I recently went through the always fun process of putting the company budget together for 2018. When I had it ready, I met with a few key advisors to go over it and make sure I didn’t miss anything. I got a lot of great feedback from doing that. One of the nuggets of advice I received was from a trusted mentor when he said to not focus on the budget so much, but rather focus on what goes into making the sales happen.

I know it sounds obvious: don’t spend all day staring at your budget wondering if all the numbers are correct or not. But I had never really given a ton of thought to creating an almost second budget, a recipe of sorts, as to what goes on to make each sale happen. Once I took the time to really dig deep down into what typically makes a sale happen for Full Scope Creative, I had a list of some key activities that result in success for company sales.

Once I had that list assembled, I was able to focus in on a few key activities that I can almost dial up and down as needed to result in more sales for the company (key activities such as cold calling). With that list assembled, I now have an identified list of tools of sorts that I can turn to should sales turn out to be less than what was budgeted.

Having a yearly budget is a great thing to have. I have a yearly budget for the company and even a monthly budget for my personal life. Having those budgets is great, but they’re obviously no guarantee for success. If the income lines don’t come through, all that hard work can be for naught. Focusing on what goes into sales will provide just as valuable of a tool for you and your company – one that can continue paying dividends long after the budget year is over.