How Do I Make a Restaurant Inventory List? Avoid Wasting Money While Still Meeting Demand [VIDEO]

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Download the restaurant spreadsheets

What is considered inventory for a restaurant? Video summary

Inventory information is only useful if it contains critical data. Having access to your restaurant’s most important information will help you make smart decisions for your restaurant.

Actual inventory levels must be consistently physically counted and compared to amounts listed in the software. Corrections in the software must be made if there is a discrepancy.

Many restaurant software tools will help to keep track of inventory. However, if they don’t, you can’t neglect this task. Even if they do, periodic inventory counts are still necessary.

What should a restaurant inventory list look like?

There are five fields that are critical for a restaurant inventory list.

These fields are:

  • Item
    • The name of what’s being counted
  • Unit of measure (UOM)
    • A consistent quantity that will be used for counting and costing
  • Quantity on hand (QOH)
    • How many UOM the restaurant currently owns
  • Item cost
    • Don’t count in one UOM and cost in another
  • Extended cost
    • QOH × Item cost
    • The total value of the inventory

Additionally, you can include other fields in your restaurant inventory list if appropriate. For example:

  • Category
    • Meat, vegetables, raw, prepared, etc.
  • Location
    • If you have more than one
  • Any other classification that helps you manage inventory

The restaurant inventory list

Fill out the critical fields for every item you own. If you must, it is okay to use multiple lines for the same item. The pivot table functionality of the spreadsheet can handle it.

Your restaurant’s POS (and other types of) software might be able to help with inventory management. It depends on the software functionality. Some software will track inventory usage. Your accounting software might track purchases too and may keep running inventory levels.

Not every piece of software will keep track of waste, spoilage, and other losses, however. Therefore…

Cycle counting of restaurant inventory will still always be necessary. This ensures that your inventory counts are accurate and you can meet demand and avoid waste.

Employees play an important part in inventory management. Consider giving them an incentive for accurate inventory counts. Explain to them the importance of accuracy.

When cycle counting – maintain a consistent schedule and stick to it! Inventory items with high turnover should be counted more frequently.

Finally, remember to track waste and food loss. Particularly if your software does not. During the hustle bustle of the workday, it may not be possible to accurately measure wasted quantities. Do your best to estimate them. Inventory amounts will be accurately adjusted next cycle count.

Utilize the Food Waste spreadsheet on the Why Spreadsheets Are Your Restaurant’s Best Friend workbook (download above). Also, take advantage of the other spreadsheets in the workbook including:

  • Scheduling template
  • Vendor order sheet
  • Daily prep list
  • Inventory control
  • Food/recipe costing
  • Food waste
  • Sales per day

More considerations regarding your restaurant inventory list

Only consumable items that you use to prepare food should be included in your inventory. Not every asset should be included here. Things such as flatware, cookware, glassware, etc. are not inventory.

It’s important to keep accurate records for these assets, but they are not inventory. Inventory is what you sell to your customers.

Again, make sure you’re using a consistent UOM for your inventory items. Use whatever is easiest to track. Whether it be Lbs, Gal, Oz, Cans, Cases, Flats, whatever – just stay consistent. Doing so will ensure that costly errors in counts and valuation aren’t made.

Food costs are rapidly changing. So what cost should you use?

Your POS or accounting system might track costs for you. If so, great. If not, it might make sense to assign a standard (expected) or average cost to inventory items.

No matter what inventory cost you use, make sure you’re relieving inventory on a First In, First Out (FIFO) basis. E.g. use your oldest inventory first, assuming it’s fit for consumption, of course. No other industry has to wrestle with the issue of spoilage more than the restaurant industry. So, do what you can to avoid needless waste of inventory and dollars.

Again, at the risk of beating a dead horse, make sure your costs reflect your UOM.

Finally, one of the primary benefits of managing your restaurant inventory is that you can measure inventory days on hand. In order to do so, you must keep track of inventory usage on a daily basis.

Inventory days on hand = inventory on hand ÷ average daily usage. Assuming that you are meeting all of your customer’s demand (not running out of stock) then the lower your inventory days on hand, the better.

Questions about How Do I Make a Restaurant Inventory List?

What challenges do restaurants have with managing inventory?

Spoilage is one inventory problem that the restaurant industry is particularly prone to. Many inventory items, by necessity, have an extremely short shelf life.

Accountability is another. With so many different individuals handling and recording inventory, it can be difficult to ensure that QOH in your software matches reality.

Finally, running out of inventory can hurt customer service for a restaurant more than it can other industries. While other businesses can put an item on backorder for a customer – restaurants can not.

These are just a few. There are many more unique challenges that restaurants face in managing inventory.

How does one manage quality control and inventory control smartly in a restaurant for an owner who lives in another city?

Most importantly, it is critical to find employees that can be trusted to manage inventory smartly. Also, while you want every employee to use best practices when it comes to inventory management, you’ll probably want to have one trusted individual who will have ultimate accountability.

Which is the best software for inventory control in a restaurant?

There are a lot of options out there. However, a piece of software called Restaurant 365 seems to be pretty well regarded. I’ve never used it myself. So, I can’t attest to its quality. In my brief searching, though, I never saw any negative feedback. Pricing will run from $250 to more than $450 per month per location.

Spreadsheets are also often recommended. They take some work to get set up, but one major benefit is the ability to customize them to your needs. Feel free to download the inventory control spreadsheet above and check out the Why Spreadsheets Are Your Restaurant’s Best Friend post and video.

Why Spreadsheets Are Your Restaurant’s Best Friend – Save…Costs, Time, and Headaches [VIDEO]

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Download the restaurant spreadsheets

How do I make an inventory list and other spreadsheets for my restaurant?

Spreadsheets serve as a great complement to, or replacement for, the other software a restaurant might rely upon. Spreadsheets can handle nearly any task you require of them. They are very versatile. Small restaurants, with a limited software budget, might find them particularly useful.

Are spreadsheets a “must have” for a chef?

Credit to the Backburner Blog for the list of things that restaurants can use spreadsheets for.

The author states that a computer is “Second only to a good set of knives”. And spreadsheets are “the cat’s meow.” They can help a restaurant with organization.

Spreadsheets can intimidate some people. But, they are only as complicated as you make them. It is suggested that you take a course if you must. Particularly if you want to take advantage of the power of formulas.

Spreadsheets will make your life as a restaurant manager easier. Once you take a little bit of time to climb the learning curve.

Spreadsheets can fill in gaps in functionality for pieces of software. Many POS systems and most accounting software will export to .csv format – which can then be imported into a spreadsheet.

Some of the things a restaurant can use spreadsheets for

  1. Staff scheduling
    1. Drop in pre-made shifts for each employee
  2. Order sheets
    1. Purchase orders for ingredients
    2. Automatically calculate tax and totals
  3. Vendor lists
    1. A master list of all vendors with name, address, phone, and email
  4. Daily prep lists
    1. Proactively plan for the workday
  5. Inventory control
    1. Summarize on-hand quantities and total value
    2. Summarize by category
  6. Variable food costs lists
    1. Credit to Food Truck Empire
    2. Calculate accurate batch and serving costs for recipes
    3. Price menu items profitably
    4. Watch the Spreadsheets for Business pricing strategy video and download the Price Sensitivity Meter
  7. Long-term forecasting
    1. Monthly inventory usage and levels
    2. Vendor costs
    3. Covers (people dining)
    4. Staff scheduling
    5. History can be compiled for any task and then can be used for forecasting
  8. Waste and food loss
    1. The total cost of waste automatically calculated
  9. Trends for menu items
    1. New items vs existing/old
  10. Scheduling specials
    1. Compare to other specials and existing menu items
    2. Find out which were successful and which were not
  11. Budgeting and financial projections
    1. Read the Restaurant Financial Projections Business Plan Example post

Questions

“How do I print these spreadsheets?”

  1. Highlight the cells you want to print
  2. Click on File > Print (or Ctrl + P)
  3. Choose “Selected cells” from the dropdown at the upper-right
  4. Don’t forget to select the appropriate Page Orientation
  5. Adjust any other necessary settings
  6. Click Next, then Print

“How do restaurants manage finances?”

With information.

Information comes from software, data, and analysis.

Good information = good decisions = well managed restaurant finances.

“How do I get financing to start a restaurant small business?”

See Is It Hard to Get Approved for an SBA Loan? 9 Testimonials.

Keeping good documentation will help with financing. Good documentation provides detail about how and why your startup restaurant will be successful. Spreadsheets are an excellent tool for providing documentation.

Restaurant Financial Projections Business Plan Example

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The financial projections section of your business plan is where you forecast your sales, expenses, cash flow, and capital projects for the first five years of your small business’s existence.

This is a critical section for readers of your business plan. It tells them:

  1. How you expect your startup to perform financially
  2. When you expect your new business to be profitable
  3. How profitable you expect it to be

These are things you’d want to know as an investor, right? It’s up to the reader to decide whether they think your forecast is feasible.

Additionally, as an entrepreneur, it forces you to consider, thoroughly, what the first five years of business might look like. This will give you a good plan to work off of, will help you to be proactive, and will increase your likelihood of success.

Finally, the financial projections are the foundation of your funding request. Of course, your funding request, after all, is the primary purpose of your business plan.

Without knowing how much cash you need to launch and operate early-on, you won’t know how much you need to ask for. The funding request relies heavily upon financial projections, particularly the capital budget.

An example of a funding request, for this same business, will be posted separately.

This example of financial projections is built off of two previous posts:

In this example, I’ll refer to a start-up restaurant. The restaurant is called Diner, LLC.

A special thanks goes out to this website/post for inspiration on what it takes to launch a start-up restaurant.

Download the restaurant financial projections spreadsheet

If you’d like to download the spreadsheets I used to make these financial projections for a restaurant that can be done below. Keep in mind that these were (hastily) built off of budgets for a manufacturing company and tweaked for the restaurant industry. However, they should serve as a good starting point.

Learn more about the captial budget (CB) here.

Learn more about the operating budget (OB) here.

Learn more about the financial/cash budget (FB) here.

Complete the form below and click Submit.
Upon email confirmation, the workbook will open in a new tab.


Startup restaurant financial projections

The financial projections for Diner, LLC provide a well-thought-out, cohesive, and comprehensive forecast of the restaurant’s performance from initial funding through the fifth year of operation. These forecasts will validate the feasibility of the concept and the appeal of an investment in this venture.

The financial projections for Diner, LLC include an initial capital budget for all of the fixed assets and other costs necessary to launch the restaurant.

Additionally, five years of pro forma income statements are included. These pro forma income statements are built off of a detailed five-year operating budget.

Furthermore, five years of pro forma balance sheets are also included. These pro forma balance sheets are built on five years of detailed cash flow analysis.

For the purpose of brevity, not every detailed budget is included in this business plan. However, all are available for decision support, upon request.

Items in italics represent those directly referenced in the financial projections.

Startup restaurant capital budget

The capital budget summarizes Diner, LLC.’s forecasted operational and cash flow results over the next fifteen years. It takes into account:

  • Fixed assets needed to operate the restaurant
  • Launch costs necessary to begin operations
  • Cash-on-hand needed to launch the restaurant
    • To cover unanticipated expenses
CAP BUDGET RESTAURANT PARAMETERS

Fixed assets necessary to operate Diner, LLC. are estimated to cost $157,500.

The salvage value after fifteen years is estimated at $23,625.

On average, all assets are assumed to have a depreciable (and useful life) of fifteen years.

Fixed assets will be depreciated using the straight-line method.

The effective tax rate, for purposes of calculating a depreciation tax shield, is estimated at 21% throughout the capital budget.

A discount rate of 10% is used to calculate NPV and other capital budgeting metrics. This discount rate considers the cost of borrowing (6%) and adds an additional risk premium of 4%. 6% is the estimated interest rate for an SBA 7(a) Small Loan and is calculated by adding 2.75% to the current Prime Rate (3.25%).

CAP BUDGET RESTAURANT ADDL COSTS REVENUE
Click to enlarge

Initial Additional costs include launch costs that can’t be depreciated. E.g. professional services, organization & development costs, and other pre-opening costs.

Additional costs for Year 01 through Year 05 are pulled directly from the operating budget. Additional costs for Year 06 through Year 15 are assumed to grow at a rate of 3% per year after Year 05.

Additional revenue for Year 01 through Year 05 is also pulled directly from the operating budget. Additional revenue for Year 06 through Year 15 is assumed to grow at 3% per year after Year 05.

Over the course of fifteen years, the Summary of the capital budget shows:

  • Net present value (NPV) of $194,167
  • Internal rate of return (IRR) of 22%
  • Modified internal rate of return (MIRR) of 14.4%
  • Payback period of 3.71 years
  • Profitability index of 1.79

It’s worth noting that if the restaurant were to be sold at the end of fifteen years, the NPV would be considerably higher – accounting for the proceeds from a sale.

CAP BUDGET RESTAURANT METRICS
CAP BUDGET RESTAURANT GRAPH

Startup restaurant operating budget

In the operating budget, Diner, LLC.’s sales, ingredients (cost of sales) payroll, and other overhead expenses are forecasted by month. Additionally, annual amounts are shown in a Pro Forma Income Statement. Each individual component of the budget is analyzed and forecasted separately in an attempt to be as comprehensive and realistic as possible.

Restaurant operating budget Year 1

YR 1 OP BUDGET INCOME STATEMENTS
Click to enlarge
YR 1 OP BUDGET RATIOS

Year one of operations is characterized by low initial sales that grow quickly throughout the first 12 months of business. The first month of profitability is estimated to be Month six – September 2021.

As such, the Profit margin is very low for the year overall but, it is expected that the year will be profitable.

YR 1 OP BUDGET SALES
Click to enlarge

The Sales Budget breaks down the expected Unit volume and Dollar Sales for each category of products sold. These categories are:

  • Entrées
  • Appetizers
  • Desserts
  • Non-alcoholic beverages
  • Alcoholic beverages

Each individual product in a category will have a different price, of course. However, for the sake of simplicity, items were grouped by category and an average Sales Price is estimated.

Sales prices will initially be set higher than average. At or near the “indifference price point.” At this price point, the number of customers that consider the price a bargain should be close to the number that feel it’s starting to get expensive.

This is done with the hopes that the Diner, LLC.’s novelty, image, and quality will still provide a perceived value for customers. Additionally, pricing as high as practical will help to offset the low initial Unit Sales after launch.

Restaurant operating budget year 2

YR 2 OP BUDGET INCOME STATEMENTS
Click to enlarge

Year two of operations is characterized by a leveling off of Unit Sales after reaching near practical capacity at the end of year one.

Additionally, it’s anticipated that Sales Prices will remain the same throughout the year after being on the high side in year one.

However, in spite of rising costs, overall sales are expected to increase significantly due to consistent demand throughout year two.

YR 2 OP BUDGET INGREDIENT COSTS
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As mentioned, most costs, including ingredients, are expected to increase by an average of 3% in the second year.

As with sales categories, for the sake of simplicity, ingredients are grouped together into categories. Their costs represent an average of all the ingredients contained in a category.

Restaurant operating budget Year 3

YR 3 OP BUDGET INCOME STATEMENTS
Click to enlarge

In year three, unit sales are expected to continue to remain level. Sales Prices are anticipated to increase by approximately 5% to offset increased costs. Diner, LLC. is expected to have its highest year of profitability yet.

YR 3 OP BUDGET PAYROLL
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As was the case in year two, payroll is again expected to increase. This is due to an increase in wages and salaries of roughly 3%. It is Diner, LLC.’s intent to incentivize customer service and quality through above-average employee compensation.

In years one and two, the staff is expected to consist of:

One General Manager and one Assistant Manager, along with Cooks, Waitresses/Bartenders, and Hosts as needed, part-time, depending on sales volume. The General Manager and Assistant Manager are expected to cover any staffing shortcomings.

In year three, however, it is budgeted to add a second Assistant Manager position to relieve some of the responsibilities of the other managers.

Restaurant operating budget Year 4

YR 4 OP BUDGET INCOME STATEMENTS
Click to enlarge

With Unit Sales, for all practical reasons, expected to be maxed out, Sales Prices would need to be increased in year four in order to achieve meaningful revenue growth.

As is typical, all costs are expected to increase by 3%, on average, in year four.

One exception is the Rent/Occupancy expense. When operations are initiated, Diner, LLC. is expected to enter into a three-year lease. At the beginning of year four, the lease will have expired and a new lease will need to be signed. A 10% increase in Rent/Occupancy expense is anticipated.

