BUSINESS PROBLEM
Our revenue is growing, but our profit is not
Turnover looks healthier every quarter, yet at year end there is little left over. You work harder, hire more people, take on bigger orders, and the profit line barely moves. Many owners assume they need even more sales, when the real issue is what each sale actually earns.
Growth can hide weak margins for a long time. Discounts given on the phone, costs that crept up since the last price list, and work done but never billed all sit quietly inside a rising top line. The first job is to see profit by product, customer and job.
Discuss this with us ↗DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?
Signs you
may recognise.
- 01Sales are higher than last year but the surplus after expenses is the same or lower
- 02You cannot say which products, customers or jobs actually make money
- 03Prices were last revised long ago, while salaries, rent and material costs have moved
- 04Discounts and special rates are agreed case by case, often by whoever is closing the deal
- 05Rework, returns, wastage or free corrections are common but never costed
- 06Your accountant shares results months after the period ends, so nothing can be changed in time
- 07Every new hire or branch seems to add cost faster than it adds profit
WHY IT HAPPENS
Common root
causes.
- Prices were set from competitor rates or habit, not from a costed margin target
- Direct costs are not tracked per product or job, so averages hide the losers
- Overheads grew in step with sales without anyone checking what each addition returns
- Discount and credit decisions are scattered across people with no approval rule
- Books are kept for tax filing, not for management decisions, so profit by line is never produced
START THIS WEEK
Four first
steps.
- List your top ten products or services and write down the selling price and your best estimate of direct cost for each
- Pull the last six months of invoices and mark every sale that had a discount, with the reason given
- Ask your accountant for a profit and loss by month, not only the annual summary
- Note down any work done in the last quarter that was redone, returned or never billed
- Pick one product with the weakest margin and decide whether to reprice, repackage or stop selling it
HOW WE HELP
A practical way
to fix it.
Profitability review
We rebuild your numbers into a profit view by product, customer segment and job, so you see in one sheet where margin is earned and where it is quietly given away.
Costing and pricing sheet
We cost your main offerings line by line and build a pricing sheet with floor prices and a discount approval rule, so sales teams know what they can and cannot agree to.
Overhead and spend review
We go through recurring expenses and headcount against the work they support, and prepare a short list of costs to trim, renegotiate or hold, ranked by effort and value.
Monthly margin dashboard
We set up a one-page monthly report covering gross margin, top and bottom customers, collections and overheads, and run a review meeting with you so decisions follow the numbers.
Operations leak check
We trace rework, wastage, delays and unbilled work through your delivery process and document fixes with an owner for each, so margin improvements are not lost again.
LET’S MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
