The revenue history is a vital piece of your power page and you need to record that information. Keeping track of client revenues should not be done in a paper format, it should be recorded electronically. It is too easy to make mistakes when calculating by hand, the results of the data entry can then be recorded into your power page. You need to date these numbers as they can change quite rapidly and you will want to know if there is a growth pattern. You will also be aware of diminishing returns and flat areas. Familiarize yourself with how they report earnings because each company has their own unique way of presenting the information to the public or its employees. You are probably asking yourself why you would bother tracking financial earnings of a company you are doing business with, or even one that is not yet a client. Believe it or not, financial information gives hints as to the success of the sales force, the marketing efforts, and the leadership of the executives. The financials can paint a picture that says more than what you are being told. If you still do not believe me, read through the next example. John B. was getting ready to submit a proposal to company Z; he had some solid ideas about their marketing and sales strategies that would lead to further revenue generation. He checked the financials for the last six quarters and saw that they had very limited growth. He thought this strange as the products they sold were in great demand and they were running at capacity. As he started to dig further into the story, he found that they did not want to grow anymore and were just interested in the status quo. The company was in the process of being absorbed by a larger firm and the CEO was ready to retire. If John had not used his power page appropriately, he may have sent a premature proposal that would have been a waste of time for himself and his customer. Even though this is a sad story for John, he learned his lesson about doing his research on the financials. He now looks at these before writing a proposal for improvement. What we sometimes view as pain is not pain at all but is simply some other issue at work behind the scenes. |
