Sales analysis, when performed properly, can help your sales team set more realistic objectives and use market trends to boost sales. Combined with a good sales forecasting inventory tool, sales analysis can help you make the right inventory decisions and optimize stock control to fuel the growth of your business.
For best results, you should consider the set of sales analysis techniques that experienced Project Management Professional Tara Duggan mentioned in this post. Based on her advice, here are three ways to improve your sales analysis and carry out more productive inventory control.
Determine your sales growth percentage
This important metric tells you whether your business is growing or stagnating, and can be a powerful warning sign that major changes in your business and marketing strategy are necessary.
To calculate sales growth…
- Subtract last year’s sales revenue from the revenue for this year
- Divide the result by sales revenue from last year
- Multiply the result by 100
You can apply this technique both to overall sales as well as to individual item sales to improve your productive inventory control.
Calculate an affordable growth rate for your small business
By comparing the affordable growth rate to the actual sales growth rate, you can learn whether you have to invest more in inventory and its management and control to nourish the development of your business.
To calculate an affordable growth rate…
- Divide your business’s net income by last year’s earnings
- Multiplying the number by 100
Determine your break even percentage
This refers to the sales volume at which your business earns no money. It basically shows you how much you have to earn to be profitable. It also tells you when you need to push harder to sell more.
To figure out your small business’s break even percentage…
- Divide your gross profit by total expenses
- Multiply the result by 100
Improving your sales analysis and making better inventory control decisions and business decisions in general becomes a lot easier when you use a sales forecasting inventory tool that also has a sales analysis component, such as DataQlick. Integrating with QuickBooks and putting at your disposal essential sales analysis data such as total sales, gross profit, profit margin, and cost of goods sold, DataQlick helps you keep your sales data under control whether you’re a brick and mortar or online-based business. Find out more about DataQlick’s sales forecasting capabilities.
