Do the Math: Find the Delta and Make a Plan

If you’re not happy with where you are, you commit to change, right? But where are you putting your commitment?

Are you committing to the results or to the changes that get you to the results?

A wise sales director once told his team,

Be accountable to the plan, not the results.”

In order to meet profit and revenue objectives (or weight loss, or sales goals or anything you aspire to achieve), you’ve got to set those objectives and then measure the Delta—that gap between the current reality and the desired outcome—and devise a strategy to reach the objective.

Do the Math: Make it Simple and Break Down Your Results into the Smallest Increments

Current Reality

Take out any anomalies and or the extreme high/low:

LY Annual Sales Calculation

• Average per month
• Average per unit

Revenue Objective: Annual Sales Calculation

Assuming margins remain neutral, not applying scalability:

• Average per month
• Average per unit

What’s the delta?

• What is the gap between where you are/were and where you want to be?
• What does that look like for the year? For the Quarter? For the Month?
• What is the difference per unit/sale/transaction?

Once you identify what the incremental change looks like, look first for the easiest levers to pull—identify the easiest places to affect those incremental changes. Think—smarter, not harder. Not more sales, more customers, but can you start with your existing customers, assets or resource base.

• What variations/products/services can bridge the gap at the existing price point?
• What pricing can be modified? Additional value delivered/added in exchange?
• What products/services are more profitable if you scale their sales?
• What can you package to increase value to same/similar audience with least amount of additional labor or costs?

Be Accountable to That Plan, it Will Get You to the Results

This is your starting point. Use existing assets and resources to start closing the gap on the Delta to achieve your objectives.