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success - Turbo Coach, achieve breakthroughs - Brian Tracy

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Maximize Profits<br />

189<br />

staff according to the most pressing need at the moment.<br />

Once a person has been hired, often she or he can become a<br />

permanent fixture, even when needs change. Many entrepreneurs<br />

are too busy creating products, designing services, and<br />

generating revenues to pay close attention to employee performance.<br />

Over time, the result can be an inefficient and ineffective<br />

staff and a bloated payroll.<br />

From an accounting perspective, payroll is an expense.<br />

We regard it as an investment and, as such, it must yield at<br />

least an acceptable rate of return. But the goal should be an<br />

optimal return. What is acceptable or optimal? And how can<br />

it be measured? This varies by industry and even by size of<br />

company. A general rule of thumb is that each employee<br />

should contribute three to six times her salary in gross revenues.<br />

Stated differently, revenues in your business should be<br />

three to six times your payroll. And if you head up your own<br />

small business, don’t forget to include yourself in this calculation.<br />

Although you may not draw a salary, you still represent<br />

a cost to the business. If you were not there, how much<br />

would you have to pay someone else to perform your role?<br />

A common mistake made by many entrepreneurs is to forget<br />

the cost of their own input when calculating the profitability<br />

of their business.<br />

Customer Profitability<br />

As we have discussed, some customers are more profitable<br />

than others. Some may actually be costing you money. Can<br />

you identify your most profitable customers? Do you know<br />

any who are unprofitable? There is not necessarily any connection<br />

between the size of a customer or the volume of business<br />

he produces and his profitability.

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