YR 4 OP BUDGET OVERHEAD

Restaurant operating budget Year 5

YR 5 OP BUDGET INCOME STATEMENTS
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YR 5 OP BUDGET RATIOS

By the end of year five, Diner, LLC. is expected to remain profitable. That is, as long as Sales Prices are kept adequately above costs without sacrificing demand.

In order for the Diner, LLC. to grow from this point, the opening of a new location or another type of expansion would need to take place.

YR 5 OP BUDGET SALES
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Startup restaurant cash budget

The cash budget forecasts the timing of cash collections and cash disbursements. This is done in an effort to ensure that Diner, LLC. remains solvent.

Obviously, the nature of the restaurants’ business model is such that cash collections are always made at the time of sale. So, no Accounts receivable are ever anticipated to be on the books.

However, ingredients, payroll, and overhead are not necessarily paid for in the same month but those expenses are incurred. Therefore, the timing of cash flow out will not necessarily correspond with expenses on the operating budget.

The cash budget is where a Desired ending cash balance is specified. Additionally, details on any financing (long-term and/or short-term) and savings account balances are also addressed.

Restaurant cash budget Year 1

YR 1 CASH BUDGET BAL SHEET

In the time leading up to the first month of operation, a considerable amount of money will need to be borrowed by Diner, LLC. to pay for pre-opening expenses. The Beginning cash balance is set at $43,500 in order to offset low initial sales.

YR 1 CASH BUDGET CASH DISBRRSE
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Pre-opening ingredient purchases, payroll, and overhead expenses are estimated and accounted for.

The timing of cash payments is estimated by assigning a % pmt of current (& prior) month for each expense type.

Restaurant cash budget Year 2

YR 2 CASH BUDGET BAL SHEET

The increase in Unit Sales for year two is expected to help turn negative equity positive. Additionally, prudent cash management is expected to contribute to the security and solvency of Diner, LLC.

YR 2 CASH BUDGET FINANCING AND INV
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Maintaining an Ending cash balance of $24,000 every month puts the restaurant in a position where it doesn’t need to rely on any short-term or long-term financing. It also facilitates the ability to put excess cash into a liquid investment account. This investment account is available to offset negative, unforeseen, events. Or, to put towards future growth and expansion.

Restaurant cash budget Year 3

YR 3 CASH BUDGET BAL SHEET

Year three is expected to see the continued reduction of debt and a subsequent increase in assets and equity. Certain balance sheet items like inventory, Accounts payable, and Accrued expenses are expected to increase in line with increasing costs as outlined in the operating budget.

YR 3 CASH BUDGET RATIOS

All ratios at the end of year three are expected to be relatively healthy. At this point, Diner, LLC. is expected to still have a relatively high Debt to equity ratio. This ratio is expected to continue to decrease, however.

Restaurant cash budget Year 4

YR 4 CASH BUDGET BAL SHEET

Throughout year four, assets and equity will continue to grow.

Cash and short-term investments begin to make up a considerable portion of assets.

YR 4 CASH BUDGET FLOW STMT

The year four pro forma cash flow statement offers a different perspective than the income statement and balance sheet. It shows how it’s anticipated to be cash positive from operating activities and how the majority of that cash will be used to pay down debt and put into a short-term investment account.

Restaurant cash budget Year 5

YR 5 CASH BUDGET BAL SHEET

By the completion of the fifth year of operation, equity is estimated to be between $250,000 and $300,000. Cash balances continue to grow at approximately $1,000 per year, in order to account for increasing expenses.

Barring unforeseen events, Diner, LLC. should be expected to adequately cover expenses and to deposit a considerable amount of cash receipts into short-term investments.

This growing investment account will serve as a margin of safety for unforeseen circumstances and/or will allow for expansion or other projects – should that course of action be chosen.

YR 5 CASH BUDGET CASH DISBURSE
Click to enlarge

Pricing Strategies for Startups and Established Businesses + Spreadsheet [VIDEO]

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*pricing strategy example at the bottom of this post

Download the Price Sensitivity Meter

Complete the form below and click Submit.
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Video transcript

