Learning How to Understand Your Business at a Glance Part 2

Time is one of the most precious resources we have and we don’t want to waste it searching through unending reports to identify the issues that require our attention. We waste time and we might just miss some critical threats and great opportunities. This is the second article in a series that will show you how quickly identify the issues that require your attention.

Let’s focus on opportunities and threats when it comes to your customers. The report below represents overall profitibility for each customer, which can be useful if you are giving volume discounts. If you might have one or more loss leaders, you need to know if your overall gross margin by customer is acceptable.


Now we can drill down to the next level and see what products each customer is buying, in what volumes, and in what quantities. We can also see gross margin by product.


Next, we can drill down to look at purchasing patterns. It’s at this level we can understand purchasing patterns and identify threats and opportunities. For example, you might see a pattern of regular purchases by a customer broken. Did you lose them as a customer? Seeing their purchasing for your other products can help answer that question. You have more information to work with to identify customer service or product issues and, perhaps, resecure a lost customer.


Understand purchasing patterns can also show you opportunities. For example, understanding seasonal purchasing patterns would help you adapt your sales efforts to client needs

Robert Guild designs specialized reports and automated analysis tools for QuickBooks clients to make decisions they can trust. He is a member of Intuit DeveloperNet and an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Visit www.ReportsUWant.com to see pre-designed analysis tools ready to buy or contact him about developing applications for your specific needs at rguild@ReportsUWant.com. You can also follow him on twitter at QBPro