17 Nov Reviewing Reports on a Timely Basis
Review Two Reports Weekly
In each business there are several things that, if done well, could make a big difference in the profitability and cash flow. For some this may be improving the inventory turn over rate, for others it is improving customer service by reducing time customers are left on hold, for others it is increasing visibility through promotion and public relations activities. It is important that each business determine what those factors, if done well, would improve the business, then get creative on ways to track and manage them. The results may be financial in nature and come from the accounting software, or it may be tracked off-line if more appropriate.
The most important fact is to try something and see what a difference it makes then move forward from there. How much will sales increase if additional purchase suggestions are offered at the time of the sale (i.e. would you like fries and a coke with that burger?) How much more do people buy if they are offered suggestions of other services you provide (i.e. your tax return is done, would you like to invest an hour to learn more about how you can pro-actively reduce your taxes next year?) If the sales people are making a lot of calls but the close ratio is low, what training or change in approach can help them to make more sales next week (i.e. test, test, test . . . If there are not different things to try, how will you know what the success formula for the business is?)
In QuickBooks there are lots of standard reports that can be used, or modified to create custom reports based on the business needs. Some examples to get started are the Profit & Loss Previous Year Comparison to see how the business is doing this year as compared to last. There are sales reports that can be generated by day or by week. Don’t forget about the graph options too.
There is a QuickBooks add-on product that will permit creating reports (the same choices as from the QuickBooks Reports pull-down menu) and filtering those reports. Once the reports are memorized within AutoReporter, the reports can be run daily, weekly, monthly, or another frequency, then delivered to your screen, a default printer, or to your In Box as a PDF attached to an email. This program runs in the background so QuickBooks does not even need to be open for the reports to be sent.