00:06 hey guys back here with another video
00:10 finally most of my previous videos on
00:15 most of my recent videos have been on
00:17 the subject of QuickBooks Online and go
00:20 in a little different direction with
00:22 this one actually I’ve written quite a
00:25 bit on the website about business plans
00:30 and most of that so far is focused on
00:34 market research for a business plan and
00:37 this is kind of the last piece of
00:39 content on that particular subject and
00:43 from here it’s going to move on to move
00:49 on to writing the business plan in
00:51 earnest but anyhow rather than write
00:55 this one out as a blog post you know
00:58 those were kind of hit and miss as far
01:00 as traffic goes I thought I would just
01:01 do it as a YouTube video and see what
01:06 kind of reception that got and that’s
01:08 what brings us here so like I said this
01:10 is
01:12 part of the part of market research an
01:16 important part of business plans and in
01:19 particular it’s about pricing strategies
01:22 for for startups and really this will
01:25 also work for existing businesses too
01:27 you know you you probably have a little
01:30 more flexibility when you’re settling on
01:34 pricing as a start-up than you do as an
01:36 established business it can be kind of
01:39 hard to pivot into something else when
01:41 your customers come to expect a
01:43 particular particular pricing strategy
01:46 from you so but you know nevertheless if
01:49 you have an existing business and are
01:52 interested in the tool that I may do
01:55 along with this which we’ll get to in a
01:57 little bit and the strategies and that
02:00 there’s a like I said here 16 of them to
02:03 think about and let’s get into it here I
02:06 like to start every video I have with
02:11 kind of a quick answer or summary what
02:14 I’m gonna go over and doing the same
02:18 here so pricing will have a huge impact
02:23 on your business you know that’s your
02:26 probably like and no kidding
02:29 you probably already knew that and you
02:32 know but I had read somewhere wouldn’t
02:35 as kind of doing the research for this
02:37 video about how you know like a 1%
02:40 change in pricing can have up to an 8
02:43 percent change in sales you know and it
02:48 really is if you can
02:51 increased prices by 1% you know that can
02:55 have a depending on the the mix of
03:00 products you’re selling you know that
03:02 can have an enormous effect on enormous
03:06 effect on your on your sales and
03:08 therefore your profitability you know
03:10 keep in mind as we go through this that
03:12 not all strategies are going to be
03:14 appropriate for your business you know
03:17 there’s 16 of them it’s gonna seem a
03:20 little overwhelming and you know don’t
03:25 think that every strategy you know you
03:29 have to work in to your your particular
03:33 business somewhere you know it’s not the
03:35 case it might just be one strategies
03:37 right for you you know it is a bit of
03:40 information overload but I give you all
03:42 this information because you know so you
03:47 can be aware of this about every
03:50 strategy I was able to find I don’t know
03:51 that it’s every strategy period in terms
03:55 of pricing but it’s a quite a few of
03:59 them and a lot a lot to consider but you
04:03 know just you some will jump out at you
04:06 as being practical for your business and
04:08 you know those are the ones you want to
04:10 kind of move forward and maybe look at
04:12 implementing and keep in mind that they
04:14 can be combined and different strategies
04:17 can be used on different products and
04:19 services or different types of customers
04:23 and you know
04:27 things are in the small business world a
04:33 little a little crazy right now I mean
04:36 first potentially he gets shut down for
04:39 a couple of months on account of kovat
04:42 19 and now some small businesses
04:46 fortunately not many in the grand scheme
04:49 of things but you know unfortunate for
04:52 those that it’s impacted or victims of
04:55 rioting looting and other sorts of
04:59 things you know they’re paying the price
05:01 for something that they had no you know
05:06 had no part in no injustice that they a
05:09 pardon and you know of course that
05:11 stinks and the reason I bring all that
05:13 up is it’s you know it’s been a an
05:15 insanely volatile year to be a small
05:18 business owner and you know so as we go
05:22 through these strategies what I’m
05:24 getting at here is that it it’s
05:25 important I think you know not just in
05:29 pricing but in everything to start to
05:31 think about implementing procedures
05:37 policies strategies you know whatever
05:39 you want to call them just you start
05:40 start doing business more flexibly with
05:45 more flexibility and
05:49 you know be able to pivot you know they
05:52 not get you as RIT as rid of as much
05:56 rigidness as you can because it’s I
05:59 don’t know manda it’s a it’s been a
06:01 crazy year and it’s a crazy world and
06:04 maybe this is you know maybe we’ve seen
06:08 the worst of it for a while that maybe
06:10 we haven’t you know I honestly don’t
06:13 know I wish I did but you know like I
06:16 said I think it’s important to move
06:19 forward and the lessons that can be
06:20 learned from this is that yeah the
06:23 rigidity just won’t won’t work so you
06:26 know every business is different so I I
06:29 hate to speak in such generalities you
06:32 know if you’ve watched any of my other
06:33 videos ready and other my posts that you
06:37 know I hate I like to get specifics
06:40 where I can or you know concrete
06:42 information where I can and not not deal
06:45 in abstraction as much because you know
06:47 that doesn’t help you I mean it might
06:49 give you a little something to think
06:50 about but you know people people want
06:52 answers and you know so I beg your
06:56 pardon for that but you know that’s the
07:01 best way I can phrase it now you know
07:04 just you know with everything else but
07:09 in particular since we’re on the subject
07:10 of pricing strategies here just to
07:12 gravitate more towards the ones that are
07:14 more that are more flexible if you can
07:19 then kind of we go through the
07:22 strategies we’ll we’ll get to a tool
07:24 that I made in Google sheets so you can
07:27 download it for free it’ll be on I
07:30 always make a post of the videos when
07:34 I’m done and where I’ll have the slides
07:38 here and then transcript from the video
07:41 the video itself and in cases like this
07:44 when I reference a particular tool that
07:48 I’ve made a spreadsheet
07:49 this is spreadsheets for business after
07:51 all anyways I’ll make it available on
07:54 there and you can go and download that
07:57 and this is a it’s something called the
07:59 price sensitivity meter it was a concept
08:01 that I’d come across
08:02 that I thought was interesting and
08:04 potentially helpful and what it’ll do in
08:07 essence is give you a range of
08:09 acceptable pricing you know kind of kind
08:12 of give you a some numbers start working
08:15 with and then you can implement the
08:16 strategies that are appropriate from you
08:19 for you from them and like I said
08:23 transcript and slides all that business
08:25 will be on spreadsheets for business
08:27 comm soon
08:31 so you know pricing is a complicated
08:37 subject you know it seems relatively
08:40 straightforward and will be more
08:42 straightforward for some businesses than
08:44 others but you know it’s a complicated
08:48 thing people get hung up on it it’s a
08:52 you know there’s just a lot of factors
08:55 at play you know that there’s course
08:57 competing on price with your competitors
08:59 but then there’s the you know your value
09:02 properties proposition versus your
09:04 competitors your you know unique selling
09:08 proposition USP Matt how you position
09:11 yourself the customer service quality
09:14 and all those things factored in and you
09:18 know really it if you look back at the
09:22 last year two years ago five years ago
09:25 whatever I mean you know for a little
09:29 thought experiment look back at those
09:31 years and ask yourself you know if I had
09:36 increased prices I mean again and maybe
09:39 just a little bit you know 1% bump here
09:42 a couple dollars there you know if
09:45 you’re a super small business couple of
09:46 dollars on the right items might have
09:49 you know might have been the difference
09:52 between a mediocre year and a bumper
09:54 year might have been the difference
09:55 between you know ending up in red and
10:00 ending up into black it’s you know it’s
10:05 completely possible so you know it is a
10:10 complicated subject and the point of
10:12 this is to hopefully an army with a
10:15 little information excuse me
10:20 army little information to kind of see
10:24 through the fog and iron you know get a
10:27 firm grasp on what your pricing strategy
10:31 should be and again I’ll reiterate not
10:33 all these strategies are going to apply
10:35 to you you don’t have to work every
10:37 single one into the
10:40 into your business okay and pressing can
10:45 being overwhelming oops back pricing can
10:49 be overwhelming touched on that earlier
10:51 a lot of things to consider dismiss
10:53 strategies that won’t work you know I
10:56 would also urge you to where possible to
11:00 air on the higher side of pricing you
11:03 know if you’ve ever done any reading on
11:05 the subject or research you know you’ve
11:08 you’ve seen similar sort of things said
11:11 and it’s it can feel tough to do you
11:13 know cuz II you nervous about losing
11:16 sales on account of pricing and you know
11:21 but it’s always easier to reduce for
11:23 promotions and you know hell you can
11:25 even run promotions fairly frequently
11:29 speaking of which I have a post on
11:31 promotions on spreadsheets calm
11:34 spreadsheets for business calm I wish I
11:37 owned spreadsheets calm but I don’t
11:39 spreadsheets for business about pricing
11:44 in QuickBooks Online you know running
11:47 promotions in that and then one beyond
11:49 that which also comes with the
11:51 calculator in regards to you know just
11:58 running promotions in the effect it can
12:00 have and everything so it’s like a
12:01 little handy little tool to estimate
12:04 what the effects might be
12:10 you know and I mentioned also earlier
12:13 that you can use different strategies
12:16 for different products and services you
12:19 know different categories different
12:20 customers you know again it be be
12:26 flexible you know not not rigid so
12:31 consider all these strategies we’re
12:34 gonna go through and use the
12:36 accompanying tool play around with it
12:39 download it you know and then armed with
12:43 all that information rely on your
12:45 expertise your intuition and you know be
12:49 willing to make some mistakes some trial
12:51 and error in terms of pricing it’s you
12:53 know mistakes are gonna be made it’s
12:57 it’s like budgeting you know we’re
12:59 forecasting I’ll tell you right off the
13:02 bat you’re not gonna get not gonna get
13:05 it exactly right forecast your exact
13:07 unit sales exact revenue exact costs
13:10 exact labor needed you know marketing
13:13 that the point isn’t to you know this
13:17 isn’t school you’re not graded on how
13:18 close you get to its actual you know
13:21 it’s really just to go through the
13:23 thought experiment of the whole thing
13:26 and to you know just think at everything
13:30 from from different angles and net and
13:32 then you know so don’t don’t worry about
13:34 making mistakes with your pricing when
13:36 you know try something and learn your
13:41 lesson from it and if it’s good keep it
13:43 if it stinks then do something different
13:48 okay so we’ll get into the strategies
13:52 here
13:58 all right and I’ll try to go through
14:00 them fairly quick we’re about 14 minutes
14:02 in now and you know I realize that
14:08 longer videos people people lose
14:10 interest and I guess I can’t blame him
14:14 so like I said I’ll try to go through
14:15 strategies pretty quick and then we’ll
14:17 get we’ll get to the touch on a couple
14:22 of things and get to the tool how to use
14:24 it okay so the first strategy is price
14:27 leadership okay
14:29 this is where basically a single
14:31 business would dictate market price and
14:33 this one isn’t gonna be really practical
14:35 for a startup unless it’s a brand-new
14:38 and brand-new market brand new items
14:42 something nobody’s seen before maybe
14:44 that’s cases you startup probably not
14:46 you know but you know again I just want
14:50 to make you aware of it so this is
14:51 something that oligopolies would do
14:53 which is a similar to monopoly except
14:55 they’re a couple of firms rather than
14:57 just one and this is like Airlines
15:02 wireless carriers film TV music you know
15:05 basically they dictate the market price
15:08 they have enough control over the market
15:10 to be able to do that and any little
15:13 player that wants to come in and get
15:15 involved with that or any other business
15:16 that wants to try to come in and take
15:19 some of that market share has got a you
15:21 know gotta be aware that the the leader
15:24 of the market is dictating the price so
15:28 premium pricing this is
15:34 by companies selling high quality goods
15:36 or services and that might be you that
15:39 might be your business model and you
15:41 know luxury items in that and you know
15:43 it’s not always that the items are
15:46 luxury you know luxury is kind of a
15:51 flexible term but you know like some
15:53 clothing brands name-brand clothing
15:55 sometimes is a very low quality you know
15:58 and you you can buy you know whether
16:02 it’s shirts pants accessories whatever
16:05 from a name-brand and it’ll fall apart
16:07 right away you know it’s not it you
16:10 really you’re paying for the name so
16:12 that’s why I say you know Oh having a
16:15 brand name is an instance where you
16:17 could still use premium prep premium
16:20 pricing if you’re not selling
16:22 technically high-quality goods or
16:25 services you know the customers are
16:27 paying for the status the paying for
16:28 that name okay so some examples of that
16:31 and this is not to say these things
16:32 aren’t quality per se but they aren’t
16:34 it’s not a given luxury cars and
16:39 designer clothes and Apple products are
16:41 a couple of examples that I was able to
16:43 find so the opposite of premium pricing
16:48 is economy pricing this is where you’re
16:51 doing bottom dollar pricing okay and it
16:54 depends heavily on selling a high-volume
16:57 products um you know to make up for
17:00 those low margins you you know you’re
17:03 gonna have high margins probably premium
17:05 pricing low margins with economy so you
17:07 got to sell a lot with economy so in
17:09 order to get away with economy pricing
17:11 you’ve got to have a good understanding
17:13 of your cost okay because those margins
17:16 are so low you can’t afford not to
17:18 understand what it takes for you to get
17:21 a product to market in terms of cost
17:23 okay because you you could either you
17:29 could price it obviously too low and be
17:32 selling at a loss and not knowing it or
17:35 conversely you could be pricing it too
17:38 high and leaving room for other
17:45 competitors
17:46 with you know a better grasp under cost
17:49 and can beat you on price because that’s
17:50 what you’re competing on is price you
17:52 know when you’re doing economy pricing
17:54 and a couple of examples that are warm
17:56 Walmart and private labels like you’d
17:58 find at the grocery store next one here
18:02 is premium decoy pricing this one gets a
18:04 little more advanced not quite as
18:06 straightforward so it’s a similar to
18:09 premium pricing
18:11 but it uses a similar product or service
18:16 at a much higher price so it’s priced on
18:22 the high end with a healthy margin okay
18:24 something to use a premium decoy pricing
18:27 you got you got an item a okay with the
18:30 with a healthy margin and that’s the
18:32 item that you really want to sell okay
18:34 but then you bring in item B which is
18:40 similar similar enough for a comparison
18:43 you know maybe with a little added value
18:46 but then it’s just priced through the
18:48 roof I mean it’s a ridiculously
18:51 overpriced and so what this does is it
18:54 plays on the concept of single option
18:55 aversion this is the name of the term
18:57 and it basically says that you know
19:02 customers are less likely to choose an
19:05 attractive product or service if there’s
19:06 nothing to compare it to so you know if
19:11 your business model is such that your
19:15 business is that you it kind of revolves
19:17 around one product you know that it
19:21 could present an issue for you when it
19:23 comes to marketing and sales because
19:25 there’s nothing to compare it to when
19:28 you’re when you’re pitching it to a
19:30 customer they you know people need
19:33 context we make sense of the world by
19:36 how we compare things to each other
19:37 things are things are better worse
19:42 I mean really you know we we categorize
19:45 everything in that way this car is
19:47 better and everybody has a different
19:48 opinion of course there’s no that one
19:50 universal opinion but you know in this
19:52 instance you’re you’re playing on that
19:55 kind of human tendency to just if you
20:01 know if you’re just presented with one
20:03 option well I don’t know is this a good
20:04 value or a bad value you know I’ve got
20:07 I’ve got nothing to compare it to so if
20:10 that’s your type of product you might
20:11 consider something like this add some
20:14 token bells and whistles price it way up
20:17 so then the item you’re actually trying
20:18 to sell looks good by comparison okay
20:21 they’re like damn this is a value you
20:24 know because this other thing that has
20:25 just a little bit more you know is
20:30 priced at this so this must be a good
20:32 value you know that it’s a it’s a little
20:35 bit of marketing trickery there so an
20:38 example the Apple products will do it a
20:44 little bit to where they’ll and I made I
20:47 put a copy of the link that I referenced
20:50 there at the bottom but Apple products
20:53 are have in the past I don’t follow
20:55 Apple that closely but like like a phone
21:01 with a little bit more storage will be
21:04 priced disproportionately high you know
21:08 to getting a little more value and but
21:12 they’re you know but they’re making it
21:14 bad option unattractive it’s there if
21:17 somebody wants it I mean somebody will
21:18 buy it because they want the best that
21:21 quote-unquote the best but you know
21:25 they’re really trying to sell the one
21:27 the more reasonably priced when the
21:29 middle the quote-unquote middle you know
21:31 the good better best they’re trying to
21:32 sell the better version so and then the
21:36 Economist is another classic example and
21:39 you’ll see quite a bit if you never
21:41 delve into this type of research in this
21:44 subject in terms of pricing that it’s
21:48 like
21:49 they sell the electronic subscription I
21:53 hope I’m not misquoting this and then
21:55 the electronic for less the print
21:56 four-way hider well hardly anybody wants
21:59 the damn print when I can just get it
22:01 electronically you know so you’re like
22:05 well why would I pay that much more this
22:08 electronic subscription alone looks much
22:11 more attractive so kind of went on about
22:13 that one for a while but it’s a you know
22:15 it’s kind of a fascinating thing I think
22:17 because of them you know the
22:20 psychological element to it okay so a
22:25 similar pricing strategy is bundle
22:29 pricing
22:32 so you’ve seen this no doubt I know my
22:37 internet company does it TV and Internet
22:41 bundled it’s you no way you pay him way
22:44 less for each you got automobiles with
22:48 extras you know sunroof leather seats
22:56 bigger engine the you know the GT model
22:59 whatever it may be they’re gonna you
23:02 know price it together an automobile you
23:05 can’t necessarily go get a sunroof extra
23:08 aftermarket I mean technically you could
23:10 I suppose but you know and that’s not
23:12 practical most people but excuse me the
23:16 games will bundle also you know Nintendo
23:21 Sony they’ll all sell you know whether
23:24 it’s a bundle of games or bundling the
23:27 console with the games so it you selling
23:32 items together and you selling them at a
23:33 lower price than you would sell them
23:34 separately and it gives a customer
23:37 better value customer recognizes that
23:39 makes attractive but when it does for
23:42 you then is also increased the sales
23:44 volume so included another link at the
23:46 bottom they’re gonna read a little more
23:48 about where I got those examples from
23:51 okay value-based pricing this is based
23:58 on you know and keep in mind like I said
24:01 these these can be combined they’re not
24:05 all mutually exclusive you don’t have to
24:07 pick just one so don’t just want to
24:10 reiterate that so now you base pricing
24:13 is where you price something based on
24:15 how much value your product or service
24:17 provides basically you know what’s the
24:20 utility it gives the the person who
24:23 purchased it you know if you’re selling
24:28 something that gives every every
24:32 customer infinite happiness for the rest
24:34 of your life and you’re selling it for a
24:36 dollar
24:36 well you’re not using value-based
24:38 pricing okay that’s that’s worth a lot
24:42 of money you know to have infinite
24:45 happiness for the rest of your life you
24:47 know you could charge almost anything
24:49 for that
24:52 so it’s it’s basically pushing the
24:55 threshold of what the customer is
24:56 willing to pay based off of your value
24:59 proposition similar to project pricing
25:01 which we’re covering a little bit it’s
25:04 you know cost is not critical in the
25:07 sense that you still need to be making a
25:09 profit of course you know there you
25:12 won’t be in business for long but it
25:14 might be that the value of what you’re
25:17 selling is not much above your cost well
25:21 then you need to look at lowering the
25:23 cost or increasing the value of course
25:26 flipside you know the margin might be
25:28 really big so not it’s not to be
25:32 confused something with another one we
25:35 talked about earlier value pricing of
25:37 course that was economy pricing where
25:39 you know you’re selling low margins
25:41 high-volume okay so in this case it
25:45 could be you know that luxury
25:46 automobiles would fall but fall under
25:49 that category like I said some might be
25:53 overpriced others might be priced at the
25:55 value they provide you know they’re
25:56 high-quality automobile that oh you know
26:00 that is reliable and beautiful and
26:03 everything you want
26:05 and you know it’s priced accordingly but
26:08 you if you’ve got the money you pay that
26:10 because that’s what it’s worth to you
26:12 another example might be professional
26:15 services or consulting okay you know
26:19 particularly those for a business if
26:22 they’re providing a lot of value if
26:23 professional service is going to help
26:25 you make a million dollars more in sales
26:27 well and charging you a hundred thousand
26:29 dollars potentially is it’s well worth
26:33 of you know that’s what it’s worth I
26:35 mean you’re still earning an excellent
26:37 return
26:40 this one’s psychological pricing this is
26:42 one obviously it can be easily combined
26:44 with others it’s a we’ve all seen it you
26:47 see it everywhere you know we think we
26:51 can see through it but you know research
26:53 says that it that it works that they
26:55 sell businesses sell more products and
27:00 services when they’re priced with that
27:04 99 cents eighty-nine cents or just you
27:07 know just shy of a certain threshold you
27:11 know it’s not by seeing a one at the the
27:19 beginning of the 1999 price it you know
27:21 I get you know again I’m sure you think
27:25 you see through it I think I do but you
27:27 know apparently not everybody does but
27:30 you know if I seen that one instead of a
27:31 two instead of just pricing is straight
27:33 twenty you know it they’re more they
27:38 feel like they’re getting more of a
27:40 bargain so you know you sacrifice very
27:43 little in revenue to potentially sell a
27:46 lot more so definitely a strategy worth
27:50 considering and like I said we see in
27:52 retail at a time and see with
27:54 automobiles you know car price to
27:57 nineteen thousand something 29,000 some
28:01 thirty nine thousand something you know
28:02 it’s a frequently relied upon strategy
28:08 okay
28:11 tration pricing
28:15 so this is a this is a potential
28:19 strategy to use the first startup it’s
28:23 typically one used by new market
28:25 entrants and it’s used to accumulate
28:28 market share with low pricing basically
28:31 swoop in say hey we’re brand new to this
28:33 market look how attractive this pricing
28:36 is give us a shot okay and you know
28:40 hopefully that the pricing is good
28:46 enough that it will compel people to try
28:47 your product or service that day they’ll
28:49 be like you know might as well give
28:53 these people a shot you know this is a
28:55 this a hell of a bargain you know and
28:58 maybe maybe it stinks hopefully not but
29:01 in this what they’re thinking you know
29:03 maybe this product or service stinks but
29:06 you know at this price I gotta at least
29:08 try it okay so it’s short-term strategy
29:10 you don’t if you do it for long term
29:12 you’re gonna be doing economy pricing
29:14 and you know that’s tough for small
29:16 businesses to do economy pricing they
29:20 just don’t have the economies of scale
29:22 that a Walmart or whomever does so you
29:27 know again you want to keep this
29:28 strategy to the short-term and be ready
29:30 to transition to a new strategy you know
29:35 to raising prices to a more appropriate
29:39 level later and hopefully by getting
29:41 people to try your product or service by
29:44 luring them with the penetration pricing
29:46 your unique selling proposition you’re a
29:49 quality customer service whatever it may
29:52 be will compel them to remain customers
29:54 then you know you’ll probably have some
29:56 fall-off of demand of course but you
29:58 know hopefully then you’ve got gotten in
30:01 there and claimed a little bit of the
30:04 market for yourself so you know you can
30:07 then move on to a new strategy build
30:11 your business off of that initial grab
30:13 of market share and a couple examples
30:16 businesses that have done this is
30:17 Netflix and not the Netflix is expensive
30:21 now by any means and this potentially
30:25 better value now than it was but you
30:26 know I mean what was it
30:28 $5.99 799 or something when it first
30:31 started you know very very inexpensive
30:34 and it’s worked its way up there since
30:36 and you know that people at that price
30:40 said I even if you know I mean trillion
30:43 find something to watch them here will
30:45 try it for $7.99 a month whatever you
30:48 know so they they penetrated the market
30:50 stole market share away from the cable
30:52 companies or the movie theaters
30:55 potentially or you know the the whole
30:57 gamut of different sub interest
31:01 industries that they compete against
31:09 you know Google Fiber did this I don’t
31:14 know what that’s priced at now but you
31:17 know if this was back when it first came
31:19 out and they had gigabit an Internet and
31:21 you know it was absurdly inexpensive I
31:25 think they kicked it off here not far
31:27 from me and was it Topeka or Kansas City
31:30 Kansas or something like that and you
31:34 know yeah in order to get people to try
31:36 it they went with the low price and I
31:38 would imagine the price has gone up
31:40 since then so you know any any business
31:46 that uses a low introductory price is
31:51 using penetration pricing strategy
31:56 so a strategy that runs in contrast to
32:00 that is skimming pricing okay now when
32:04 you see this used as when research and
32:07 development or costs or just the cost in
32:12 general of bringing a product to market
32:14 are high okay so there was a lot a lot
32:18 of a lot a lot of capital expended
32:21 before this product was even able to be
32:26 offered for sale okay so so the
32:29 reasoning is we’ve got to charge a
32:32 pretty high price just you know we’re
32:35 not we’re not gonna make as many sales
32:37 as we potentially could but we you know
32:40 we need to make big sales to get big
32:42 money coming in to recoup those costs to
32:45 get closer to breaking even you know do
32:49 to make some big strides towards
32:52 breaking even and then as time goes on
32:55 and you know the early adopters buy it
32:57 okay then you’re able to lower the price
32:59 a little bit and you know then people
33:04 are maybe you’re like okay it was this
33:07 now it’s this so that’s a bargain and
33:09 you to you know a few more customers and
33:11 so you’re selling more and your
33:13 economies of scale are getting better
33:15 and the price can continue to be lowered
33:18 and you know and for this particular
33:22 strategy and the businesses that use it
33:24 it’s often necessary to start lowering
33:29 that price because if it’s a rapidly
33:32 moving industry you know electronics
33:35 computer equipment whatever it may be
33:39 um you know you better you damn well
33:43 better lower that price because
33:44 something new
33:46 better fancier you know faster smaller
33:51 whatever it may be is is on the horizon
33:54 if is if it isn’t already there so you
33:57 know that the lowering the price isn’t
33:59 just to make a higher volume of sales
34:02 it’s like I said out of necessity
34:05 because what it is that you initially
34:07 brought to market it ain’t so cutting at
34:09 cutting edge anymore
34:10 okay so again this is a short term
34:13 strategy and like I said you’re selling
34:16 to early adopters and
34:17 it’s kind of the opposite of the
34:19 penetration pricing and you know it’s
34:21 the cutting edge technology you know
34:25 game systems with the recent
34:27 announcement of the PS 5 even though I
34:29 don’t think they priced it yet
34:31 that I’ve seen you know those gaming
34:35 consoles are always priced in that
34:36 manner with the skimming you know the
34:39 price their highest when they’re first
34:41 introduced and as time goes by that
34:43 price goes down and by the time there’s
34:45 a next-generation console out well
34:46 forget it you can pick up the second
34:50 generation console for pennies on the
34:53 dollar
34:58 trucking along here we’ve got
35:01 pre-emptive pricing and this is another
35:03 short-term strategy now this is one that
35:06 would be used by somebody’s already in a
35:08 market and is responding to a new
35:12 entrant into the market and what they’re
35:15 doing is the lowering pricing so it’s
35:19 similar to penetration pricing but again
35:24 they’re already established in the
35:26 market they’ve already got their market
35:27 share and they want to keep it okay so
35:29 now look in the game market share and
35:31 they want to keep what they got and you
35:33 see this used by monopolies and big
35:36 businesses they’ll even have lost
35:39 leaders in some instances you know
35:41 grocery stores who sell bread or milk
35:44 for a slight loss because you know they
35:48 the prospect of spending so little on
35:52 bread or milk is so irresistible to so
35:54 many customers well they’re gonna come
35:56 in for the bread and milk and they’re
35:58 just gonna do the grocery shopping there
35:59 because grocery shopping is a pain in
36:01 the ass they’re not gonna go to the new
36:04 grocery store and hang about it are
36:07 already at a grocery store you know they
36:08 just said that you know then they make
36:10 up the the lost margin on you know the
36:16 lost leaders with other higher margin
36:20 products or with volume and so what what
36:23 does I do you know of course that
36:24 discourages competition that discourages
36:27 the new guy the little guy from getting
36:31 into the market so this is a defensive
36:34 tactic basically and like I said not one
36:37 typically used by startups and some
36:39 examples you know it had it happens and
36:44 I mean I think Walmart you know their
36:45 grocery stores and it was Walmart of
36:47 course which is a little infamous for
36:49 this
36:49 I imagine Walmart still does it in some
36:52 respects but you know I they the example
36:59 I I found was a prescription prices
37:01 where they would sell some prescription
37:03 drugs you know sell them either at a
37:06 very low margin or as lost leaders and
37:08 you know prescriptions are can be a big
37:12 chunk of people’s budget and you know
