5 Must-Have Biz Reports: Are You Skimping Out?

We all get caught up in the daily operations of our business.  Regardless of what industry you are in, it is a guaranteed statement that you are B-U-S-Y!

When it comes to fiscal responsibility though, there is no margin for procrastinating.  Your bookkeeper and accountant have their expectations for month end, year end in terms of receipts,, invoices, figures and how they want your business presented for processing.  But how often do you stop and pull reporting details for YOURSELF and your business growth?

Many retailers have shared with me that they do not have time to pull and analyze reports regularly due to time restraints and lack of knowledge in that area.  My advise is as follows:

1. Start with the basics.  Create a Sales Binder where you pull of a series of reports each month.  You must at a bare minimum, know your Gross and Net Sales, Return %, Top Selling Products and Top Selling Vendors.  Sort by monthly tabs.
2. Teach your Managers or Senior Staff to watch your Best-Selling Product reports for you.  Have them start their day by pulling the previous day's sales reports and come to you with Top-seller details.  Make it a routine for them to verify those items, check on remaining stock for those particular items and verify the stock counts against the computer so that you can be sure your system is tracking accurately.  This will speed up the re-order process and will teach your staff some accountability.  By knowing the previous day's best-sellers, your staff will also know what needs to be re-stocked from your back room right away AND if you are running low in the back room, they will catch it quickly.
3. Weekly Top Vendors reports are helpful in tracking who is getting the lion's share of your hard earned $$.  Know who they are, what your average spending is with them so when they come to visit or put out a sales call, you can grab your report pages for discussions.  (ie. your top accounts should also be sharing top discounts with you in reciprocation!)
4. Staff Sales reports help you determine who is actually on the floor earning their wage and who is punching a clock.  Knowing this roster helps you staff peak hours and shifts with top performers as well as helps you identify who might be ready for a raise or promotion too!
5. Month End Sales reports are a non-elective task, do them!  Get in the habit of pulling your Gross, Net sales at month end.  You can create a spreadsheet (get a template online or email me) that tracks all your necessary numbers in one spot.  Most POS software programs will help in this area by creating .CSV files you can download onto your computer for manipulation.  A good set of Month End sales reports will track sales by:

• Sales by calendar month (should be "quick glance" friendly)
  
• Gross & Net Sales (after any returns by customers)
• Taxes (collected)
• Sales By Vendor (Net)
• Sales By Staff  (who is your rockstar?)
• Sales By Department/Category (what are your top 3 performing categories?)
• Sales by GP % & $$ (what are your actual margins?  Are they tight or generous?)

Having all these numbers at your fingertips is helpful when it comes time to place new orders, tracking your Open To Buy budget, monitoring top performers (and conversely your bottom ones) and weeding out items and categories or expanding new ones.  

Need help getting to a streamlined reporting month end?  Email me directly!

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