Calculation of the average bill. Methods for increasing the average check rate

The first thought that comes to the mind of an entrepreneur who wants to increase sales volume, is an increase in the number of visitors. However, this option is as obvious as it is expensive. It involves serious investment in advertising. Unfortunately, if the company does not have a serious budget, then you can forget about such an undertaking.

Today, every business owner can increase their income with a more effective approach. It consists of increasing the average check. This indicator is calculated as the average customer receipt amount for a fixed period. If you don’t know how to increase this indicator, then get acquainted with several of the most productive ways.

Four ways to increase your average check

1. To increase the average check, attract customers to the store with cheap goods, but always try to sell more expensive ones:

• The seller must gradually switch the attention of buyers from cheap goods to more expensive ones, so the company should develop a line of products in different price categories - from cheap to expensive;
• Sellers must be financially interested in selling more expensive goods, so special incentive bonuses must be introduced;
• So that sellers do not forget to offer a more expensive product each time, they should have a reminder in front of their eyes. You can do this directly on the price tag, noting similar products of higher value.

EXAMPLE: An advertisement for flip charts for training indicates a low price (for a regular board without additional options). Subsequently, the client is offered to choose a more advanced and convenient model - on wheels, made of light alloy, compact, with a special coating, etc. As a rule, the choice falls on a more expensive but advanced version of the product.

RESULT: On average, 30% of buyers agree to purchase a product that is more expensive, but more attractive, if it is offered to them.

2. The increase in the average check will be affected by the inclusion of cheap goods with high margins in the assortment

Offering cheaper products is easy and pleasant, so there is no need to further stimulate sellers - just include these products in the assortment.

EXAMPLE: Many Chinese goods are cheaper than their Russian counterparts, but the trade markup on them can reach the maximum level (example: compatible printer cartridges).

RESULT: Firstly, cheap goods will attract consumers to the store, who will eventually buy a more expensive product. Secondly, selling cheap products with a large markup will help maintain profits during periods when buyers, for various reasons, begin to save money.

3. You can easily achieve an increase in the average bill if you offer related products for any purchase

To start selling related products, you need to perform several steps:

• Determine which products can be considered related to a specific product;
• Write a tip for sellers. It should list the main advantages of all products, the reasons that motivate buyers to purchase something additional, as well as more expensive and cheaper analogues of the product;
• Ensure that the hint document is available to each seller (usually the hint is printed on the back of promotional materials at the checkout);
• Involve clients in monitoring the work of sellers. To do this, it is worth hanging noticeable signs: “If, when purchasing product N, the seller did not invite you to familiarize yourself with product M, you are entitled to a gift!”

EXAMPLE: A tie in addition to a shirt, a wallet in addition to a bag, etc.

RESULT: On average, 25% of buyers respond to an offer to buy related products. Profit will increase by 10-15%.

4. Don't know how to increase the average bill? Don't let your client go empty-handed!

If the customer is already leaving the store without purchasing, on the way out the seller can make him an offer that is difficult to refuse: to buy the product at a special price. In large stores, this function is performed by sales tables and advertising posters, which are clearly visible only to those leaving.

EXAMPLE: In Top Shop stores, at the exit there are racks with things at bargain prices, and in Zara stores there are sale tables with a bunch of discounted items.

RESULT: Of course, sales cannot bring big profits, but they provide a chance to increase sales (increase the average check) in the future, namely:

• help to establish trust and leave a pleasant impression on the new buyer;
• increase conversion (that is, the number of store visitors who leave with a purchase);
• allow you to obtain the client’s contact information (when filling out a form in exchange for a discount or special offer);
• make it possible to increase the volume of subsequent purchases made by new customers (marketing tools are used for this - promotional cards, certificates, coupons, etc.).

These four simple ways will help increase the size of the average check and will allow you to get more money from your clients.

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In sales. The average check can be calculated by dividing turnover by the number of checks. Naturally, the higher the average check, the better for the trading organization and increasing this indicator should be aimed at. Average check, traffic and conversion are the main indicators in retail and you need to constantly work on increasing them.

How to increase your average check

Average check can be increased in two ways: by increasing the number of goods in the receipt and by increasing the average cost of one product. The average cost of one product is the turnover divided by the number of goods. The average purchase price can vary greatly depending on the geography of the store and the positioning of the outlet (economy or premium segment stores). But in general, this is an indicator that can be influenced.