37:15 the prospect of saving money on them is
37:17 like I said it’s irresistible well okay
37:20 so we’re gonna get our prescriptions
37:21 filled at Walmart and we gonna get back
37:23 in our car and drive a mile down the
37:26 road to go to the groats other grocery
37:28 store we just gonna do our grocery
37:29 shopping at Walmart you know well a lot
37:32 a lot of people you know and on my
37:35 mother she would she’d drive all around
37:37 town buying each individual item it’s on
37:40 sale from each individual grocery store
37:42 I think if if there were more than 24
37:45 hours in a day but most people are just
37:48 going to you know do the grocery
37:51 shopping there so you know I thought it
37:54 seems like such a kind of
38:00 I don’t know if sort of thing you feel
38:03 like is done all the time but I really
38:05 had our time find an example so I’m sure
38:07 there are more out there I’m sure it is
38:09 done and maybe it’s just not as
38:11 documented as easy as you might know as
38:14 you might think it is rather but anyhow
38:18 that it is pre-emptive pricing probably
38:20 not not something you’ll have to worry
38:23 about but something should be aware of
38:29 okay so cartel pricing we’re all
38:32 familiar with the word cartel and
38:36 you know the reason is you know because
38:41 this is sometimes how pricing is done
38:46 you know when they sell drug cartels
38:48 sell commodities of course you know
38:51 heroin you know heroin users not real
38:55 particular about their supplier as long
38:58 as the quality’s the same I’m
39:00 speculating here and not speaking from
39:02 experience and but you know drugs are a
39:05 commodity so it’s a it’s in essence a
39:09 gentleman’s agreement to keep prices
39:10 high so if you got two competitors it’s
39:12 like why sit here and fight on price you
39:17 know that just digs in to our margins if
39:21 there’s you know a few just a few of us
39:23 let’s just say you know nope this is
39:26 what we’re pricing it at okay and we’ll
39:29 compete through other channels you know
39:30 and drug cartels probably you know don’t
39:34 compete terribly fairly but in principle
39:39 you know like I said you would agree to
39:41 compete there other chance whether it’s
39:42 marketing or trying to lower your own
39:44 cost things like that you know to to get
39:49 an edge so it’s not a strategy that will
39:55 work with too many businesses in the
39:57 marketplace because you know between two
40:01 people two businesses okay three maybe
40:05 four
40:05 good luck five forget it you know I mean
40:09 I’m I’m you know speaking hypothetically
40:14 they’re you know the number it just
40:17 depends on them the business I guess but
40:19 the point being eventually if you have
40:22 too many competitors somebody’s gonna
40:24 take the easy road somebody’s gonna say
40:27 now I’m just gonna I’m gonna lower my
40:29 prices and try to steal market share you
40:31 know somebody will give in somebody will
40:33 cave and then that in turn forces all
40:37 the other market participants to do the
40:39 same thing so he got examples are OPEC
40:45 you know
40:48 drug cartels of course in the federal
40:51 reserve is in essence a cartel of banks
40:55 and Siemens in Europe and again I found
41:00 a link or references that example okay
41:06 so cost plus pricing this is a pricing
41:11 strategy that focuses purely on the cost
41:13 and it just adds a fixed percentage to
41:16 the cost of products or services so the
41:20 old legend was that Nebraska Furniture
41:24 Mart before Berkshire Hathaway bought it
41:28 sold it costs plus 10% and did a high
41:34 volume of business but this is still not
41:36 a pricing strategy I would recommend
41:38 recommend and you know Makana Cost
41:42 Accountant and
41:43 so I you know recognize the importance
41:47 of understanding your cost that this is
41:49 a kind of a lazy lazy pricing strategy
41:52 and cost by no means should be the only
41:55 factor to consider and when it comes to
41:57 pricing
42:01 examples that I found were cutting-edge
42:06 technology smart phones other
42:08 electronics
42:12 and that they were is a little hard to
42:14 find some more specific examples but
42:17 like I said there was a Nebraska
42:19 Furniture Mart I do remember that from
42:21 back when I read a lot of books on
42:23 Warren Buffett
42:27 okay so dynamic pricing this is a
42:34 flexible pricing strategy that changes
42:37 with demand so it basically prices go up
42:42 as demand goes down I’m sorry prices go
42:48 up as demand goes up excuse me
42:50 prices go down as demand goes down to
42:52 lure customers in and we’re talking that
42:56 these prices can change inside of a day
42:59 you know and so very quickly very very
43:03 dynamic it’s the name and you know a lot
43:07 of times you’re gonna need software with
43:10 a quality algorithm to keep up with
43:13 those changes in demand and to make sure
43:16 that you don’t get hosed and examples
43:18 are hotels and airlines
43:24 freemium pricing this is a combination
43:28 of the words free and premium premium
43:32 course and basically where you offer for
43:36 free a bare-bones version of your
43:39 product really just to kind of whet
43:41 people’s appetite give them a chance to
43:44 interact with it and see field like a
43:48 like a sample at a grocery store at
43:50 Costco or Sam’s or whatever and the goal
43:54 is of course to get customers to like it
43:57 your little free taste test and then
43:59 upgrade to a paid version and it’s in
44:04 some essence more of a marketing
44:08 strategy than a pricing one but you know
44:11 I did include it in here because it’s
44:13 worth we’re thinking about and you see
44:15 this a lot with the software and
44:17 software is a service in particular
44:23 okay so we’re getting getting down in
44:26 nitty-gritty here to more hourly pricing
44:31 this is a pricing strategy that’s
44:34 exclusively for services you know it’s
44:39 where you trade time for money and it’s
44:41 not advised I wrote a post on my other
44:44 side invest some money calm about
44:46 business models and kind of the
44:49 hierarchy and which are the most
44:51 attractive and trading time for money is
44:53 at the bottom it is the least attractive
44:56 and it’s not advised because you can’t
44:59 scale you can’t make more time in the
45:02 day no matter how hard you try no matter
45:05 what you do and you know it’s some
45:11 people when they first get into owning
45:14 their own business is bookkeeping or
45:15 freelancers or that do that and it’s
45:19 it’s simple in some respects certainly
45:22 but you know it’s a it just puts a cap
45:25 on your success so it’s not recommended
45:27 and but examples and there are examples
45:31 that put employees because that’s
45:33 exactly what most employees do you know
45:35 those that aren’t on some sort of
45:37 commission or large bonus program trade
45:42 time for money you know it’s what I do
45:45 and it’s ill-advised it’s not why you
45:49 got into business for yourself I mean it
45:52 you know aside from the freedom and the
45:55 control of course but you know
45:59 focuses on input you know your time and
46:02 labor or someone or another employees
46:04 time and labor it’s the same you can’t
46:06 create any more hours in the day for
46:08 other employees either but it focuses on
46:11 that input rather than the output that’s
46:13 the value received by your customer so
46:15 again not an advised strategy typically
46:19 but you know you have to be we’re aware
46:23 of its existence
46:29 project pricing is kind of the opposite
46:32 of hourly pricing and it’s also
46:34 exclusively for services because it’s a
46:37 flat fee charge for a deliverable it
46:41 might include you know products in there
46:47 too in terms of the pricing so a may be
46:51 exclusively for services but it’s
46:54 typically a services pricing strategy
46:57 for services and similar the value
47:00 pricing you know the fee you charge is
47:03 for deliverable and it’s hopefully based
47:06 on the value received by the customer
47:08 for that deliverable and it focuses on
47:11 the output you know the customers value
47:12 received rather than the input time and
47:14 labor some examples that do this it can
47:18 be done with some of the other examples
47:19 bookkeeping freelancing and that but you
47:23 know other examples are consulting
47:25 contractors and freelancers like I said
47:30 they can do it too so alright those are
47:33 the pricing strategies and I’ve been
47:36 going on for a while here but keep
47:41 pushing along and
47:45 talk about a little bit now about some
47:46 factors to consider when you’re talking
47:50 about pricing and some of those main
47:54 factors to consider are costs your
47:56 customers competitors new products and
47:59 market segmentation segmentation rather
48:02 get into that here so costs and pricing
48:07 I said cost plus is not typically a
48:13 recommended strategy but it is critical
48:16 that you understand your cost okay so
48:19 again just because I say cost less is
48:21 and how you want to pry something
48:22 doesn’t mean you can just be willy-nilly
48:24 with understanding your costs critical
48:26 that you understand your cost you want
48:28 to get as accurate as possible knowledge
48:32 of what each product and service cost
48:34 you deliver to customers okay so you
48:36 know your true margins and keep in mind
48:38 cost is more than labor and materials
48:40 there’s overhead there’s sgna expenses
48:44 and there’s just the manner in which you
48:46 allocate costs okay there’s a lot it’s
48:48 there’s no cut and drying method for
48:50 doing that some are going to be better
48:52 than others
48:53 some are gonna be more accurate than
48:55 others is what I mean an activity-based
48:58 costing I’ve got a page on that on the
49:02 website and you know that’s a generally
49:07 regarded as a well it’s certainly more
49:10 accurate than just generic costing but
49:15 excuse me it’s also a very heavily
49:18 involved process so not to be taken
49:23 lightly but if it’s done and with some
49:26 with some sense and taking seriously and
49:29 seeing through can provide some good
49:31 insights okay so you know the other
49:34 thing about constitu is categorization
49:36 ok that’s important with whether you you
49:40 understanding what of your costs are
49:43 fixed and what are variable because this
49:44 is gonna impact your operating leverage
49:46 you guessed it another subject I have a
49:50 post on on the website and you know
49:53 operating leverage to use the hi fix use
49:56 of five high fixed costs is
49:58 it gives you the ability to learn
50:02 extraordinary returns if you can sell
50:04 enough
50:05 okay so customers ultimately when it
50:09 comes to pricing your customers have to
50:10 buy in okay you have to understand what
50:15 they expect in terms of customer
50:17 services quality and of course pricing
50:20 and you know customer service and
50:25 quality aren’t gonna affect your cost so
50:27 it’s kind of a circular circular sort of
50:30 thing a feedback loop and you want to
50:32 know your customer avatars I talked
50:34 about that on some of my business plan
50:37 posts particularly and get down here
50:41 some of the earlier ones what is it yeah
50:47 business plan demand talks about
50:49 customer avatars and that’s basically
50:51 the demographic makeup of your customers
50:54 you know that you’re kind of in terms of
51:00 gender age income all those demographic
51:05 factors what you’re you know who your
51:10 customers are so you want to know them
51:12 okay you wanna know what compels them to
51:14 make purchasing decisions and beyond
51:16 that you want to have a firm grasp on
51:19 your unique selling proposition
51:20 something I’ve written about on invests
51:23 the money website and you know this is
51:27 basically what makes you your business
51:29 unique okay and this is how you separate
51:33 yourself from your competitors and you
51:35 know can can then charge what charge
51:39 your best price
51:42 competitors you’re gonna want to do
51:44 little detective work on on them and
51:48 understand you know how they position
51:50 themselves with strategies they use how
51:53 much do they offer in terms of customer
51:55 service and quality and what is their
51:57 unique selling proposition okay because
52:00 you know your customers are making
52:02 choices between you and competitors you
52:05 want to understand who you’re up against
52:07 okay you want to you want to do your
52:09 scouting report
52:12 so new when it comes to new products and
52:14 pricing and in this case we might be
52:16 talking new to you not the market and
52:20 you know a lot of times you do want to
52:23 come out of the gates and try to capture
52:25 market share quickly and have a high B
52:27 through penetration pricing strategy but
52:30 it depends on the market saturation
52:32 depends on the sophistication the
52:34 competitors whether that’s the strategy
52:36 you have to adopt but again I want to
52:40 remind you that is a short-term strategy
52:43 it needs to be part of a larger plan and
52:45 larger plan you know when it comes to
52:48 new products to don’t discount the value
52:50 of transparency and authenticity with
52:52 your customers you know when especially
52:56 if you’re making direct sales you know
52:59 why are you charging what you charge
53:01 okay a customer like might like that you
53:05 know they understand you’ve got to make
53:06 a profit and you know if they get taken
53:10 care of and feel like they’re in good
53:12 hands they’re a lot of times might be
53:15 willing to pay a little higher price and
53:18 you know they they appreciate you being
53:20 upfront and really given them the
53:24 information they need to compare the
53:27 value proposition between you and the
53:29 competitors so you know don’t as a rule
53:34 of thumb
53:34 yeah B be transparent in that respect I
53:37 think your customers will probably
53:39 appreciate it and then market
53:43 segmentation pricing I touched on this
53:46 earlier you know not all your customers
53:50 are the same different avatars other
53:52 differences that could really affect the
53:54 cost that’s needed to serve those
53:56 customers geography the amount they buy
54:00 and the timing of the sales you know did
54:04 they buy off and do they buy in peak
54:07 season not peak season things like that
54:09 okay so we’re not talking about price
54:11 discrimination here charging essentially
54:15 the same customer customers to different
54:19 customers to different prices no I mean
54:21 we’re talking about real things that
54:23 effect you know that you can justifiably
54:26 charge different prices for so don’t you
54:30 know depending on your business don’t
54:32 just make a blanket
54:35 prices pricing strategy you know think
54:37 about is it are there certain customers
54:40 that you could and should charge more
54:42 because they cost more to serve because
54:44 you know they’re getting a higher value
54:46 whatever it may be last thing we’ll
54:51 touch on here before the pricing tool is
54:57 the business plan and pricing okay so
54:59 like I said this is part of a bigger
55:02 series on business plan in particular
55:07 you know market research for a business
55:09 plan and you know pricing effects market
55:14 research of course who your competitors
55:16 are gonna be and it’ll affect the demand
55:20 you know demand and pricing are more you
55:25 know generally speaking inversely
55:28 related though you know that can be
55:30 worked around pricing will affect your
55:33 market size your serviceable available
55:35 market and the serviceable obtainable
55:37 market what you charge in price might
55:41 affect the location of your business
55:42 okay some locations are going to be more
55:44 conducive to higher prices and/or lower
55:47 prices the demographics where you are
55:49 you know he you got to think about that
55:52 again depends on your type of business
55:56 it might affect how you calculate market
56:00 saturation and I think that was my last
56:03 post on
56:05 market research yep market saturation
56:07 okay
56:09 and not post talk about finding and
56:12 setting a benchmark okay as you’re
56:14 researching for your business plan or
56:17 just for your annual planning you know
56:23 your pricing will affect what you choose
56:26 your benchmark and number four will
56:28 determine you know how Sacchi
56:32 saturated the market might be it’ll
56:35 affect your marketing of course and
56:37 it’ll affect your financial projections
56:39 of course you know your budgeting
56:42 capital budgeting operating budgeting
56:45 and financial budgeting and all of your
56:49 income state or all of your financial
56:50 statements income balance sheet and cash
56:52 flow okay
56:57 let’s talk a little bit about tool for
56:59 pricing I will put a link in the
57:01 description and this tool and there’s a
57:05 little snapshot of it
57:06 now I’ve got it up here so I can
57:09 directly reference it too but it’s in
57:12 the slides there and it’s inspired by
57:15 something called a Van Weston dorp as a
57:18 price sensitivity meter or just price
57:21 sensitivity meter for short
57:24 Dutch fellow I think came up with it and
57:28 what you’re doing in essence when you
57:31 use this tool you’re answering four
57:33 questions for a range of prices so for
57:37 for every price
57:40 in this range or not you know not every
57:43 price to the penny but you know for a
57:46 bunch of different prices you’re
57:47 answering four questions okay
57:49 these questions are what percentage of
57:51 people would question the quality of
57:53 this product or service at these prices
57:56 okay
57:57 ie they would think it’s too cheap
57:59 something’s wrong with it
58:00 it’s none nothing worth a damn is going
58:04 to be this inexpensive okay what
58:07 percentage of people would think that
58:08 the product or service is a bargain at
58:10 these prices okay so another way of
58:14 thinking that is it’s not expensive it’s
58:16 a bargain alright for each of those
58:20 prices what percentage of people would
58:22 think this product or service is getting
58:24 expensive so it’s no longer a bargain
58:26 it’s just it’s starting to get any
58:29 expensive range okay and what percentage
58:33 of people would think this product or
58:35 service is too expensive to these prices
58:38 ie that one doesn’t need an ie too
58:42 expensive too expensive you know what
58:44 that means I know what that means
58:48 okay so those are your four questions
58:50 and so when you answer these four
58:52 questions over a range of prices okay so
58:56 right here see here we got our range of
58:59 prices and we’re answering this question
59:01 the percentage of people that would
59:04 think
59:07 you know that would answer these
59:09 questions as follows
59:11 or is it shown over here at these prices
59:13 and shown here and what that does is
59:16 graph it out for you and then this well
59:19 I put in the table here to give you the
59:21 exact number but then you can see it on
59:22 the graph too and each of these points
59:24 where they cross provide you with the
59:27 information okay a couple of links real
59:33 good links at the bottom there on this
59:37 subject so like I said provides pride
59:44 the graph and the table provides pricing
59:47 insights and ideas and a what’s known as
59:50 a range of acceptable pricing okay so
59:53 the intersection of lines what do they
59:55 tell you all right
60:07 and I didn’t do this right well I’ll
60:09 tweak this table okay so we’ve got
60:17 marginal cheapness okay and if you’ve
60:22 ever watched my videos before which you
60:24 probably haven’t because not many people
60:25 have but you know I’m not above tweaking
60:29 a table on the fly here
60:43 okay
60:51 okay so the first one here we’re
60:53 questioning quality and getting
60:55 expensive intersect this is known as the
60:57 point of marginal cheapness okay or PMC
61:00 it means that any lower of a price could
61:06 mean that you’ll lose too many sales to
61:07 a perceived lack of quality okay so you
61:14 know there are there are basically
61:17 already quite a few people who think
61:19 that the product is cheap bordering on
61:22 too cheap so lowering it anymore
61:24 in theory isn’t gonna give you a bigger
61:28 volume of sales to offset the people
61:32 that just won’t buy it because they
61:33 think it’s not worth a damn okay so the
61:37 next point the optimum price point is
61:39 they call it and doesn’t mean you have
61:40 to choose this price point it’s just
61:43 this name is where the same percentage
61:48 of people and this is hopefully a low
61:50 percentage of people
61:52 feel the the product or service is too
61:55 expensive and they think the quality is
61:58 questionable okay so you’ve got both it
62:00 this is where both extremes intersect
62:02 okay but where they intersect this hope
62:06 again hopefully a low percentage because
62:08 these people aren’t going to buy in
62:11 either instance because they’re gonna
62:13 either question the quality or they’re
62:15 gonna think it’s too expensive its
62:18 overpriced so it’s the point you’re
62:20 minimizing those extremes okay the next
62:29 one is indifference price point where
62:32 bargain and getting expensive
62:44 intersect
62:50 so here this is the same hopefully high
62:53 percentage of people are in that middle
62:57 ground okay where a lot of them and and
63:01 this is the one where I see the most
63:03 kind of people who’ve written on it
63:05 recommended that you get your price if
63:07 you’re you know again I’d take
63:10 everything into consideration but this
63:12 is a good starting a point okay
63:14 ironically not the quote unquote optimum
63:16 price point just what they were named
63:18 and you know and I guess the name stuck
63:21 but the rationale changed over the years
63:23 it’s kind of an old model but so it’s
63:28 the same again hopefully high percentage
63:30 of customers feel the product is it’s
63:31 just starting to get expensive and same
63:35 percentage of people think it’s a
63:36 bargain okay so these are the people
63:39 they’re gonna make purchases all right
63:42 so that you know again this is where
63:48 potentially you would have the highest
63:50 volume depending on the quality of your
63:51 information and if finally the last one
63:54 is the point of marginal expensiveness
63:57 okay so bargain and too expensive where
64:00 those lines intersect
64:07 so it’s basically the same as the point
64:13 of marginal cheapness just flipped on
64:16 its head you know it means any higher of
64:18 a price you
64:21 you know you just gonna see too big of a
64:24 drop-off in in demand to to really help
64:32 your sales okay if it gets any more
64:35 expensive demands probably gonna fall
64:37 off and there just aren’t enough people
64:39 that feel that this is you know beyond
64:45 this point and there aren’t a big
64:48 percentage of people they’re gonna feel
64:49 that you know that either this is
64:56 a bargain or even getting expensive you
65:00 know beyond this point a lot of people
65:02 are gonna start to think it’s too
65:03 expensive too many people okay so you
65:08 know you you do that you fill this
65:11 information out you know the
65:13 intersections are over here on the table
65:15 you can see the prices but for
65:17 everything I entered up here here’s our
65:19 point of marginal cheapness eighty four
65:22 ninety nine any less than that so many
65:24 people are gonna think that it’s junk
65:26 and it won’t buy it the demand will be
65:29 there you know we got our optimum price
65:31 point ninety three thirty two and down
65:36 here we’re same percentage of people or
65:39 if the question quality and think it’s
65:41 too expensive that’s where the extremes
65:43 are minimized okay we got our
65:45 indifference price point here where our
65:48 moderate our purchasers are maximized
65:50 percentage-wise
65:51 that’s a $115 and then we got our point
65:56 of marginal expensiveness beyond this
65:57 too many people are going to think it’s
65:59 too expensive the demand won’t be there
66:03 so yeah like I said they and their
66:08 sections are over here and we’ll go over
66:10 how to use the table here next
66:14 almost done two more slides hang in
66:17 there I’m trying to hang in there myself
66:19 been going on an hour in six minutes
66:21 ended up my videos always go longer than
66:26 I anticipated but you know it’s a labor
66:29 of love
66:30 sure selling a labor of monetary reward
66:34 but nem okay how do you use the price
66:38 sensitivity meter well if you can
66:41 conduct an actual survey of customers or
66:43 get your hands on that information
66:44 otherwise and great use it okay
66:49 if you can’t do that
66:53 indefinitely research it further if
66:55 that’s the path you’re gonna take cuz
66:57 you want to understand the wording of
66:58 the questions there’s ill you know it’s
67:00 kind of an art unto itself okay
67:03 obviously I’m using a hypothetical
67:05 example here and just speculated but um
67:10 you know if you don’t if you don’t think
67:12 you can practically conduct the survey
67:14 or get this information from potential
67:15 customers then you have to speculate so
67:19 first thing you do is enter the average
67:21 or medium price you know take them
67:24 whatever the first price that comes to
67:26 mind
67:27 okay this doesn’t have to be exact and
67:29 enter it right here in h2 okay so from
67:31 there it’s going to calculate down to
67:34 zero and it’s gonna calculate up give
67:37 you a range of prices up to double the
67:39 price okay that’ll happen automatically
67:45 again I’ll make the point if you’ve ever
67:48 used any of my other tools you know the
67:50 white cells okay that’s where you put
67:53 information in shaded cells have
67:55 formulas okay so don’t type over them
67:57 type in the white cells and excuse me
68:01 you’ll be good to go
68:05 okay so for each question and are the
68:07 percentage of customers who would or you
68:09 think would agree so at zero well it’s a
68:16 hundred and a hundred okay so we’re
68:18 going to say
68:21 everybody would question the quality at
68:24 zero and by default everybody would
68:28 think it’s a quote unquote bargain there
68:31 and you know this just has to do with
68:34 if you enter zero here well first of all
68:38 it’ll give you an error okay because it
68:40 kind of violates the rules it’s
68:44 less people are always gonna question
68:46 the quality then think it’s a bargain
68:47 okay less people are always gonna think
68:51 it’s too expensive and think it’s
68:53 getting expensive okay so me describing
68:57 it I might not do it justice
69:01 if you tinker around with this a little
69:02 bit I think it’ll it’ll become intuitive
69:05 you know it just takes a little getting
69:06 used to and it’s you know in essence you
69:09 want your lines like this so like I said
69:11 this question quality is the blue line
69:13 here is always less than the red line
69:16 alright because you know this is worse
69:22 than bargain
69:24 okay so fewer people are gonna think
69:26 that conversely too expensive it’s
69:30 always gonna be fewer people and think
69:32 it’s getting expensive okay and you see
69:35 the lines sloped down this way for the
69:37 bottom to slope down this way for the
69:39 top so again there’s logic worked into
69:42 the table here where you can’t go from
69:44 oh well ninety percent people question
69:47 quality at twenty but ninety five are
69:49 gonna question it at forty well that
69:51 wouldn’t make sense okay why would more
69:53 people question the quality of forty
69:55 dollars than would at twenty twenty is
69:57 less than forty so if you try to do that
70:01 that it’ll say no no violates the rules
70:06 try again and that’s just to keep you
70:08 from entering information that you know
70:14 would basically render the tool useless
70:16 so I put that in there for your own good
70:18 you know and particularly as you’re kind
70:20 of like getting used to it tinkering
70:22 with it
70:25 you know it it just helps got as kind of
70:29 a check they’re just like hey you know
70:31 that’s not what you want to do and like
70:32 I said you’ll get used to it and you’ll
70:33 you’ll understand become a little more
70:35 intuitive to you that at first glance it
70:38 if you’re just watching this video it
70:39 might not be but again I would encourage
70:40 you to download it try it a little bit
70:43 and read up on it some more you know
70:45 they there might be a damn good
70:49 possibility someone else explains it
70:50 better than I do okay so talk a little
70:54 bit about the the logic here question
70:57 quality and bargain must be equal or
71:01 decrease as the price increases okay
71:04 price goes up fewer people are gonna
71:07 think it’s a bargain fewer people are
71:08 gonna question the quality you know
71:11 question quality it means that it’s so
71:14 low something must be wrong with it
71:16 why are they trying to give this away
71:20 okay conversely getting expensive and
71:24 too expensive must be equal as the price
71:27 increases or increase okay as the price
71:32 increases more people are gonna think
71:33 it’s too expensive more people are gonna
71:35 think it’s getting expensive all right
71:37 it’s pretty straightforward okay so the
71:40 percentage that question quality must be
71:42 equal to or lower like I said earlier
71:44 than think it’s a bargain
71:45 if you were you know this is a worse
71:52 description okay you know so there’s
71:57 always gonna be fewer people that think
72:00 that or there has to be in terms of this
72:04 within the context of this tool you know
72:08 anything’s possible but you know like I
72:11 said this is just kind of the logic that
72:12 you have to use to be able to get get
72:14 anything from this tool because if you
72:15 throw this logic out the window then the
72:17 tool is useless and you know so
72:23 and I touched on earlier so the
72:24 percentage that feel it’s too expensive
72:25 must also be equal to or lower than the
72:27 percentage to feel it’s getting
72:28 expensive fewer people are going to
72:30 think it’s too expensive I think it’s
72:32 just starting to get expensive game
72:35 trechie present prevents this logic can
72:38 be violated your
72:44 losing point of marginal cheapness
72:45 optimum price point indifference price
72:47 point and point of marginal
72:48 expensiveness are automatically
72:50 calculated and the graph is
72:51 automatically updated so for example
72:56 like if we take this and say this the
73:01 question quality it was 15 10 5
73:08 you see a little bit see the graph
73:11 change down here and then with some of
73:14 those first edits he saw the price the
73:18 point of marginal cheap cheapness change
73:20 see it jumps okay because it changes all
73:26 right so it’s the same as you you know
73:28 particularly as you get to update and
73:29 these values in the middle that’s where
73:30 you gonna see these changes in the
73:32 prices but you’ll see the graph a bit II
73:36 no matter where what changes you make
73:39 some ok and went on our fifteen seventy
73:45 five minutes yeah
73:46 it’s a long one I’m done you know I did
73:51 included this slide in with mostly with
73:54 my quickbooks online videos and it
73:59 doesn’t directly apply here but i
74:00 slipped it in anyways and you know
74:02 depending on where you’re at with your
74:03 bookkeeping if you DIY in it and you
74:08 hate it and you know you want to work
74:13 more on your business than work in your
74:14 business and do less data entry because
74:17 you think that’s boring and you’re right
74:19 then check out bot keeper you know they
74:23 use AI to automate your bookkeeping
74:25 tasks they can do it in quickbooks
74:27 online and like i say gives you the
74:29 opportunity help your business grow it
74:32 spend less time on menial tasks and
74:35 there will be a link down in the
74:37 description for that
74:41 okay that’s all I got man if you stuck
74:45 with me thank you hope you found some
74:48 value there some things to think about
74:50 and like I said pricing is a complicated
74:53 manner but when we’re spending time on
74:57 check out the tool try it again I you
75:00 know don’t let spreadsheets scare you I
75:02 try to make my spreadsheets as
75:04 simplistic as possible and give you the
75:07 documentation you need to use them and
75:10 get value from them because that’s what
75:11 they’re there for
75:12 you know so any you know the old and
75:17 it’s an old saying I’ve only seen it
75:19 said once and I thought it was great
75:20 though they said you know better to make
75:23 mistakes in a spreadsheet then in real
75:26 life you know when I’m not doing the
75:28 quote justice but something like that
75:30 but I am I’ll leave you all with that
75:33 thanks for watching
75:35 take care

