases.
Use this number as a base point--a jumping off place to create your sales goals.
Begin realistically, taking into consideration your sales history and the shifts that occur by day and by season.
Consult your Point of Sales software or daily sales log to see what you've been selling in recent weeks.
Once you see your sales results on paper each day in front of you, it will become easier to set goals going forward.
Part of a sales goal is necessity--the number you have to reach in order to survive,--but as you reach those goals, the motivation to exceed that number increases and soon you'll be striving to hit the numbers that bring you into profit.
Give yourself a month of charting, then create an average daily sale for the month and compare it to your average daily expenses.
How did you do? If your expenses are coming in really high, find ways to cut back on office supplies or utilities.
If your sales are coming in much lower than you want, consider planning a special event in the next month to generate traffic and build those numbers.
You'll find that once you have those numbers in front of you all the time, it is much easier to feel in control of the changes that need to take place to keep you on track.
Organization takes time, but it really pays off.
Using these techniques to organize your sales and expenses can help you stay motivated and informed - and it doesn't take a computer full of spreadsheets to make it happen!
For a small retailer, a sales goal keeps you focused on moving your business from mere survival to success.
Often independent retailers operate day-to-day without knowing what they NEED to sell each day to survive, let alone make a profit.
In order to make a reasonable plan for both budgets and goals, the first step is to chart what you spend each month to keep your doors open.
If you are a "pen and paper" person, a monthly calendar is a great place to record necessary numbers you can consult each day.
You can list your monthly expenses on the "notes" area of each month, and record daily goals and actual sales on each day.
When you are listing your monthly expenses each month, include things like: Rent Utilities Marketing and advertising Office Supplies Insurance Merchant association fees Payroll if applicable In order to make sure you've remembered everything, go through your check register for the last couple of months and categorize everything you spend money on for your business.
Enter all recurring charges on your expenses list.
Once you have a number that represents your monthly expenses, divide that number by the days you are open each month.
This will tell you how much it costs to just to keep your doors open every day.
Remember, this number doesn't include your inventory purchases.
Use this number as a base point--a jumping off place to create your sales goals.
Begin realistically, taking into consideration your sales history and the shifts that occur by day and by season.
Consult your Point of Sales software or daily sales log to see what you've been selling in recent weeks.
Once you see your sales results on paper each day in front of you, it will become easier to set goals going forward.
Part of a sales goal is necessity--the number you have to reach in order to survive,--but as you reach those goals, the motivation to exceed that number increases and soon you'll be striving to hit the numbers that bring you into profit.
Give yourself a month of charting, then create an average daily sale for the month and compare it to your average daily expenses.
How did you do? If your expenses are coming in really high, find ways to cut back on office supplies or utilities.
If your sales are coming in much lower than you want, consider planning a special event in the next month to generate traffic and build those numbers.
You'll find that once you have those numbers in front of you all the time, it is much easier to feel in control of the changes that need to take place to keep you on track.
Organization takes time, but it really pays off.
Using these techniques to organize your sales and expenses can help you stay motivated and informed - and it doesn't take a computer full of spreadsheets to make it happen!
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