You can increase the average cost of one product in the following ways:

1. Train sellers in selling expensive goods. Naturally, the buyer always wants to buy cheaper; this is a normal and natural desire for everyone. Managers of a trade organization must not only sell expensive goods, but also conduct training on expensive goods; sellers must know where the expensive goods are located. Naturally, sellers must be good at selling expensive goods. And it is especially important to teach about expensive goods and conduct a high-quality presentation of the product.
2. Thoughtful merchandising. In general, all technologies have been known for a long time, I will list only the main ones: the product line should be displayed in price from expensive to cheap, expensive goods should be displayed at the ends and in priority places, expensive goods should always be clean and neatly displayed.
3. Naturally, expensive goods are bought by wealthy people and such people need to be attracted to the store purposefully. For example, the average bill in areas where wealthier people live is usually higher, from 30% to 50%. But you can attract wealthy people through advertising in the media and building a high-quality service.

For expensive goods, as a rule, the markup is much higher than for advertising items that are aimed at attracting customers. Therefore, the store’s policy for selling expensive goods must be thoughtful.

As stated above, we can also increase the average check by filling your shopping cart. Any store needs to ensure that the client buys not just one product, but as many as possible. Large retail chains are doing everything to increase the number of goods on a receipt, and to see all the tools you just need to go to any large store. Let us describe the main ways to increase the number of goods in a receipt:

1. Correct use of "golden meters". The golden meters of a store are considered to be the pre-checkout area. Here you need to place small products that are in constant demand. The pre-checkout area must be replenished with goods on time and kept clean and tidy. Very often the cashier is responsible for order at the cash register.
2. Display of seasonal goods at the entrance. The island slides at the entrance are always filled with seasonal or heavily discounted items to attract the attention of all customers.
3. Decoration of the ends. Products on the ends sell out much better; the most popular products from the main line or discounted items can be placed here.
4. Arrangement of goods according to the degree of need. The most necessary product, for which the client came, should be located at the end of the store, and while you are going to it, you will walk through the entire store and definitely become interested in whatever.
5. Cross-merchandising. Cross-merchandising is the correct placement of related products. A related product is an addition to the main one (chips for beer, powder for a washing machine, etc.)
6. sales of accessories. Sellers, as a rule, sell goods that require advice, and you can always sell many useful accessories for them.
7. Good navigation around the store and transparency of the hall. The client must always find what he is looking for. Therefore, the display of goods should be logical, and the sales area should be visible. Posters and signs should help with navigation.
8. Using cashiers for sales. Cashiers can upsell hot items very effectively. And many networks use this.

Motivating employees to increase the average bill

Very often, the financial motivation of sellers is tied to the size of the average check. has shown its effectiveness, and sellers should be interested in selling expensive goods and accessories. In many sales organizations, about 70% of the bonus comes from these indicators of the seller’s performance.

But many managers forget that among them there is also. You should recognize the best sellers at meetings in front of the rest of the team; motivation for recognition is often much more effective than any money.

The sales process is a kind of key indicator with the help of which a businessman receives veiled information about success or failure in business by determining the average purchase amount.

And the larger the amount, the greater the profit in the end. At the moment when a potential buyer becomes real, the seller at this time needs to take the maximum possible measures to ensure that the client purchases more than planned. Here are some basic ways to implement them.

1. Help the customer buy more.

The main method, which is present in almost all retail stores, is when purchasing a product, try to tactfully offer a related product. There is a very fine line here; you need to offer, and not impose. Buyers feel the second option very well, and persistence can only scare them away.

At first glance it looks quite simple. But don’t think that by placing, for example, powder, bleach or a laundry basket near washing machines, the buyer will definitely buy it. In most cases, when customers come to a store, they pursue a specific goal, to make a purchase of their plans, and may simply not pay attention to the related products laid out.

All people like to feel attention to themselves, and clients especially. After all, there is nothing complicated about this. This requires the seller’s ability to choose the right words when offering an additional product, but so that it can be used specifically with the type being purchased.

This method is as easy as possible to use, the main thing is to train your staff to professionally offer and only offer, without using the slightest pressure.

2. Learn to sell and not force a particular product on your client..

After reading the first method, you may get the feeling that our sellers are only able to impose goods, and the buyer himself strongly dislikes this point. Therefore, it is not for nothing that in the first method the phrase about the fine line between imposition and proposal was highlighted several times.

