It’s budget time and I can’t decide where to spend my limited dough?

Dear Aunty B,

I am doing my most hated task of the year (apart from sacking people), which is budgets, and I am not going to have the funds I want due to this sick economy that everyone says is booming – but it ain’t!

So this is my question. My production guys are screaming for one more person because they say they need to keep quality under control.

My sales people are screaming for another body because they say they won’t be able to reach targets. I can’t afford both and shouldn’t really even be putting on one.

But I am leaning towards the production guy because he is cheaper and, without quality, we haven’t got a sale. And then I commission the sales team up more to get them to budget.

Is this a plan?

Bruce

Dear Bruce,

Bit of muddled thinking there, Bruce. You can’t do anything if you don’t have money.

If it was me? I would go for the salesperson and up the commission.

Think of it this way. Once every salesperson is up to speed they should be able to make four to five times at least what you pay them. So it makes sense if the marketplace is big enough, your pricing value proposition and products are right, that you can therefore make enough money to put on two production people pretty quickly and have spare change left over.

Now, Bruce, that is a plan.

Be smart,

Your Aunty B