Pricing strategy example

As has been customary for my business plan posts, I’ll be trying to apply what write about (or record, in this case).

I’ve been using a startup that seeks to manufacture an all-natural topical hair regrowth treatment for my examples thus far. Though the previous post on market saturation called the viability of that idea into question – I’ll continue to use it for consistency’s sake.

As far as pricing strategies go, I knew I wanted to use psychological pricing – because why not? If it convinces a few more people to buy than would have otherwise, it’s worth it.

Also, due to the nature of the product (vanity) I always figured that premium pricing would be appropriate. Not excessive, but I knew I wanted to price on the high end. Again, I can always run promotions.

I also wanted to be mindful of value. This is, admittedly, not a miracle product. It’s just a supplement. If it cured all hair loss, I could charge just about any price for it. But, it doesn’t. So, I need to be mindful of just how much value I’m providing.

With those strategies in mind, I went to Amazon and searched for competing products. I did this for both men and women because I thought it would be smart to price those customer segments differently. I could make slight tweaks to the formula to justify the difference in pricing.

I thought that a women’s hair regrowth product would be priced higher. The reason I thought this was because of the (surprising) preponderance of women concerned about hair loss. I was wrong, however. Women’s hair regrowth products tended to be priced lower than men’s.

After getting a feel for the pricing for each segment, I plugged my assumptions into the Price Sensitivity Meter.

Here’s what I came up with:

Men’s pricing: $35.49 for a one-month supply.

mens product price sensitivity meter
Click to enlarge

Women’s pricing: $29.49 for a one-month supply.

womens product price sensitivity meter
Click to enlarge

Frustrated With Your SWOT Analysis? 15 Templates To Download


This post was created to provide one of the most thorough resources available on the internet in terms of SWOT analysis templates. Additionally, ideas for completing your small businesses SWOT analysis are also included.

A SWOT analysis helps you to understand the environment your small business operates in. Understanding your environment will help you to capitalize on your strengths, shore up your weaknesses, capitalize on opportunities, and neutralize threats.

In total, there are 15 templates available for download. Each one with a different design and representing a different type of small business.

The businesses are:

  1. Yoga studio
  2. Healthcare
  3. Restaurant
  4. Retail
  5. Financial Advisor
  6. Web Design
  7. Auto Repair
  8. Life Coach
  9. Pet Services
  10. Real Estate
  11. Cleaning Service
  12. Bed & Breakfast
  13. Bookkeeper
  14. Construction
  15. Consulting

These templates come in a variety of formats including Google Sheets (Excel), Google Docs (Word), and Google Slides (PowerPoint).

Download the SWOT analysis templates

Complete the form below and click Submit.
Upon email confirmation, the workbook will open in a new tab.

Filling out the form above will open a spreadsheet with the Google Sheets (Excel) templates.

On the Slides & Docs SWOT worksheet, you will see links to the Google Slides (PowerPoint) and Google Docs (Word) templates. Hover over the template you want to see and click the link that appears to the upper-left.

link to slides swot templates screenshot

Sheets (Excel) SWOT analysis templates

The spreadsheet templates are good if you need flexibility in terms of size. Columns and rows can be adjusted as needed. If you need to incorporate any sort of math, spreadsheets will work well. Also, generally, spreadsheet templates are easier to customize than presentations or documents.

On the flip side, spreadsheets aren’t ideal for distribution to outside parties. The presentation or document templates would serve you better for that.

Ranked SWOT for a yoga studio

ranked swot for a yoga studio

This SWOT analysis template is a relatively simple 2×2 layout. It gives you the ability to assign a numbered ranking to each Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat. This ranking gives you the ability to quantify elements of your internal and external environment in order to better focus on what matters most.

Ten rows are provided for each factor. More rows can be inserted if needed.

Competition SWOT for a healthcare company

competition swot healthcare company
Click to enlarge

This elaborate spreadsheet template doesn’t just look at your company – it looks at your competitors too. Doing so allows you to measure yourself up against the competition.

At the top, the Company Information section is where you’ll enter the Name of your company and your competitors. If you like, you can also enter a Location, Website, Revenue, Employees, and other Notes for each business.

The Company Names you enter will be carried down to the Strengths and Weaknesses sections. Since, in theory, you and your competitors share the same External Environment, Opportunities and Threats are not broken out by company.