Agree, you would also not like it if, when purchasing, for example, fresh-frozen fish, the seller offered you a new washing powder, which is now sold at a discount. No one will like such an obvious imposition; it will only leave you with unpleasant feelings about the store and not the fact that this client will appear with you again.

But if the seller had offered a sauce or seasoning suitable for cooking fish, the buyer would not have been bewildered or aggressive, but, on the contrary, would have felt that he was an important guest of this establishment.

3. Learn to determine what to offer.

Let's consider several possible approaches between the seller and the buyer.

* This is a regular offer of a certain type of product or service. This method, more than ever, is very suitable for small owners who have several products in their assortment. For example, in a cafe, coffee or tea are popular, so it is important to constantly remind them of them. For a larger business, you need to determine the most popular product, which is purchased by almost everyone.

* Here everything depends on the professionalism and observation of the seller. If he is attentive enough, he may already know what additional items are usually purchased for this or that product. Typically, they use phrases like “With this product you will purchase...” or “You may need to use this product...” and so on.

* Here you will need a healthy imagination of sellers. The ability to guess for what purpose a product is purchased is one of the facts that proves experience. Seeing how, for example, a young man buys women's eau de toilette, one can assume that it is for a gift for a girl. Based on this, you can offer him additionally various creams and lotions from the same series.

* What is important here is the psychological ability of the consultant to independently “as if, by the way” find out about the purpose of the visit from the buyer. Here you will also need the ability to predict the desires of clients. For example, the same young man who buys perfume.

You can ask him the question “Do you want to give a gift to your beloved woman?” By telling a girl, you may not guess the actual situation. After all, this woman could be a mother. The main thing when asking a question is to try to get the client to make contact. And after receiving the answer, if possible, provide the product that will interest him.

4. Use scripts.

- These are pre-thought-out questions or answers. This instruction will help a salesperson starting his career well in his work. Such phrases can keep the buyer in your territory and thereby increase the purchase amount.

For example, in the same cafe. Seeing that customers are about to leave the establishment, a resourceful waiter will definitely ask: “How?” Are you leaving us already? Without even trying our signature dessert?” Nine out of ten people in such cases will stay to try it and thereby increase your revenue.

5. At arm's length.

This method involves the correct placement of related products near the main one, in sufficient proximity. If it is a tape recorder, then place the cassettes at a short distance, and a variety of desserts near the tea.

The use of this method is greatly simplified in self-service stores. It’s not for nothing that in train cars there are fruits, cookies, and nuts everywhere on the tables. After all, a desire arises instantly and it is not a fact that until a person reaches the buffet, this desire will remain with him.

6. Bring, not offer.

When a client sees the product offered with his own eyes, his desire to buy it increases much more. In the same cafe, when a client asks to bring a cake, put several types on a plate. And rest assured, he will forget that he only wanted one thing.

7. Tell the customer where to buy more.

This refers to installed stands indicating the location of each type of product, a kind of map, so to speak. This application is very suitable for people who are quite shy or not decisive. The client purchased the product, but is simply embarrassed to ask about the location of the related product, and this is where information signs like this come to the rescue.

8. Squeeze out every last drop.

The task here is to purchase additional goods with the remaining change. In a cafe, a cup of tea may be offered with chocolate or dessert. Many stores are now actively offering to top up your account on your phone. It is also important to offer a man buying a suit something from a woman’s wardrobe, arguing that his wife would be satisfied. There are many options, the main thing here is the resourcefulness of the seller.

9. Pack the goods in badleys.

Translated, “Bundle” means “packaging”. The essence of this method is to place two similar products in one package. This method greatly influences the buyer at the level of his subconscious. After all, everyone has long known that when buying in bulk, the price is much cheaper. And at the same time, you will increase your revenue, get rid of stockpiles of goods on the shelves, as well as unclaimed balances.

This method does not require large expenses; if this promotion is not successful, you can disassemble the goods individually at any time.

And this is not the entire list of ways to attract buyers. Even by applying the above options, you can significantly increase your revenue.

How to increase the average check? The topic is very large, so I suggest not to waste time going into it from afar, but go straight to the point - how to earn more from one client.

This is especially true for those companies that have already built a stable flow of customers or have simply hit the ceiling in terms of market volume.

Count and know

Before we move on to ways to increase the average bill, let’s decide how to calculate it. Everything is simple and complex at one moment.

