Consider adding a weekly financial meeting to your calendar.
“Oh, another meeting? Meetings are a waste of time.”
I can almost hear you say that!
Most meetings are ineffective because they are bad meetings – not because meetings are bad. (See philosophy: logic basics.)
Meetings are an opportunity to communicate effectively. When I ask, many employees tell me that communication is a problem at their company, right before they tell me they have too many meetings.
So, let’s consider adding a really good, tight and effective meeting to your calendar each week.
The topic: profits and cash. Here’s how to set you – and your team – up for a great experience.
Establish a regular weekly time – 30 minutes is fine. Put it on the calendar and hold to it.
Invite the right people. For your weekly financial meeting, invite all the owners. You may also invite key team members, those folks whose behaviors (and their team members) most impact the score. This takes a little courage, and trust, so you can start with just owners.
Have an agenda. You could start with mine – below – and edit it. Have at it!
Weekly financial meeting with owners and managers
Agenda:
• Have handy your current balance sheet, month-to-date profit and loss statement, year-to-date P&L, budget, accounts receivable and accounts payable reports.
• Review the month to date.
At the start of the month, don’t fret over the dollars and percentages. Just take note of the score.
Focus on making money every month. By the third week of the month, you should take action to ensure profitability.
What will it take to hit your budget?
What behaviors will help you play offense (sales) and defense (manage labor and expenses).
• Compare the year-to-date column with the budget column.
• If the numbers and percentages look out of line, take these steps. 1. Check the accounting first. Make sure the right numbers and dollars are in the right accounts. 2. Review job and service prices against job costs. Are you charging what you need to charge? 3. Was there a one-time hit that is affecting the numbers? 4. Review past data to see how you’re trending. Is it up or down? Better or worse?
• Create an action plan to get out into the field and on the floor, and find out what is happening to create that score. You can’t do all that from the office. So, here are two ideas: 1. Ride along with your service technicians, installers and salespeople. Look, listen and learn. 2. Sit side by side with your inside team. Look, listen and learn.
• At least once a quarter, review your budget. Were you unrealistic and do you need to tweak the numbers? Address the operational and sales and marketing processes that impact the score.
• Once a month, create and review your month-end checklist for the prior month. This is how you tie the last month up and make it ready for your accountant and for Uncle Sam.
Go line by line through the balance sheet and income statement. Review the month-end checklist.
Assemble any items that need to be addressed by your CPA or financial planner.
• Incorporate your projects into a top projects List.
A known financial position
Makes sense, right? Operate from a known financial position. Be able to run the balance sheet, P&L, accounts receivable and accounts payable reports on a weekly basis. Share that information with the appropriate team members. Use that data and conversation to make better, faster and more profitable decisions.
Perhaps, you can use this approach to clean up the rest of your meetings? Just saying.
Grab a copy of this agenda and a one-page financial report template at
EllenRohr.com/fqc.
Ellen Rohr is an author and business consultant offering profit-building tips, trending business blogs and online workshops at EllenRohr.com. Her books include “Where Did the Money Go?” and “The Bare Bones Weekend Biz Plan.” She can be reached at ellen@ellenrohr.com.