This is a great template for companies in competitive industries. It forces you to look beyond your own environment in order to determine a strategy for gaining market share.

Flow chart SWOT for a restaurant

flow chart swot restaurant
Click to enlarge

This spreadsheet template incorporates some simple graphical elements. Through the use of arrows, the reader’s eye is led through each of the factors.

The expanded cells allow for longer bullet points to be entered if needed. Plus, the horizontal format might provide better readability. If you are planning on distributing a spreadsheet template to outside parties, this would be the one to use.

SWOT interaction for retail

interaction swot retail business
Click to enlarge

This is one of the more in-depth templates.

As recommended in my Church SWOT Analysis post, you should think about how the different factors interact with each other. For instance, how can Strengths be used to neutralize Weaknesses? How are Weaknesses preventing you from capitalizing on Opportunities? And so on…

This template allows you to document the relationships between the Internal and External Environmental factors. Doing so will (hopefully) help you to come up with goals to use during your strategy formulation stage.

With all of the information contained in this template, bullet points can’t be too long. However, rows can be inserted, if needed.

Google Slides (PowerPoint) SWOT analysis templates

Complete the form above to access these templates.

Presentation templates are good for…presentations, of course. They are designed more for form than function. Graphical elements that might not be practical in spreadsheets can be incorporated into presentations.

Presentations also aren’t as easy to customize as spreadsheets. Elements can get out of alignment and harm the effectiveness of the visuals. So, I would recommend only changing the text unless you know what you’re doing. Be sure to use Ctrl+Z if you make any mistakes!

If you want to use one of these templates, you can copy the slide and paste it in your presentation.

Simple SWOT for a financial advisor

simple swot financial advisor
Click to enlarge

This clean layout is straightforward and simple. It uses a lot of whitespace and nothing extraneous. Just the “facts,” with plenty of room to type bullet points. This makes it easy to read and understand.

Cylinder SWOT for a web design company

cylinder swot web design
Click to enlarge

Here, a few graphical elements are added for visual interest. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats are each listed on a separate cylinder.

Additionally, as is done with most of the templates, Internal factors and External factors are colored slightly different for distinction. The use of the cylinders doesn’t allow for as many bullet points as with the simpler templates. This is a good option for those who believe in minimizing words on slides.

Graphical SWOT for an auto repair business

graphical swot auto repair
Click to enlarge

Here’s another unique graphical template. Similar to the previous cylinder template. It uses the typical 2×2 format, but with thought bubbles (or clouds…) for each factor.

I think it’s a little more visually engaging than the cylinder template. However, it also has limited room for bullet points. So, it is a good choice for those who would rather elaborate verbally.

Pie chart SWOT for a life coach business

pie chart swot life coach business
Click to enlarge

This presentation template takes a step back to a simpler design.

It is made to look kind of like a pie chart. A pie chart with all the pieces the same size. This implies that each factor is of equal importance.

Lots of whitespace here. Good for someone who wants the focus to be on the information presented. That much whitespace means not much room for bullet points though. So, if you use this template, you had better keep them succinct.

Puzzle piece SWOT for pet services businesses

puzzle piece swot pet services
Click to enlarge

Determining how are your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats fit together can be a bit of a puzzle. This notion is represented by the graphic on the left of the slide.

Though graphics are used, the areas where the factors are listed is very clean and simple. There is room for six to eight bullet points for each factor. This presentation template is a good choice for someone who likes to incorporate just a little bit of design in their presentations.

Icon SWOT for a real estate company.

icon swot real estate
Click to enlarge

Here the typical 2 x 2 format is abandoned for a horizontal theme.

Additionally, the use of imagery is relied upon. Each factor has it’s own relevant icon to help reiterate what is being examined in this SWOT analysis.

This is a good template for factors that require a long explanation. In fact, entire sentences can be written for each bullet point. If you’re long-winded (like me) and don’t mind some graphics, this is a good template for you to use.

Columns SWOT for a cleaning service

columns swot cleaning service
Click to enlarge

Contrasting with the previous template, this one is a vertical design.

Here, you will want each bullet to be short and sweet. This is a good choice for presentations that went to grab attention to the fact that this is a SWOT analysis. A fact that will be tough to ignore with the acronym spelled out across the top.

It’s also a simple format that has a unique look. Most other templates don’t utilize a vertical format.

SWOT analysis templates for Google Docs (Word)

Complete the form above to access these templates.

Document templates can be used internally or externally. They have some of the pizzaz of presentation templates but without as big of a risk of ruining the formatting.

They also might make a good alternative if users are nervous about spreadsheets (yes, those people exist!). Almost everybody who is comfortable with a computer is comfortable with a document.

If you want to use one of these templates, simply copy the text and paste it into your Doc. If you’re using Word, you should be able to do the same thing without downloading.

Simple SWOT for a bed-and-breakfast

simple swot bed and breakfast

Almost identical to the simple presentation template.

This is the old reliable 2×2 design. A little bit of color is added to help it grab attention. There’s an average amount of room for each bullet point, but you should have enough room to list as many as you need.

Simple and straightforward. No frills.

Strategic planning SWOT for a bookkeeper

strategic planning swot bookkeeper

This SWOT analysis template has more than just the typical factors (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). It allows you to list your objectives beforehand. This makes it clear what you hope to accomplish by undertaking this analysis. This will help you, and others, stick to the task at hand better.

Also, at the bottom, you can write a brief summary of the impact on your strategy formulation as a result of this analysis.

This document template is a good option if you’re planning on seeking input electronically.

Summary SWOT for a construction company

summary swot construction company

This document template has a typical 2×2 matrix. But, it has an additional section at the bottom where you can write a summary of what you learned.

It is similar to the Strategic Planning SWOT, but without the objective section. Also, rather than a strategy, you’ll include a summary at the bottom. 2-3 sentences that capture the essence of the whole analysis.

This template doesn’t have a ton of room for a lot of bullet points, but there is room for medium sentence length. It is perfect for communicating the most important points from the SWOT analysis.

Guidance SWOT for a consulting company

guidance swot consulting company

At first glance, this might seem like yet another simple 2×2 matrix. But, what this document template has that the others don’t, is guidance questions. Questions that help put your mind on the correct path for determining your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

If this document template is to be shared between others in your organization, then you might find it helpful to have the guidance. It’s also helpful if this is your first SWOT and you have no idea where to start.

This guidance, obviously, takes up some of the room for bullet points. So, if you don’t feel you can keep them short and sweet, you might choose a different template.

What is a SWOT analysis?

A SWOT analysis is a thought exercise for understanding the internal and external environment that your business operates in. It is sometimes known as “situational analysis.” Its purpose is to help in strategic planning. Specifically in conjunction with your mission statement in order to set goals and formulate a strategy for the coming year.

SWOT analysis has four main sections. These are, of course, strengths weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Strengths and weaknesses represent your internal environment. These are factors that are within your company’s control. Factors that you can do something about. That’s important to remember as you formulate a strategy based on these factors.

Opportunities and threats are factors outside of your control. Opportunities are good of course, and threats bad. These two factors represent your external environment. Since they’re outside of your control, these are the factors (opportunities) that you want to leverage and factors (weaknesses) that you want to hedge against.

Strengths are the things that your business does well. The things that your competitors and customers would say you do well. Things that you know you do well. This is no time to be humble. If you do it well, if you’re proud of it, then list it as a strength.

Weakness is the opposite of strength. Again, think about what others might say are your shortcomings. Just as you shouldn’t be humble with strengths, you shouldn’t be prideful with weaknesses. If you’re like me, you’re your own worst critic. That’s fine. At least for this exercise. List everything that really holds you back.

Opportunities are the things happening outside your walls that can benefit you. The genesis of opportunities is limitless. They can come from anywhere. So don’t be close-minded. If I can benefit you – list it.

Threats, of course, are the opposite of opportunities. But, they are also outside of your control. Much like the coronavirus pandemic we’re going through as I write this, there ain’t much I can do about it. All I can do is figure out how I want to respond to it. Don’t turn a blind eye to threats. Take control of what you can.

What’s the purpose of a SWOT analysis?

A SWOT analysis is a key component of strategic planning. In order to formulate a plan that has a chance of success, you need to understand the environment you operate in.

Think about a sports team. As a coach/leader, you need to understand what your own players can and can not do. This is your internal environment.

But you also need to understand what the other team is capable of. How they can hurt you, and what their shortcomings are, etc. This is your external environment.

With all of this knowledge, you can put together a game plan that gives you the best chance of winning possible.

The formulated strategy doesn’t have to be rigid. Just as you would in an athletic contest, you have to be willing to adapt. Your ability to adapt will be enhanced by an understanding of your internal and external environment.

How to use a SWOT analysis

Like most elements of strategic planning, SWOT analysis gets a lot of its value through the simple act of doing it. Taking the time to dedicate just a little bit of thought to these matters goes a long way.

Beyond that, the first thing you want to do is download the templates above.

Then, you want to start brainstorming strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Set a timer if you need to and just start jotting down everything that comes to mind. There are no wrong answers. You don’t need to keep everything you write down. The point is to get in the right mindset and get some momentum in regards to the internal and external factors that affect your business.

Next, you might want to do a little research on some of the bullet points you brainstormed. Whether it be internally – by examining your own reports and financial statements. Or, externally via the internet. The point here is to find information that either backs up or negates what you brainstormed.

Now with a big old brainstormed list, you can start narrowing things down. On this site, I often reference the Pareto principle. The Pareto principle states that 80% of the results are usually attributable to 20% of the variables. Keep this in mind and focus on the most impactful strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Finally, though not every template allows for it, you want to think about how these factors interact. What do I mean by that? What I mean is – how your strengths affect your weaknesses, weaknesses affect your opportunities, opportunities affect your threats, and so on…

Set the foundation for sound strategic planning by using these SWOT analysis templates

Download (and use!) the SWOT analysis template that’s right for you from above. Beyond that, read this post on Church SWOT Analysis. Though you probably run a for-profit business, the principles will still apply. This information will help you perform a SWOT analysis that contributes to a sound strategic plan.

Also, check out the related posts below. SpreadsheetsForBusiness.com was created to help small business owners, like you, to get control of their businesses and succeed.

Quick & Easy Tool for Measuring Customer Profitability

customer profitability featured

Customer profitability is measured by subtracting allocated costs from customer revenue.

The trick is to logically allocate costs – specifically Selling, General, and Administrative expenses. Understanding your customer profitability will help you make better decisions. For instance, what new customers to target and which of your current customers to part ways with. Having more good (and less not-so-good) customers will make your life as a small business owner more enjoyable.

Download a copy of the Customer Profitability workbook

Complete the form below and click Submit.
Upon email confirmation, the workbook will open in a new tab.

Why is it important to analyze customer profitability?

You’re probably wondering if some of your small business’ customers are unprofitable.

In the back of your mind, you know that some customers are better than others. Some customers are a huge headache and don’t bring in that much revenue. Others are a pleasure to do business with and drive the majority of your revenue.

It’s more than just revenue

Sure, you have an inkling of which customers are good and which are… not-so-good. But until you run the numbers, you’ll never know.

What you find might surprise you. Maybe the customer who’s a huge headache is worth it? Or, maybe the customer who seems ideal is actually unprofitable?

Revenue is the starting point. But customer profitability has as much to do with costs as it does revenue.

Build a better business with a customer profitability analysis

By understanding which of your customers are the most profitable, you can make better decisions in the future.

You will have a measurement to decide if you need to dedicate more time and resources to certain customers. Or, if you need to fire them.

Your “ideal customer” will become clearer. This will allow you to focus your marketing toward other “ideal customers.”

Also, by getting rid of not-so-good customers, you’ll likely save a huge emotional toll on yourself and your employees. Work will become more pleasurable. Which, in turn, can only help you achieve your vision for your small business.

How does a business measure customer profitability?

You know that profit = revenue – expenses. So, customer profit must equal customer revenue – customer expenses.

Customer revenue is easy enough. Your accounting software should be able to provide you with a report that tells you what you sold to who. If not, that’s Job #1 – to piece together this information or start measuring it going forward. You can’t measure customer profitability without it.

If you’re following along in the Customer Profitability workbook, you can enter customer names in row 5 of the Customer Profitability worksheet. Additionally, enter Customer revenue in row 7.

Also, for the sake of consistency, I would advise you to enter a Start and Finish Time period. This goes in cells C3 & D3 respectively. These dates won’t affect any formulas. They will, however, help ensure that your revenue and costs are compared consistently.

Costs of Goods Sold/Cost of Sales

Cost of goods sold (COGS), also known as Cost of sales (COS), are the costs your business (more or less) directly incurred to deliver that product/service to the customer.

Again, your accounting software probably captures this for you in a report somewhere.

QuickBooks Online captures this information in a report called Profit and Loss by Customer. It can be found by navigating to Reports (left menu) > Standard (tab) > Business overview (section).

Here’s what that report looks like when downloaded into a spreadsheet:

qbo profit and loss by customer report spreadsheet
Credit: qbo.intuit.com
Click to enlarge

Based on how you set up your customers and products/services in QBO, your COGS will automatically be recorded in this report. That’s a big chunk of costs right there! Customer Gross Profit is taken care of.

Learn more about gross profit maximization here.

What if you don’t have a report that totals customer revenue and COGS?

You can estimate these totals with the Customer Rev/COGS (Optional) worksheet. It will just take a little more legwork.

First, list all your Products/Services in column B. Then for each Product/Service list the average Price you sell it for. Also, the average Cost.

Again, I’ll try not to get too technical. “Cost” in this case, includes material, labor, and overhead. The total costs incurred to produce one Product/Service. If you’re unsure whether to include a particular expense, leave it off. It can always be allocated on the Customer SGA Allocation worksheet.

After you’ve listed Products/Services, Price, and Cost, then you’ll want to enter the QUANTITY PURCHASED by each customer.

At the bottom, you’ll see Revenue and COGS by customer summed. These amounts can then be entered on the Customer Profitability Worksheet. They won’t carry over automatically because this worksheet is optional.

With Customer revenue and Customer cost of goods sold entered, Customer gross profit and gross margin will be calculated. Your Customer Profitability worksheet should look something like this:

customer gross margin calculation
Click to enlarge

The shading of the Customer gross margin cells will change slightly to highlight those customers with the highest gross margins.

What about Selling, General, and Administrative expenses?

Everything up until this point has been fairly intuitive. This is where the good customers get separated from the not-so-good, though.

Selling, General, and Administrative (SGA) are those expenses that are not directly tied to any individual Product/Service. This is why you don’t see these expenses included in the QBO Profit and Loss by Customer report.

But, these expenses are very real. They are (or, at least, should be) necessary to serve your customers. So, they should be accounted for any time you speak of “profitability.”

How do you allocate these expenses to individual customers though?

You can think of each type of Expense as a pie. It’s up to you to decide on the most appropriate way to slice that pie for each customer. There are no wrong ways to slice that pie. Some are just better than others.

Start by listing Expenses in column B on the Customer SGA Allocation worksheet. Break them down into as much detail as you’re comfortable with.

For each Expense, enter an Amount to be Allocated in column C. Remember to stick to the Time period specified on the Customer Profitability Worksheet. You don’t want to allocate too much or too little.

Drivers – slicing the pie

Now, comes the creative part…

Think about what drives that Expense. Specifically, what the customer does that makes that Expense increase.

For example, Automobile expenses could be allocated by the number of miles driven for a client. Meals and Entertainment could be allocated by the number of meetings and events you took part in with the client.

Again, there are no wrong answers here because there are (usually) no perfect ways to slice the pie. Use your best judgment. If you completely draw a blank, you can always allocate that Expense evenly across all customers.

Try not to do that if at all possible, though. It’s the allocation of these costs that really separates the profitable customers from the unprofitable ones.

Back to the Customer SGA Allocation worksheet.

Enter the method of allocation in column D. Then, for each customer, break the Amount to be Allocated down in that manner. The Total of that breakdown (column O) needs to equal the Amount to be Allocated.

If all of the Totals don’t match, you’ll see an error message in cell P25.

Customer SGA expenses are totaled at the bottom and carried over to the Customer Profitability Worksheet.

Your completed Customer SGA Allocation worksheet should look something like this when you’re done:

customer sga expense allocation worksheet
Click to enlarge

The final product

If you look back at the Customer Profitability Worksheet, you’ll see that Customer SGA expenses are subtracted from Customer gross profit to give you Customer operating profit. Aside from taxes, this is essentially your bottom line for customer profitability.

