There’s a lot of information out there about setting goals and planning for 2019. This will be different.
It’s geared only for small business owners who sell physical products and it’s something you can do in the next 30 minutes on one sheet of paper.
I want you to look at your sales from the last 12 months – not your overall business health right now. Truly understanding what happened in 2018 will better inform your decisions and actions for 2019.
This is a super simple exercise. I don’t want you to make this a huge deal, but I do think it’s extremely important to look and review and reflect upon what happened last year before you start working on this year.
Listen now and get started…
You can also listen to this episode on iTunes and Stitcher Radio.
How it works – the 30 minute exercise to plan your sales:
- What were your gross sales each month?
- What were your top 3 months?
- What were your two best-selling products in your top months?
- What marketing and sales strategies drove these sales? (emails, pop-ups, collaborations with brands, influencer marketing…)
- What did you spend on advertising to get these sales?
- Was it relatively “hard” or “easy” to get these sales? Do a gut check.
The screenshot below is an example from a client meeting this week. Her sales are broken down by month. The bottom left is her Facebook ad spend compared to sales from the same period so she understands the ROI of her Facebook ads.
Let’s talk about doing a gut check about how the sales came into your business.
For instance, one of my clients (a jewelry designer) worked with an Instagram influencer to drive e-commerce sales in September.
On paper, her sales numbers looked great. Big $$.
But in reality, working with the influencer took ALL of her time and almost killed her team. It was a nightmare.
When you look at at the full picture, her September sales aren’t as profitable as they seem.
Gut check – those sales were “hard” to get. So my client needs to decide how to make money next year.
Her options:
- Don’t do that type of collaboration again next year at all.
- Alter the collaboration process so it’s not as exhausting.
- Work with a different influencer entirely (who’s not a diva).
- Do the same thing this year but know what to expect and plan for it
Sometimes the sales $$ don’t tell the entire picture. Make sense?
Mentioned in this episode:
- New Designer Program startup course
- Sell More Products Online course
- Monthly coaching membership, The Content Club
Your Turn! I want you to do this exercise now and leave a comment with what you learned. Do it! Get cozy with your numbers.
As always, thanks for listening,
Jane
P.S. Seriously, I love hearing from you so please leave me a comment and tell your takeaway from this episode, OK?
Loved this. Listened to it as an overview, took notes and will attack the numbers tomorrow. The fact that you set it up as a 30 minute or less exercise took out the intimidation factor of undertaking this huge planning session!
I’m glad it helps, Judy! Thanks for commenting.