Just 15 Minutes a Week Can Change Your Business for the Better!
When you drive a car, where do you keep your attention? Naturally, your most important priority is keeping your eyes on the road, but you also have to keep track of a million different things. Tire pressure, oil changes, the dreaded “CHECK ENGINE” light, etc. There are countless maintenance protocols for cars, as there should be, but amazingly, there’s no equivalent in the business world. Thankfully, however, businesses and cars share a similar concept: The dashboard, where everything you need to know is laid out in front of you. Today, we’re going to go over your business “dashboard” and discuss five different reports that you should be looking at to keep your business thriving. All it takes to unlock massive profits is fifteen minutes a week studying them.
Unlock Massive Profits: Checking Daily Profit & Loss
It’s common knowledge that numbers are the language of business. In a sense, they’re how you keep score. What fun is a baseball game if you don’t know who’s winning? That’s why you should check your Profit & Loss reports daily. Doing so will give you a direct idea of how your business is doing while indicating where you should be redirecting your limited time and resources.
With that in mind, the numbers only tell a part of the story. Above all else, business is a game of human behavior, and the numbers reflect the trends and elements that work—or don’t.
Keep in mind that as a business owner, you have a lot of hats to wear, and it’s easy to get distracted. However, in my experience, every single one of my clients who has a grasp on their numbers are the most successful, so putting in the extra time and effort to make sure your numbers are working goes a long way.
Unlock Massive Profits: A Deep Look at Customer Sales Reports
A thorough review of your sales reports will show you your most profitable customers and give you a better idea of where to shift your attention. I’ve said time and time again that your best bet for unlocking massive profits isn’t just working on getting new customers—it’s about focusing on the customers you already have. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend going back and watching my video on the 80/20 rule, which goes much more in-depth on this concept. Going out of your way to improving their experiences and focusing on stellar customer service is a surefire way to keep them coming back. After all, your best customers are already giving you a head start on higher profits. The good ones know you, like you, trust you, and have proven that they’re willing to pay you. It doesn’t get much better than that.
One of my clients asked me to look over his quarterly sales reports over a period of three years. When I asked him specifically what this was for, his answer was honestly astounding. Whenever he did business with a new, promising customer, he would personally reach out to them to see if they were satisfied with the experience and if there was anything else he could do for them. Let me tell you, this did wonders for retention.
It didn’t stop there, either. Beyond new customers, he would look at reports from old customers who didn’t do business with them anymore, and he would reach out to them. More often than not, it turned out to be an “out of mind” issue, which was easily rectified. Other times, another salesperson would slide in and take the customer away, but my client would put in the work to get them back—you’d be amazed how often it worked, and these efforts did wonder for his customer base and, needless to say, it showed on his bottom line.
Unlock Massive Profits: Reviewing Accounts Receivable
This, too, may seem obvious, but you need to pay close attention to your receivable reports. Remember: It’s not a sale until the money is in the bank. Daily and weekly reviews of accounts receivable make collections much smoother. They’re not fun, but they’re extremely important, and it goes without saying that you want them to be on time every time. Another important thing to keep in mind is that the older an invoice is, the less likely it is to get paid. If you want to unlock massive profits, collect early and collect often. It’s that simple.
Unlock Massive Profits: Don’t Forget Accounts Payable
On a similar note, it’s good to collect early and often, but another key to massive profits is to never forget your own outstanding debts. Unpaid debts can you in trouble quickly, and it’s easy to leave them out of the equation when you’re calculating your profits. This can lead to highly misleading financial reports that can set you up for total disaster while you plan for the future.
It honestly doesn’t get much simpler than that. Keep your debts paid and don’t overdo it on spending. You’ll find yourself underwater very quickly, and paying off your debts will become exponentially harder.
Unlock Massive Profits: Keep Your Cash on Hand in Check
Profits are great, and looking at your business from a completely logistical standpoint is good, but you still need cash in the bank. Even if the books look good, you can’t run at a loss without cash on hand. You can prepare for every emergency you can think of, but there’s always unforeseen circumstances that can catch you off-guard. You should ALWAYS have cash on hand for all manner of emergencies. You should even have it on hand for everything else. It’s not possible to make money without spending money, so why not always be ready to spend money? Remember: Every business needs a safety net, even when they’re doing well.
Just fifteen minutes a day studying these five reports can help your business unlock the massive profits you’ve been working towards your entire career. Think of these reports as your “dashboard” and check up on your business as often as possible—and fix any problems that arise the moment you find them. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and like I always say, “Let’s make this our most profitable year ever.”