Give your bottom line some love

I heard a great tip the other day from a wise old entrepreneur who had a simple rule about business performance: Turnover is for vanity, profit is reality.

It’s a cracking little rule and one bank managers around the country are probably nodding their heads with.

It’s always great to grow sales – we all love closing deals and watching the top-line numbers go up.

But as experienced entrepreneurs will tell you, growth isn’t worth anything if it isn’t sustainable.

So give your bottom line some love in the next few weeks.

Examine your costs carefully and see if there is any fat there.

Take a look at your margins. If your sales are growing well then you may have a bit of an opportunity to increase your prices. Alternatively, you might have built up a bit of power that you can bring to bear on your suppliers.

See if you can work out the biggest drivers of your profitability. Wages and occupancy costs are probably on the list, so spend a bit of time thinking about how these will change as you grow.

Always keep in mind that turnover is vanity, profit is reality.

Get it done – today!