The difficulty of the process depends on your business. If your assortment matrix is ​​large, then you will have to work hard, if there are only 1-5-10 products, then consider yourself lucky.

Average check– the average amount of money that a client spends on one purchase.

This indicator does not require additional explanation. The most difficult thing for many is to understand how to calculate the average bill. And I’ll immediately break the myth - in any company you can calculate this figure.

Therefore, I don’t need to sing a song now about “all our purchases are different. Every client is different.” Even in such cases this is not a barrier.

The basic formula for calculating the amount of an average check: We take the entire sales volume (for a certain period) and divide it by the number of purchases.

Voila! We get the average check. But there are important points that can ruin everything for you.

Seasonality. If your business “floats” from month to month, then consider the average purchase for a certain period. The more volatile the market, the shorter the settlement period.

Range. If you have a large assortment, then divide it into groups and calculate your indicator for each of them.

Clients. If all your clients are different in income, then calculate the average bill for each category of consumers (at least economy and VIP).

In most cases, calculating the average check does not require dancing with a tambourine. Everything is easily calculated according to the basic formula with minor adjustments to the specifics of the business.

Raising prices

Yes! The easiest way is to raise prices. As they say, everything ingenious is simple. The simplest, but at the same time, the most terrible way for any business owner and manager.

I’m generally silent about marketers. It will immediately hit them in the face as soon as they go to the manager with such a proposal. Accurate in 95% of cases.

In general, in Russia it is customary to raise prices only in two cases: the supplier raised prices or a competitor raised prices.

Meanwhile, I can say with confidence that this method of increasing the average bill is one of the simplest and most effective. We raised prices in retail stores (even grocery stores), catering, beauty salons and other companies.

And in all cases, they only received an increase in profits. At the same time, there was no strong dissatisfaction from clients (very little). To achieve the same effect, increasing the average check must be done according to several rules:

1. There is no need to raise prices for (a popular product in the company);
2. Do not immediately raise prices by 10 percent or more;
3. There is no need to raise prices for all goods/services at once;
4. Write scripts for your staff justifying price increases;
5. Be sure to collect feedback after raising prices.

I would like to draw your attention to point 4. This idea was born after we raised prices for one client and brought a recording of a conversation with the seller (who was then fired). It looked like this:

– Why did the prices become higher?
- Don't know! Maybe the suppliers have raised prices, or maybe the management simply doesn’t have enough money for a vacation.

In marketing, such a tool is called “Zoom-price”. And if the owner wants to quickly increase profits, then usually the whole action begins with him. So don't be afraid, do it smart. Our video can also help you:

Cross-sell and Up-sell

Our blog is also useful because we describe each method in detail with examples and even scripts that you can give to your employees. And these two methods are described in detail in the article.

The essence of this method is to help the client make a more expensive purchase and additional products to it. Let's look at it more specifically and with an example.

Up-sell – transferring a client to a more expensive product. Example: buy a TV not 50 inches, but 60 or even better, 80.

Cross-sell – an additional sale to the main purchase. Example: buy a TV mount, warranty, hdmi cable, installation, apple TV, antenna, 3D glasses or even a Play Station game console.

For successful implementation you need to work out and control with.

As a rule, you already have all this, you just need to take it and put a lot of emphasis on it, you can even launch it to get the maximum effect.

Another way to upsell something to your customers (based on the cross-sell tool) can be cross-merchandising.

This is when you place related products near products that sell well, which sell much less well. For example, you can place a juicer near a basket of oranges.

In a door store, you can place film for them next to the doors. In general, you can get really creative here.

Upsell example

And we’re not just talking about retail goods. This technique is also applicable in services. They just use , or instead of shelves.

By the way, cross-merchandising is included in the list of 100 free tools to increase sales 😉

Small wholesale

For example, let's take a fitness club. A monthly subscription costs 5,000 rubles. Subscription for 3 months – 12,000 rubles.

There will be people who will buy a subscription for 12 thousand to save money. I personally always do this, and most often I immediately take it for a year. But if we talk about sports fanatics, then most often people take it for a year, and at best go for 6-9 months.

Small wholesale is when you start selling what you sell individually in large volumes. Offering a discount, gifts, bonuses, etc. for this.

There are tons of examples! For example, a case of beer costs less than buying one bottle at a time. Roses in a store from 10 pieces are sold 10 rubles cheaper (well, you can’t give a girl 10 roses, you’ll need to buy another one).

