Analyzing sales KRIs, such as monthly and year-to-date net sales, year-over-year growth, and actual sales versus goals, provides a clear picture of sales performance and helps businesses make informed decisions about spending and cash flow.

Primary Implication

The work done day in and day out across your business is triggered by a sale being made.  Each month, sales made representing potential cash inflow will total up to your Net Sales for the month.  You will either be better than the target, worse than the target, or on target.  Those are the only three options.

Depending on which of these options is true for your business for both the month and year-to-date will affect the decisions you must make to advance your business in the right direction.  Using both leading and lagging measures to know what’s happened and is likely to happen in sales is what profitable business owners do to remain profitable.

Overview

Below are the monthly key results indicators (KRIs) and their respective metric formulas associated with sales that tell you how well your business is “getting work:”

Monthly Net Sales: Monthly Gross Sales – Refunds – Bad Debt = Net Sales

Year-to-Date Net Sales: Year-to-date Gross Sales – Refunds – Bad Debt = Net Sales

Year-over-Year Monthly Sales Percent Change: Current Months Sales – Previous Year Month Sales / Previous Years Month Sales = Year-over-Year Month Percent Change

Year-over-Year Year-to-Date (YTD) Sales Percent Change: Current YTD Sales – Previous YTD Sales / Previous YTD Sales = Year-over-Year YTD Percent Change

Monthly Actual as a Percent of Monthly Sales Goal: Actual sales divided by planned sales for the month

YTD Actual as a Percent of Total Sales Goal: Actual sales divided by planned sales year-to-date

All you need to confirm whether you have sales issues is to apply these simple equations to your P&L Statement results.  Do this monthly, and you will know what your business can afford to spend and your likely cash inflow to fund your expenses and profits.