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Your Guide to Profit and Loss Projections when you are

  • Posted on May 13, 2011 at 9:26 am

Your Guide to Profit and Loss Projections when you are in Business for Yourself

It is difficult to know how much money your business will earn in coming years. Therefore, you need a plan of action, and a way to figure out what your profits and losses could be. When you are just starting out, you would want to consult a professional who can help you determine what your profits will be in this current state you are in. That person can also help you decide what investments to make now and which ones to wait on.

In addition, if you have a business that has been around for a few years or even longer you will be able to project more clearly how much money you will make in a year. However, if you want to expand your operation projecting your income could become a bit of a challenge. Expansion is another aspect of business a professional can help you with.

One useful tool in projecting business profits and losses is the business plan. These are very easy to create and you can find formats to follow, sometimes for free through local volunteer business development centers. Included in your business plan will be your income goals and what you would have to do to reach those goals.

This document would also include any plans for expansion, as well as a list of working capital, and ways to obtain more. Your business plan will also help lay out your plan for creating revenue by the products or services you plan to promote, and will contain an effective advertising campaign as well.

Not only will having a business plan constructed to outline your business goals but you can hire a financial advisor. Sometimes these advisors are also called consultants. That persons job would be to help you control your spending, and they will help you keep in line with your projected budget for the up coming year.

Financial advisors will also help you make wise investments for future business expansion and increased profit. The key is to find an advisor that you would trust and one who will not steal your profits. Along with that, you will need to be able to afford to hire them. However, usually that is no worry, because you can usually hire them on demand, such as for tax season or end-of-the-month cost analysis.

The more professional help you find to help you start up your business the better. These professionals will help you project and plan for future profit and loss and help you make the best financial decisions for your business.

Usually businesses that want to prepare for the future will create annual reports of the previous years income records. These are usually indicated by charts and grafts within a document and an analysis of each source of revenue.

Businesses who want to project a higher amount of income and less loss in coming years will also cut their losses on ineffective advertising methods. For instance, if they have no record of having any hits on a certain website ads they may consider changing or removing that ad. Also, in order to increase sales for the following year they may want to analyze the content of their ads and one that reaches their customers more.

Businesses who want to succeed with less loss and higher profit can also consider the services that they sell and brainstorm ways to improve them. They can also consider new services or products that they can sell which will increase revenue for them as well. Not only that, but they can consider discontinuing products and services, and even employees that are considered more of a liability than an asset.

Analyzing projected income and losses will help you plan better for the future. If you need help with cost and revenue analysis you can find professionals who can assist you in this matter. Most of these professionals even have websites that you can visit which offer help.

Many sole proprietorships and small companies have become successful large corporations. That is because they have carefully analyzed their budgets and planned for the following years. Those that carefully analyze their business year after year are the ones who are in business for thirty, fifty, or hundreds of years.

Another aspect of projecting profits and losses is to keep up with changing times. Many times a business will end up folding, even after decades of serving millions of satisfied customers, is because they are unable to compete with other advanced operations.

If you are in business you can never be too sure about the security of your income. New inventions are being processed daily, and some of these could affect the profit margin of your business. You need to make sure you have adequate staffing and equipment in order to continue to create the best of the best.

Write on your business card

  • Posted on May 6, 2011 at 9:26 am

Like the majority of sales people, I visit a huge number of clients and prospects every month, some end up buying some do not, but every single one of them has my business card. I attend business breakfasts, seminars and other networking event in my search for new contacts and ultimately new business, each person I meet also gets a business card.

One day a few years ago I realised that I not only hand out a huge number of cards, but I also receive a fair few myself. I decided to go back through some of the older ones to see if I could find some new prospects. As I started to sift through them I began to realise that most peoples cards are actually meaningless in isolation. Unless you work for one of the few companies whos name actually reflects what you do, you may as well be writing your telephone number on a piece of paper and forgetting to add your name.

ABC Company
Mr Bob Jones
General Manager
Telephone number
Mobile number
Fax number
Email address
Website

Without going online and looking at every single website I have no idea what the companies do!

Likewise, all those people I had been diligently handing my business card too had every conceivable method of contacting me, written there in black and white, but no idea what I do! Its my job as a sales person to put my face about, make sure I am always contactable and remember as much as I can about all my prospects (with perhaps, a little help from my CRM). My prospects are also everyone elses prospects, they do not need to remember me, and so they need a little help.

I realised the solution is simple. WRITE ON YOUR BUSINESS CARDS!!!

Heres the scenario: The prospect gets back to the office one day and is told they need a new supplier for widgets, its his job to find one. He remembers speaking to a few suppliers at the seminar but cant remember exactly who, so he quickly flips through the cards collected, then, he comes across one, he cant remember the name or the face to match it, but, in nice clear writing it says Widgets, budget to high end Who gets invited in for a meeting?

I’m one of those people who guard my business cards at meetings. I don’t like meaningless cardboard connections (exchanging business cards without a purpose). I’m put off by someone who says, “Hello, my name is…. Here is my business card, can I have yours?” My suspicion is that I’m going to be put on someone’s junk mail list. However, by first striking a chord, you’ve accomplished something very important in your networking mission — you’ve found a reason to extend the relationship beyond the event at which you met.

Not all prospects you meet are going to fit your ideal client (or center of influence) profile. This is especially true for me, since I have a highly specialized niche. Focus your attention on those who meet your criteria. Jot down notes on the back of the card (the reason for the solid connection), and then you’ll have a conversation point in which to build your relationship at the next meeting or in your correspondence. Follow up quickly after the meeting by sending information you promised.

The Term “cardboard connection” was coined by Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon authors of “Make Your Contacts Count” www.ContactsCount.com