Or complete car maintenance is always more profitable than doing it individually throughout the year.

Yes, goods/services will be purchased in bulk less often, but if you are not greedy and sell them with tangible benefits, you can make a good increase to the average bill.

And you also don’t need to think that in this way you are not making enough money due to loss of margin. More often than not, people who buy in bulk had no intention of taking it and only took it because they were convinced and shown value.

Important. Don’t make the main mistake of all entrepreneurs - don’t introduce only discounts always and everywhere. Use gifts, bonuses, etc.

For example, instead of giving a discount on a 3-month membership to a fitness club, you can give the 4th month as a gift. If you calculate the money correctly, you will win more.

Bundles

Or, in Russian, these are sets consisting of several goods or services. The simplest example from a sports store is a Young Skier's Set - a ski suit, skis, poles and boots.

If you buy everything individually, the purchase amount will be 45,000 rubles. If you buy in a package, the price will be 37,000 rubles. For many, this can be a deciding factor in their decision.

WE ARE ALREADY MORE THAN 29,000 people.
TURN ON

By grouping products, you can convince the client to buy even what he doesn’t really need (sometimes not the most popular ones are inserted with popular products).

For example, if there are 5 creams in a cosmetic set and one of them is extra for you, you will still buy it, since it is beneficial for you. Plus, our Russian people will always need everything.

There are different ways to combine products into sets. A set of services, a set of goods, or a set of services and goods. Think about what will be beneficial to you and valuable to the client. The entire “Bundle” approach is built on these two words.

Interesting. It also happens that a bundle costs more (or not less) than taking everything individually. And people buy. Perhaps you even fell for this bait, you just didn’t notice.

Magnet on top

Each person has with him (physically or mentally) a “stash” that he will spend if he sees a valuable offer.

Therefore, it would be a sin not to use this, especially if you really have a good idea that the client will like.

The magnet on top is based on this “stash”. In short, when purchasing for 3,400 rubles, you will need to offer the client to purchase up to 4,000 rubles so that he receives, for example, a discount card of your company. Along with a discount card, there may be an additional product or service.

For example, I was recently offered to buy only 800 rubles more and I would receive a bottle of branded perfume (of my choice) as a gift.

The result of the purchase is that I have a new perfume. So implement it. This technology for increasing the average bill is described in more detail in the article.

Promotional products

This method is ideal for retail stores. And perhaps you have even seen it in large chain stores such as Zara, H&M, Ikea and many others. Or maybe they even fell for it. We got it right.

The idea is simple - at special points there are baskets with promotional products (towels with a 90% discount, etc.).

Because the price is very attractive, people buy this product even though they had no intention of doing so.

Please note the difference from cross-sell. In that case, we were talking about a regular upsell to the main product.

In this case, we are talking about selling a product that may have nothing to do with the main purchase. This is a cardinal difference.

Some people call it a sale, but in my opinion, it’s just a properly placed promotional item, because a sale is a purposeful action in trading that needs to be prepared for a long time and carefully (if you want it to be profitable).

You can implement the same thing in services by placing a promotional offer on marketing materials. Or by issuing a ready-made sales script for your managers.

Payment Methods

The average check can be increased not only with interesting and unusual ideas. Everything could be much simpler. And our practice shows that by working with payment types, you can also achieve increased sales growth. We are studying.

TO redits

If you have goods from the expensive segment, then I highly recommend agreeing on a partnership with a bank so that it can issue loans to clients of your business on favorable terms.

Customers are more willing to take out a loan for a product they like than to save their own funds for it.

In bad situations, customers simply refuse to buy, believing that they don’t need it or can’t afford it. Therefore, let clients get credit.

And we kindly ask you to do everything possible to get a comfortable loan. Guide the client from A to Z. Don’t leave him with the words “Try it. If it works, come back.” This strategy fails, we tried it.

B cash payment

What if the purchase is unplanned and you don’t have any cash with you? Or do I only have a credit card, and the money will not be available soon? And there are many such examples.

I understand the desire of owners to receive money in cash. Some people don’t want to pay % to the bank for transactions. Some people don’t want to show their income to the tax authorities.

But if this prevents you from earning extra money, then what is the point of saving? Miser pays twice. But the choice is always yours.

By the way, now some companies, on the contrary, attract customers to pay only by card. This is done in order to attract customers who pay via credit card.