Customer operating margin is also displayed. Again, the shading in these cells will change to highlight those customers with the highest operating margin.

A chart, comparing your customers is also included to help with understanding.

Your final product should look something like this:

customer profitability worksheet table and chart
Click to enlarge

How to improve

Good news! The first step to improving customer profitability is to understand it. After using this workbook, you should have a better understanding of customer profitability.

Next, look for common themes among your best (most profitable) customers. Is there anything they have in common?

How did you acquire these customers? Can you replicate it?

Can you do more business with these customers? You don’t want to grind on your best customers too hard. But, are there any more of their problems you can fix with your solutions?

Don’t just look at your customers either. Look into the mirror a little bit too. Is your company making some customers not-so-good? This might not be comfortable. But, some introspection could help you convert some of those not-so-good customers to the light side.

If some of the not-so-good customers are hopeless though, you might have to fire them. This can be a delicate situation. However, sinking money into customers that you don’t even enjoy dealing with is destructive. Do your homework on the best way to do so and let them be someone else’s problem.

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Business Plan Demographics – Defining a Target Market

business plan demographics featured

Sorting through demographic information is one of the first steps in doing market research and competitive analysis. This is stuff you’ll need to know in order to prepare an effective business plan. Without this information, you, as a founder, don’t know if there is a sufficient market to support your business. You will also be starting off at a disadvantage when planning other aspects of your business.

**Note: this business plan demographics guide was written just before the Census Bureau changed its primary portal for data from the American FactFinder to Data.Census.Gov.

Download a free copy of the workbook used in this post

Complete the form below and click Submit.
Upon email confirmation, the workbook will open in a new tab.

Keep in mind that this workbook is only designed to work with table S0201, Selected Population Profile in the United States. Any other table might not be in the correct format.

About these posts

This series of posts was written to convey my take on how to write a business plan. My intent is to follow up with several more posts after this one.

I’m using the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Plan your business guide as my outline (link). In true SpreadsheetsForBusiness.com fashion – I plan to include free downloadable spreadsheets where appropriate.

Rather than just recycling the same information you could find elsewhere, I’m going to take this journey with you. I’ll be building my own business plan as I write these posts. This is my first business plan, so you’ll be learning right along with me.

My business plan

My plan is based around a hypothetical business that will manufacture and market a hair regrowth product for men (and women, I suppose). The plan is to manufacture the product with all-natural ingredients.

What are business plan demographics?

Sorting through demographic data for your business’ potential customers is the first step in understanding what type of person (or business) might be interested in your product or service.

It can provide an unofficial ceiling to the number of customers you might expect. It’s from this information you can get into more detail about demand, market saturation, pricing, and so on.

Common demographic information includes:

  • Gender
  • Age
  • Race
  • Income
  • Education
  • Marital status
  • Employment status
  • Geographic area

Why worry about business plan demographics?

Focusing on marketing to specific individuals helps you plan with clarity. The saying goes: “you can’t please all the people all the time.” By not trying to market to everyone a little bit, you can focus your efforts on creating a really good experience for some people.

Understanding your target demographics can help you determine if your target market is saturated. Read this post:
CALCULATING MARKET SATURATION FOR YOUR BUSINESS PLAN

Whatever your business is, it probably is a reflection of yourself. Your interests and talents, that is. Who you market to will also depend on your characteristics and preferences. So, as you choose the demographics of your avatar, consider who you identify with and would be comfortable marketing to.

How to find and analyze business plan demographics

The market for a product or service is quantified by the number of people who make it up and the total amount of money they spend. We can quantify the size of the market by segmenting people based on their demographic characteristics

Of course, since most of this information is numerical, I’ll be using a spreadsheet to keep track of what I found and what changes in variables mean for the market of my aspiring business.

Also, I’ll be using online resources for the sake of time and simplicity. Theoretically, market research could involve things like focus groups and surveys. That’s more involved than I want to get for this idea, so, I’ll stick with the free information.

The SBA has a nice list of resources for market and competitive analysis here.

Demographic information

Here, we’re just looking for basic information about the people who I might be selling to. For instance, how many people are in the age range that I would market to? How much money do they make? Are they single and looking to mingle? Or, are they in committed relationships and proud of their bald head (like a certain “old man” I used to know and miss very much)?

From FactFinder to spreadsheet

First stop is the U.S. Census FactFinder (link).

Here, you can find Census data about your state, city, or even zip code. Not every business is going to be nationwide. Some, like a restaurant, will be very local.

Also, if your business will market to other businesses (B2B), then the information contained here may or may not be pertinent to you. Try another part of the Census website called the Small Business Edition (link) if you’re not finding what you need.

Interested in mining the Census website for more valuable market research? Read this post:
CENSUS DATA MARKET RESEARCH AT THE NEW DATA.CENSUS.GOV

Since, as of now, I envision my business being nationwide (at the very least regional), I chose to use the “Guided Search.” From there, in the “Topics” section, I chose to look at information pertaining to age, sex, age group, income/earnings (households), and marital status.

I can always delve into more detail or retrieve different information at a later time. My hope is that this gets me started.

business plan demographic analysis census search
Click to enlarge.
Credit: factfinder.census.gov

Additionally, on the next screen, I chose to break the information down by region. I included all regions so that I could total them for a view of the entire country.

Finally, on the last screen, I opted to see the one table that outlined this information in 2017, the latest year available.

Don’t bother with the “Download” Action. It will give you your data in a different format than it is displayed.

download format
Click to enlarge

Instead, just highlight everything in the FactFinder table and copy + paste it in a spreadsheet.

business plan demographic analysis copy census table
Click to enlarge
Credit: factfinder.census.gov

Fixing errors

From there, do a Find and replace in your spreadsheet to get rid of the errors that are a result of a “=” being placed in front of the “+/-.01” in the Margin of error column. Replace the “=” with an apostrophe. Be sure to Also search within formulas.

find and replace

Filtering for the demographic information I need

My goal here is to get a range of the number of potential customers based on a set of demographic statistics. I have a lot more information than I need, so let’s see if we can widdle this down into something more useable.

To do this, I added some columns to the Demographic Info worksheet.

First of all, I added a column (Estimate #) that aimed to translate some of the percentage population information into quantities. The format of every download from FactFinder isn’t going to be the same. But, an attempt was made to give you access to both percentage and quantity information for each line item.

Additionally, you’ll find a column named Enter 1-10 to rank demographics. Here, you’ll be able to rank demographic information and narrow down your market on the Pick Demographics worksheet.

Want to nail down the size of your market before you move forward? Read this post:
MARKET SIZE FOR A BUSINESS PLAN – 2 METHODS TO GAUGE IT

Creating customer avatars

Maybe you have a couple of different mixes of demographics in mind. That’s fine. Once you are satisfied with one mix of demographics you can highlight the information on the Pick Demographics worksheet, then copy and paste the values (Ctrl + Shift +V) into one of the boxes on the Customer Avatars worksheet.

This allows you to keep tabs on several different customer profiles as you move forward with your business plan.

Keep in mind, this is just the first step of the business plan. The whole point of a plan such as this is to be proactive. In order to be proactive, you’re going to have to be flexible.

If, as you move along through the steps, you reconsider your target demographic – that’s fine. Just circle back and refine your avatars and make adjustments to other parts of the plan as necessary. Don’t get discouraged if you have to do this. That is the whole point of this exercise.

My avatars

For my avatars, I created four, relatively similar mixes of demographic characteristics.

Gender and income

All include males. Though females can also suffer from hair loss, I am assuming that males would be the primary customer and who the majority of marketing would be geared toward.

Next, every mix of demographics included individuals with earnings as opposed to those with retirement income, with Social Security income, or any other type of public assistance.

Right now, I anticipate that this product would be sold at a premium price due to its uniqueness and all-natural ingredients. This would mean that customers would likely need to earn above-median incomes in order to be in a position to buy a product such as this. Assumptions such as this might change as I progress through this business plan.

In three out of my four avatars, I made assumptions about the relationship status of these men. The demographics included were Now married, except separated, Never married, and Separated. These were my three main avatars.

Education

The fourth included Males, With earnings, and who were High school graduates. This is my “catch-all” avatar. The real total addressable market for my product is probably between this population and the total of the three mentioned above.

The main difference between the three main avatars had to do with education. I assumed that men who were single might be more likely than married men to purchase a product such as this, I lowered the EDUCATION ATTAINMENT to Some college or associate’s degree.

business plan demographics avatars

Defining a target market with business plan demographics

Be sure to download your own copy of the workbook used in this post. Just fill out the form at the top.

What other sources would you use to find demographic information for your business plan?

How about the avatars? How would you have screened them further?

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Measure & Understand Degree of Operating Leverage | Examples

what does degree of operating leverage tell you about a company featured

Businesses use operating leverage to keep costs fixed when they expect extraordinary sales volume. Keeping costs fixed means that businesses can carry more of that revenue to net profit.

The degree of operating leverage is a formula used to calculate how much operating leverage a business is employing. This formula tells you what will happen to operating profit when revenue increases or decreases.

The degree of operating leverage can be calculated two ways.

The first calculation looks at past costs:

Degree operating leverage = % change in Operating profit (EBIT) ÷ % change in Sales

The second calculation looks at present costs:

Degree operating leverage = Total contribution margin ÷ Operating profit (EBIT)

If you don’t know your cost mix (variable vs fixed) then you don’t know how it’s affecting your small business. You don’t know if it would be advantageous to change the mix. And, if you did, what would happen. You don’t have a complete picture of your business and, therefore, aren’t making fully informed decisions.

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Degree of operating leverage and fixed costs

Operating leverage is the use of Fixed costs in order to amplify changes in Operating profit due to a change in sales.

Fixed costs might be considered risky because they do not change no matter how much you produce. But, they also don’t rise if you produce (and sell) more. The risk and reward go hand-in-hand.

The degree of operating leverage is a ratio that tells you how much your Operating profit will change due to a change in Sales.

For instance, if your degree of operating leverage is 5.0, then a 10% increase in Sales will translate into a 50% (5.0 × 10%) increase in Operating profit – all other things being equal.

Conversely, a 10% decrease in Sales will translate into a 50% decrease in Operating profit. The pendulum swings both ways.

Which formula should you use to calculate degree of operating leverage?

You can determine your small business’s degree of operating leverage through a couple of easy calculations. Or, you can just plug your numbers into the free workbook!

Some suggest calculating the degree of operating leverage as follows:

% change in Operating profit (EBIT) ÷ % change in Sales (Source)

For instance, comparing this year to last year, let’s say your Sales increased 10% and your Operating profit increased by 29%.

29% ÷ 10% = 2.9. That was your degree of operating leverage last year. This formula doesn’t tell you what it is now.

last year's DOL formula calculation example

In order to calculate your degree of operating leverage right now, use the following formula:

Total contribution margin ÷ Operating profit (EBIT)

If you’re not familiar, Total contribution margin = SalesTotal variable costs. Not just manufacturing variable costs (Variable COGS), but SG&A variable costs too.

this year's DOL formula calculation example

Degree of operating leverage and profit

Your degree of operating leverage can give you insight into the risks you run from your cost structure (mix of fixed and variable). It tells you how susceptible your Operating profit is to changes in demand.

It will also allow you to know how much you need in Sales to breakeven. The higher your Fixed costs, the higher that breakeven point will be.

Beyond that, it tells you if your Fixed costs are in line with your ability to generate Sales. If that ability is high, then your company can benefit from the leverage provided by Fixed costs and can earn excess returns.

Conversely, if those Fixed costs are locked into assets that won’t contribute meaningfully to Sales, then they are going to be a drag on Operating profit. You’re always going to be fighting against them.

A higher degree of operating leverage favors companies with good gross margins that make good project/investment decisions.

The different stories that operating leverage and financial leverage tell

My last post (with another free workbook) was on the topic of financial leverage.

Financial and operating leverage are similar in that they employ the use of fixed costs in order to (hopefully) amplify the effects of sales on net profit and operating profit respectively.

Here are a few of my thoughts on the subject:

Since financial leverage is owed for years to come, it is, obviously, long-term. Therefore, it should be used on long-term projects. Projects that will bring in extra revenue for years to come. Hopefully, even, beyond the point when the interest is paid off. Don’t use financial leverage for something that will provide a one-time spike in sales.

Operational leverage, on the other hand, is tied to assets that can be disposed of. They’re not very liquid assets, certainly. But they are typically a burden that can be relieved of easier than contractually owed interest. Real estate can be sold, salaried employees can be laid off. And so on…

Ironically, financial leverage is frowned upon and looked at as riskier than operating leverage. However, both essentially serve the same function. They’re components of the income statement entered at different places.

Fixed expenses can be a powerful lever or concrete boots that drag your company down. It’s all about how those fixed expenses are put to work.

How to understand and act on your degree of operating leverage

Once you know what your Degree of operating leverage is, then you will know what changes in Sales will mean for your Operating profit. If you don’t anticipate that Sales can be increased, then you’re going to have to explore means to reduce Fixed costs.

On the other hand, if you anticipate the Sales will improve next year, then you have to ask yourself if you’re willing to add more Fixed costs (that will further increase Sales). If you’re confident you can do so, you might have a really great year.

A change in sales or variable costs and the effect on a company’s financials

degree operating leverage change in sales cogs

As can be seen on the Effects of changes worksheet – a 10% increase in Sales, Variable COGS, and Variable SG&A would translate into a 29% increase in Operating profit from the Base case. This is to be expected since the Degree of operating leverage for the Base case was 2.90 (10% × 2.90).

Keep in mind that Variable costs would increase at the same percentage as Sales – as is their nature.

The flip side is also true. A 10% decrease in Sales and Variable costs means a 29% drop in Operating profit (-10% × 2.90).

Note that the Breakeven Sales amount doesn’t change in either scenario. This is because Fixed costs didn’t change.

A change in fixed costs and the effect on a company’s financials

degree operating leverage change in fixed

“Why would fixed costs change?” you might ask. “They’re fixed,” you say.

Well, in theory, they don’t. But in practice, they might.

First, not many costs are 100% fixed or variable. It’s a sliding scale. Over a long enough timeline, all costs are variable they say.

Also, Fixed costs are often tied to fixed assets. Fixed assets are acquired and disposed of over the years. Salaries, which can comprise a lot of Fixed costs too, fluctuate with the hiring and loss of employees.

So, as you can see, it’s not much of a stretch for Fixed costs to change.

When they do, we can see that a 10% increase in Fixed costs translates into a 19% decrease in Operating profit. Not at all what we would expect from our Confirmation equation. 0% × 2.90 = 0%! Operating profit shouldn’t change!

But in this hypothetical example, it did. And, in real life, it could.

Of course, the opposite was true too. A 10% decrease in Fixed costs meant a 19% increase in Operating profit.

Notice, too, that a change in Fixed costs meant a change in the opposite direction for the Breakeven Sales amount. Not surprisingly.

What will the degree of operating leverage tell you about your company?

Don’t forget, you can get insight into the degree of operating leverage for your own business by accessing the accompanying spreadsheet for this post. Just enter your information in the white cells on the Your degree of operating leverage worksheet.

Fill out the form at the top of this post ↑ for quick, easy, free access.

degree operating leverage your info screenshot

What are your thoughts on the use of operating leverage vs financial leverage?

What is your degree of operating leverage and would you like to increase or decrease fixed costs?

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Degree of Financial Leverage – (Dis)Advantages Plus Examples

how financial leverage affects the business decisions featured

Degree financial leverage = Operating profit ÷ (Operating profitInterest expense)

Financial leverage is simply the act of borrowing money to invest. This is done with the hope of earning a return on that money. A return that is greater than the cost. Often, the potential for gain is disproportionately bigger than the cost. But, the cost is fixed and will be the same regardless of the return earned. Small businesses must learn how to effectively manage their degree of financial leverage. Otherwise, they could find themselves buried under the weight of repayment.

Let’s talk about some of the advantages and disadvantages of financial leverage. Also, how the degree of financial leverage ratio can provide insight into net income.

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Financial leverage advantages

Financial leverage is a strategy that can be employed to boost gains. The cost of borrowed money (typically) doesn’t change. So, if that money can be used in a way that earns returns beyond the cost of borrowing – a small business can end up way better off than it would have otherwise.

I always say that every investment comes down to three things – cash in, cash out, and time. If the cost of leverage (cash out) is low enough and the terms are favorable (time), then the cash in has the best opportunity to be big enough to make financial leverage worthwhile.

High financial leverage helps small businesses avoid dilution of earnings from the issuance of equity. It also gives them the ability to put more money to work than they would have otherwise. Both of these advantages can translate into excess returns.