And also large businesses have an agreement to lower rates when paying by card. Such promotions for card payments are now not uncommon in completely different areas.

Installment plan

Interest-free installment plan from your company for a product or service for a client. Exactly from YOUR company. And not from the bank. Scary?

All owners are afraid of such installment plans. Why are they afraid? They think they will never see their money again. The fact that you will have to knock them out.

There is good news - the non-return rate is very small and rarely exceeds 10-15% (and this is the maximum). We worked with different niches that provide similar installment plans and in all cases we saw a positive result.

Even if you simply “forget” about non-payment, then as a result you will be in the black, since the company’s turnover will increase.

There is only one result - installment plans increase the opportunity to buy from you and at the same time the percentage of non-return is low. But if you are still afraid, then here is a small life hack for you: raise prices for installments by 5-10% and protect yourself, and it will still be much more profitable than any loan.

Additional options

But this method will be simply ideal for all businesses, especially for those that complain that they can’t sell anything else in their field. This can happen either due to a small assortment, or due to the fact that the client has already bought everything.

Let’s imagine a situation: you are installing plastic windows and your prices for this service are very low due to constant competition.

What, in this case, can you offer customers, for which they will be willing to give you money?

1. Fast production. Standard – 7 days, express – 3 days;
2. Individual production. Standard type – 5,000 rubles. In individual design – 10,000 rubles;
3. Additional guarantee. Standard – 1 year, another 2 years for money (example – M-video);
4. Installment payment. For cash – 20,000 rubles. With installments for 6 months – 24,000 rubles;
5. Additional service. Once a month, your master will come, tighten all the bolts and lubricate all the joints;
6. etc..

You need to think about what this might be in your case, what other services you can offer the client.

“Additional warranty” is suitable for almost all businesses; from our experience, it brings a lot of net profit if the product is of high quality. But, as you can see from the example above, there can be a lot of ideas.

Price line

It will be extremely difficult for you to increase the average check in a store if you only have one price range.

I’m not even talking about the fact that you will also lose a significant part of buyers, since people are now accustomed to choosing. And to confirm this, my video about it:

Therefore, to increase the average check in a store, you need to introduce products with different pricing policies.

This does not necessarily mean that you need to go down to economy or go up to the VIP segment. These goods and services must be in your price range.

In addition to increasing the average check, when creating a price line, you get other advantages that you didn’t even think about initially. Pay special attention to point two:

• Anyone who has already bought from you is more likely to purchase expensive products because they trust you;
• Compared to expensive products, cheap ones will seem more accessible and people will be more willing to purchase them.

We all belong to this category of people, the only difference is that everyone reacts this way to different numbers.

Briefly about the main thing

As you can see, there are many ways to increase the average check. Only in this article I wrote several that can be applied in any business - retail, services and b2b.

But how do you know what exactly will work in your business? There’s no way other than implementing what you liked. Or better yet, all at once. Then your average bill will inevitably increase.

Without working with it, you lose up to 30% of your profits. Of course, this is not the doubling that all marketing agencies are talking about. But you and I know that the result consists of such small and targeted actions.

Where does it all begin? Let's imagine two friends meet, both wealthy people, business owners. They talk about life, compare their authority, the beauty of their wives and the length of their cars. Someone’s car turns out to be shorter, they urgently need to buy a new one – “richer”. Instructs the secretary to conduct an urgent analysis of the car market. Having received the results, he finds out that the thickness of the wallet is diametrically opposite to the “steepness” of the car.

Or so, the same business owner is losing his capital and realizes that his business is not bringing the desired income, loans are hanging, banks are calling every day, interest is rising and there is no light at the end of the tunnel in the current state of affairs.

Or there may be such a situation - the owner of a business is a caring manager who cares for his employees (by the way, the situation is not so rare for a modern capitalist, including Russian). Or maybe the owner is just a numismatist? Selflessly loves banknotes, especially in large quantities. Maecenas? Or he simply sees that his business can bring more income and passion overtakes him. You can give an unlimited number of examples, but they all have only one thing in common - the owner needs additional funds that he wants to dispose of in one way or another.

What is important for an employee to understand (that is, for you and me, dear reader) is that it is absolutely normal for the owner to want profit from his business (unless, of course, the size is manic, however, even then it is normal). This is his business, which he at one time started, developed, poured his soul into (maybe he just bought it - but for money that was also not easy for him, for which he worked hard and also poured his soul into it) and he has the right to demand from his employees to give him this profit . It is just as normal as the fact that an employee with qualifications, skill, diligence and other merits has the right to demand from the business owner the benefits that he deserves due to his contribution to the business owner’s business.

So, let's agree on this understanding - a business owner has the right to want greater returns from the business, regardless of the reasons that motivate him. What is this return? Of course, money! The goal of any business is to make a profit!

What is dear Ivan Sergeevich (Valentin Petrovich, Anna Stepanovna and other combinations of names and patronymics) doing? He calls his general director (chairman of the board of directors, sales director or other top officials of the company) and names the desired amount.

After some forecasting and the owner’s settings, the manager is given the task of making a certain amount of revenue.

How can a manager achieve his turnover goal?

Before examining this issue, I will give an example of setting goals in one retail company. Imagine, top managers of a network meet to discuss the issue of increasing profits. It should be noted that over a fairly long period of its existence, this company for the first time came to the conclusion that a management system was still needed, that the volume of development was already outpacing and surpassing the manual control that had prevailed until now. All those gathered begin to express their decisions and propose specific actions. Until the turn came to one of the network development managers. He sat silent for a long time, listened to others, and then spoke out: “Why all these decisions, why all these actions? We just need to tell people to work better, to sell more!”

Well, in general it’s difficult to object to this decision. Let's look at the options if this solution were pushed further down. “Sell more and do better,” the sales director told his store managers. What will an ordinary director do when receiving such an order? He scratches his head and shrugs his shoulders. After all, it already works, in his opinion, well and ensures the sales process to the maximum (again in his opinion). It will scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, and then it will start working as before. What would a more advanced director do? He will go out into the sales area (lounge room, dining room, reception and other places where the team usually gathers) and say: “Dear team, senior management analyzed our activities and allowed the control center to work better and sell more.” What will the team do? He scratches, scratches his head, shrugs. After all, they already think that they are working to the limit, they believe that their contribution is underestimated, and here is such news. And, of course, they will work as before.

Let me remind you that we are talking about a company that never thought about this issue at all. When setting goals for their subordinates, many managers naively think that their subordinates will not only be able to independently understand the actions that they need to take, but will also be able to carry out these actions.

Let's look at our task again - the company must receive a certain amount of money - turnover. Let’s assume that this turnover is greater than the store made before this period (and this always happens) or the market situation is such that sales dynamics are declining, but the plan is the same. Let's take even a specific figure of 10,000,000 rubles. And it was 9,000,000 rubles...

"And now what i can do?" - the director will think. “To hell with it,” the pessimistic director will think and deduct the bonus amount from his salary in advance. “What if fate turns around?” - the optimist will think.

But if the director wants to be effective, if he says: “I will do it,” then he immediately faces a whole range of questions: Where to start? How to forecast revenue? What to do? What should I do and what should the staff do? What should I tell the staff? How do I know if my staff is capable of performing these tasks? How to make sure everyone understands correctly? How do I know that they understood everything correctly and then followed through? How can I explain to the staff that this is necessary and how to motivate them to complete these tasks?

What a store director needs to initially understand is that he does not directly influence turnover. How so? Who brings the money? Who does all the capital go through? Any leader will ask. That's right - stores bring in money, and capital flows through them, but the store has an indirect influence on turnover directly. The thing is that turnover is the final result of the product of several financial indicators. These indicators are as follows: traffic, conversion, average bill. Let's figure out what these indicators are.

Traffic is the number of visitors in the store. Visitors - not buyers - that is, only those who entered the store but did not make a purchase. Traffic is one of the indicators for determining conversion - without traffic, conversion (more about it below) cannot be calculated. How can you find out your traffic? Basically, this is working with customer counters. They are installed at the entrance of the store and record everyone entering the sales area. The most effective installation from a performance management point of view would be to install counters that receive traffic data online. Some companies that have installed meters enter into contracts for processing and receiving data during the next period (for example, the next day). This is not critical for data analysis and forecasting, but it deprives the department manager of operating traffic data in the current situation.

In addition to the fact that conversion is determined with the help of traffic, traffic gives us an understanding of the popularity of your brand, the increase/decrease in the number of visitors during holidays, vacations, and determine the seasons of active selection of a particular product category. Traffic is an integral indicator for analyzing store performance.