Additionally, interest is tax-deductible. This lessens the tax burden that a company would realize if the same funds were raised through equity. Keep in mind that interest is a fixed cost. A fixed cost that can negatively affect a small business if operating profits aren’t high enough.

Financial leverage is a better fit for some businesses than others

On my sister site, I’ve written often about the benefits of certain business models. For businesses with the right business model, more financial leverage could be very beneficial. This is if it brings in more long-term customers. These business models are conducive to earning a good ROI on borrowed money.

Handling debt responsibly = the ability to borrow more in the future

If a small business effectively employs financial leverage, their creditworthiness improves. With improved creditworthiness, they will (likely) be able to borrow more in the future. If they continue to execute effectively, they can earn compounded returns.

The cost of borrowing (rate) could drop with a successful history of repayment. This could decrease the cost of future financial leverage. Lower cost should mean lower risk. Lower risk increases the likelihood of employing it in a successful manner.

Financial leverage disadvantages

Just as it has the potential to boost gains, financial leverage can also boost losses. Every dollar borrowed represents a little more risk. Again, that’s why the return from the borrowed monies means so much.

But, the lender doesn’t care if your small business makes 10x the cost of borrowing. Or, if it “only” makes 100% of the cost of borrowing. It expects its money back, plus interest, either way.

Borrowing money will increase your cash flow out. If the cash flow in isn’t enough to offset that, then, sooner or later, insolvency will ensue.

It all depends on the context

A lot of the negative stigma surrounding borrowing stems from the personal sector. In the personal sector, when people borrow, they often do so to buy consumer goods. Things that don’t earn any sort of return. These items actually depreciate in value. For example, cars and technology.

Nobody flinches when somebody borrows an ungodly sum of money to buy a house. This is because a house (for better or worse) is expected to increase in value.

Just as certain business models are conducive to financial leverage, others are not. Consider business models that sell time for money or one-time purchase items. These businesses will have to be confident in their financial modeling to ensure that they can earn an adequate ROI on financial leverage.

Finally, the perception of leverage depends on timing. During boom times, the companies borrowing look like geniuses. Conversely, if the economy turns against a business that has irresponsibly borrowed, then they could look foolish.

Financial leverage + operating leverage?

There are two general types of leverage that a small business can use. Operational leverage (which I plan to write about next) and financial leverage. The degree of operating leverage measures the effect of fixed costs (not interest) on operating income.

Beware compounding leverage by adding operating (fixed costs) to financial, or vice versa. This could sneak up on a small business. It could create a situation where management is caught unprepared. The result is potentially catastrophic. It’s important that scenarios like this be modeled out and planned for.

Most people understand the risks associated with borrowing money (financial leverage). The risks of operating leverage are a little more camouflaged.

Make sure you plan around your company’s (potential) total leverage situation. Annual strategic planning with an operating budget allows you to do just that.

Regulatory authorities might paint an overly rosy picture

When interest rates are kept low, the hurdle rate (minimum ROI to justify investment) is also lower. This incentivizes small businesses to take on projects that they might not otherwise. Less is demanded of investments. The pursuit of extraordinary returns might stop short in favor of quick-and-easy (but “good enough”) returns.

Also, by making interest tax-deductible, the effective cost of leverage is lowered even further. This further incentivizes small businesses to use financial leverage. Doing so could amplify any of the previously mentioned disadvantages.

Financial leverage example

The Degree of Financial Leverage shows the amplification that borrowing money can provide to profits and losses. So, for instance, in the example operating budget, the Degree of Financial Leverage is 1.4. This means, at this level of borrowing, that for every 10% change in Operating Profit, Net profit would increase by 14% (10% × 1.4).

That sounds great, but the opposite is also true. If Operating Profit declined by 10%, then this level of borrowing would cause Net profit to decrease by 14%. That’s the nature of leverage. It amplifies gains and losses.

Build Your Church Operating Budget with This Free Template – SpreadsheetsForBusiness.com

I created a spreadsheet to model the changes in profit due to changes in other line items. It helps to better understand how the income statement is affected by financial leverage,

I started with a Base case income statement for a small business that has $1 million in sales. This example business also has a 20% operating margin with $500K in debt at a 5% Interest rate. Its Net profit is approximately $138K.

This company’s Degree of financial leverage is 1.14 ($200,000 ÷ [$200,000 – $25,000]).

Only one variable was changed at a time. Here’s what I found:

The effects of an increase or decrease in sales

A 10% increase in Sales translates into a 50% increase in Operating profit – all other things being equal. As expected, this 50% increase in Operating profit translates into a 57.1% increase in Net profit. This is because the Degree of financial leverage is 1.14 (50.0% × 1.14 = 57.1%).

The same thing happens, in the opposite direction. When Sales drop by 10%, Operating profit decreases by 50%. Net profit drops by 57.1%.

how-financial-leverage-affects-the-business-decisions-change-sales

The effects of an increase or decrease in COGS and SG&A expenses

Since COGS is less than Sales, a 10% change doesn’t have as big of an effect on Operating profit. The result is a drop in Operating profit of 35%. As expected, the resulting change in Net profit is -40% (-35.0% × 1.14 = -40.0%).

SG&A expenses, being even lower, have less of an impact on Operating profit. A 10% increase only lowers Operating profit by 5% and Net profit by 5.7% (-5.0% × 1.14 = -5.7%).

Of course, things work the same in the opposite direction. A -10% change in COGS increases Operating profit by 35% and Net profit by 40%. A -10% change in SG&A expenses increases Operating profit by 5% and Net profit by 5.7%.

how-financial-leverage-affects-the-business-decisions-change-cogs
how-financial-leverage-affects-the-business-decisions-change-sga

The effects of an increase or decrease in Long-term Debt & Interest rates

As shown above, changes in the income statement that result in increases to Operating profit are amplified in Net profit by the Degree of financial leverage.

But, what about changes below Operating profit? As expected, a 10% change in either the amount of LT Debt or the Interest rate, results in a corresponding 10% change in Interest expense.

This hypothetical small business carries a sizable amount of LT Debt. Still, Interest expense is still a relatively immaterial expense. Thus, the effect of a change in LT Debt and Interest rates is only ±1.4% on Net profit.

change-debt-interest-change
Click to enlarge

Going forward with a new Degree of financial leverage

Because of the nature of the Degree of financial leverage calculation (Operating profit ÷ [Operating profitInterest expense]), when Operating profit increases, the Degree of financial leverage decreases – all other things being equal. The opposite is, of course, true too.

What does this mean?

It means that if your small business increases Operating profit this year, then your Degree of financial leverage is going to go down for next year. Which isn’t catastrophic. But, it means that a similar gain in Operating profit next year won’t translate into the same boost in Net profit.

To get that, your small business would have to borrow more funds.

On the same token, if your company has a decrease in Operating profit this year, then your Degree of financial leverage will increase for next year. This increase will amplify the effects of a gain in Operating profit next year. But, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll end up ahead of where you would have been if you would have increased Operating profit in year 1.

Shortcomings of the Degree of financial leverage ratio

Again, the Degree of financial leverage ratio is calculated as follows:

Operating profit (EBIT) ÷ (Operating profitInterest expense)

Big companies typically borrow money through the issuance of bonds. This means that they only pay interest until the bond matures.

Small businesses, like yours, don’t issue bonds. The nature of borrowing can vary, but often, loans are repaid on an installment basis. E.g. payments consist of both principal and interest.

So, a ratio that only measures the effects of Interest expense doesn’t completely capture the impact of financial leverage. For small businesses anyways.

Two extreme examples

First, consider a small business that borrowed 10x their previous year’s revenue. If they did so at a very low interest rate, their Degree of financial leverage would also be relatively low. But, having borrowed a disproportionate amount of money, they would theoretically have the opportunity to boost Sales/Operating profit greatly.

Also, consider the other extreme. What if a company borrowed a very modest amount of money? But, was forced to pay an exorbitant interest rate? In this instance, the Degree of financial leverage would be relatively high. But, the company’s opportunity to use this leverage in a beneficial manner is limited.

Finally, in order for the Degree of financial leverage to accurately predict the change in Net profit, Taxes must remain at a constant percentage. E.g. they can’t be 21% of Operating profitInterest expense (EBT) one year and 22% the next. The Forecasted Change in Net profit won’t equal what’s calculated in the Confirmation.

The amount of LT Debt and the Interest rate/expense must also remain constant for the “Operating profit × Degree of financial leverage = Change in Net profit” equation to work out.

So, obviously, the Degree of financial leverage has limitations. It is designed for big businesses – not necessarily small ones. It is based on amounts in the income statement, and not the cash flow statement. Thus, no consideration is taken for the effects of principal repayment.

If its limitations are kept in mind, and if reasonable changes are forecasted, then it can provide guidance on the potential benefits or detriments of financial leverage.

How financial leverage affects business decisions

Plug your small business’ information into the Your degree of financial leverage worksheet. It will help you better understand how your borrowing might help or hinder you in the coming year.

Financial leverage, in and of itself, is neither good nor bad. It’s all about how it’s employed. If it’s used to buy (rather than sell) consumable assets that provide little or no return – it’s wasted. If it’s allocated to resources that increase productivity (or earn extraordinary returns) – it’s a valuable tool for small businesses.

What are your thoughts on the use of financial leverage?

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages I neglected to include?

How about some ways that you’ve effectively employed financial leverage in your small business?

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Periodic Sales Promotions in QuickBooks Online

weekly-monthly-holiday-sales-promotions-featured

  • Periodic sales promotions give small businesses the best chance of boosting sales and profitability when they are carefully planned.
  • Care must be taken to not use periodic sales promotions as a crutch when sales fall short of expectations.
  • QuickBooks Online price rules give small businesses the opportunity to efficiently apply promotional pricing to products and services.
  • Small business owners, who are concerned about what effects sale promotions might have on revenue, can use this information to lower uncertainty

Periodic sales promotions

Weekly/monthly/holiday sales, aka periodic sales promotions, are something we’re all familiar with. The “one day only sale!” The “Memorial Day sale!” The “semi-annual sale!” Or, the most famous, the “Black Friday sale!” are all examples.

Before we get too far into it, let’s split hairs on the terminology a bit. A periodic sales promotion shouldn’t be confused with a discount or a markdown. A discount is a reduction in price for a particular group of customers. A sales promotion, typically, would apply to all customers.

A markdown is a “permanent” lowering of the price of goods in order to incentivize purchase so that they can be removed from inventory. This would be done for items that are slow-moving (or not moving at all).

Periodic sales promotions are a means of reaching periodic sales goals

Periodic sales promotions can help complement the efforts of salespeople and advertising. Whether your business markets to consumers or other businesses, a periodic sale can stimulate buying on the part of your customers.

Periodic sales promotions should compel your customers to purchase immediately. So, the nature of your promotion will have to be such that it bridges your customers’ culture with your sales goals. For example, are you trying to get customers to switch from a competitor? Or, are you trying to penetrate a whole new market?

Don’t launch a periodic sales promotion without a plan. Consider how the promotion will impact your business at different volumes. Decide what products/services should be included. Consider your best-case and worst-case scenarios so that you are mentally prepared for whatever your customers throw at you.

The upside of periodic sales promotions

Dead and slow inventory takes up valuable space. Worse yet, it ties up valuable cash. If you have inventory that is turning over slowly, you might consider how you can work it into a periodic sales promotion in order to make room for inventory that will actually sell. Doing so would be preferable to getting pennies on the dollar by discounting.

I wouldn’t offer a sale that revolved solely around dead and slow inventory, however. That might be a dud. Perhaps you might consider marking down dead and slow inventory extra – beyond the normal terms of the promotion. An example for a car repair business – a 10% off sale on brake replacement for President’s Day, with slow-moving tires offered at 40% off. Take advantage of the increased traffic to get the most that you can for the dead and slow inventory.

A periodic sales promotion might incentivize people who wouldn’t buy otherwise. If the promotion only runs for a few days, the sense of urgency could be increased. People who may only have a vague idea of what your business is about could be compelled to “check you out” while the sale is going on. Furthermore, the first-timers, if they are excited about what they found, might tell others.

Since a periodic sales promotion will hopefully bring in a lot of new faces, it’s an opportunity to collect some basic information. Even just an email address or a like on Facebook. Knowing more about your customers in general and those that were lured by the sales promotion specifically will help you to meet their needs better.

The downside of periodic sales promotions

Even the least savvy business person knows that if you sell something for less, you’ll make less profit on it. Periodic sales promotions will result in lower margins. The hope is – to make up for that with increased volume (quantities).

But, if you are able to pull off a successful periodic sales promotion, be careful not to begin to rely upon them. The siren song of a boost in sales/gross profit might prove irresistible if future sales don’t reach the levels you hoped. If periodic sales promotions are part of your strategic planning, then great. Run with it. Just don’t start using them as a crutch if things aren’t going as well as hoped.

When a customer purchases something at a reduced price, you might not be able to get a read on their future purchasing behavior. That is, beyond the fact that they’ll buy “x” amount of something at “y” price.

We’ve all heard the old adage “price, service, quality…pick two” when it comes to offering a value proposition to customers. If your business aims to excel in service and quality, but begins to succumb to the temptation to lower prices to boost sales, then you might see yourself transformed into a low-price provider – at the expense of service or quality.

It always comes down to…planning

Again, at the risk of being redundant, it all comes down to planning. Give your periodic sales promotions the thought and planning they deserve. Don’t just “knee-jerk.” Working it into a plan will give it the best chance of being successful.

Every industry is different. Every small business within an industry is different. There is no “one size fits all” solution to planning for periodic sales promotions. Nevertheless, since this website is SpreadsheetsForBusiness.com, after all, I took a stab at it.

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weekly-monthly-holiday-sales-promotions-tool-screenshot
Click to enlarge

This is a very high-level workbook since it isn’t specifically made for any particular business/industry. Hopefully, however, it can give you a starting point for thoughtfully planning your own periodic sales promotion. Helping to ensure that it fits in with your strategic plan and helps your business reach its goals.

Periodic discounts in QBO

How to apply this knowledge in your accounting software, though? Well, here’s how you might go about it in QuickBooks Online.

We’ll look at periodic sales three different ways through the eyes of a restaurant:

  • First, an across-the-board 10% discount for everything. We’ll call it an “anniversary sale.”
  • Second, a 20% off of Mexican food and drinks promotion for Cinco de Mayo.
  • Finally, a weekly 15% off promotion for select desserts.

If you haven’t, read my previous post on the particulars of QBO price rules (levels). What follows won’t necessarily go into as much detail.

I’ll be using the sample company within QuickBooks Online Accountant. By default, this sample company is a landscaping business. For the purposes of these examples, I’ll make some changes to make the examples better reflect a restaurant business. But, if you see some odd things related to landscaping pop up in the screenshots or the video – that’s why.

In the previous example, we created a “dummy” price rule that provided no discount. We did this so that the price rule would not be applied by default during a sales transaction. However, in this example, for our restaurant, we want it to be automatically applied so that we don’t forget to give it to our customers. So, in this case, we’ll forego the creation of a “no discount” price rule.

weekly-monthly-holiday-sales-price-rules
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Anniversary promotion

The across-the-board 10% discount is easy to set up. In the price rules screen, we’ll create a rule called Anniversary Sale. This rule will only be in effect over the weekend of April 27, 2019.

Since it is an across-the-board discount, All customers and All products and services will remain selected by default. A 10% decrease in price will be applied.

Simple.

across-board-discount
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Cinco de Mayo promotion

Next, we’ll look at the Cinco de Mayo promotion. In this case, it’s only our restaurant’s Mexican fare that’s on sale. Also, the sale only runs over the weekend – May 3, 2019, through May 5, 2019.

In this price rule, we selected the products in our Mexican subcategory. We then chose to decrease the price by 20%.

weekly-monthly-holiday-sales-promotions-cinco-de-mayo-discount
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Weekly dessert promotion

Finally, we’ll tackle the restaurant’s weekly (Wednesday) discount on desserts, designed to get people in the seats during the slow mid-week time period.

This was approached in much the same manner as the Cinco de Mayo discount. Except, there is no Start date and no End date. This is an ongoing promotion. All products in the Desserts category were selected for inclusion and they were decreased in price by 15%.

dessert-discount
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Periodic sales promotions

When it comes to pros & cons, advantages & disadvantages, upside & downside posts, I always overlook a few. What are some of the pros and cons I missed for weekly/monthly/holiday sales promotions?

What other considerations need to be taken into account before a small business launches a weekly/monthly/holiday sales promotion?

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