Average check (hereinafter we will call it SP)– the average cost of one check for a separate period of time. That is, how much money does the average buyer leave in our cash register. The average is calculated as follows:

SP = Turnover / Number of receipts

That is, to determine it, the manager only needs to know the amount of purchases (turnover) for the required period and the number of transactions performed at the checkout. For some, this calculation is carried out by specially implemented technologies (programs that process cash and warehouse transactions) and information on the inventory can be obtained online. Somewhere these same programs provide information after the fact (the next day). Here we repeat - for analysis and forecasting this is normal, but for current operational management of indicators it is critical. MF data should always be at hand. As one example of manual calculation for those who do not have this program, but want to know this information. – we take an X-report at the checkout for the specified period - there is data on turnover and the number of transactions performed and we calculate the average manually. What the SCh gives us is, first of all, an understanding of the value of the product being sold for the buyer, the opportunity to analyze the assortment matrix, and most importantly, the quality of work of its division.

However, analysis of the average check does not yet give us a clear picture of specific moments in the work of staff. In order to understand what exactly to pay attention to when analyzing the quality of work, it is necessary to divide the average price into two more components: the average cost of the goods and the depth of the receipt.

Average purchase price- this is the average cost of one unit of goods sold, regardless of the number of receipts, for a separate period of time. Calculated as follows:

SS = Turnover / Number of positions sold

If your store has a lot of traffic and a lot of purchases, then you can’t do without a special program; calculating this indicator manually is difficult with high sales activity. This can be done manually in stores with low conversion and traffic (for example, in the jewelry segment).

Check depth– this is the average number of positions in one receipt for a separate period of time. That is, this is the number of purchases made by the average buyer during one store visit. It is calculated as follows.

MS = Number of items sold / Number of receipts

It is also better to calculate HR using a special program.

Knowing the dynamics of the SS and MS, the manager will be able to quickly formulate tasks aimed at maintaining or increasing these indicators (for example, designing complex solutions, monitoring the skills of questions about the experience of using products when working with the buyer - there are a great many methods and we will talk about them separately).
Another mathematical point - the average can be obtained not only by the above method of dividing the turnover by the number of checks, if we multiply the SS and the MS, we will also get the value of the average accurate to the ruble.

Let's move on to the last of the indicators that form the store's turnover, conversion or conversion rate.

Conversion rate– this is the ratio of the number of store visitors to the number of people who made a purchase in a particular period of time. In other words, the percentage of customers who made a purchase in the store. Calculated as follows:

QC = Number of receipts/Traffic

As already mentioned, in order to calculate this indicator you need to know the incoming traffic. Some managers are confident that they can estimate their traffic approximately, “by eye,” and are confident in the accuracy of their calculations. Can such calculations be trusted? In no case! Errors from such approximate indicators range from 10% to 100%!!! Why (besides accurately calculating the turnover forecast) do you need knowledge about conversion? In many ways, conversion can be compared to the word atmosphere in a store. The extent to which the buyer likes your store, the conversion will be high. The set of tools for increasing indicators is also quite large, and we will also talk about it in future articles.

Remember we said that the director (and staff) do not influence turnover directly, but only through indicators? So, the director also does not have a direct influence on one of the indicators described above. Traffic, SS, GC, KK - which one? Of course it's traffic. Most directors don't have tools to manage traffic (unless we're talking about repeat customer visits, which is very difficult to calculate - and we won't, since this calculation will not have an impact on the tools discussed here). SP, SS, MC, QC are indicators on which the influence of the store director and staff is extremely large (albeit not unlimited) and therefore these indicators are called quality indicators of the store.

“Wait, wait!” - you say: “What about the other indicators?” There are also other indicators, for example, product margins, product turnover. They are certainly important if you calculate the profitability of your store; this is a very relevant topic in the modern retail business, and this topic is for a separate article.

But there are also other indicators - the sale of certain product categories, services (for example, the sale of discounted, “stale” goods, installation of equipment, delivery, insurance, etc.). These indicators also indicate the quality of the store, but they are all components of the average, since each of these types of products or services has its own cost and occupancy. We will, of course, talk about them, but within the framework of the main financial indicator - AV.

So, to understand how to achieve a goal, we need to determine what stage of achievement we are at and where we should go. Our main tools are three indicators (traffic, MF, QC) - Three components of success. If we take these store indicators for a certain period and multiply them together, we will get the turnover for the given period. The formula looks like this:

Turnover formula (Formula for success, Formula for organic growth) =
Average bill * Conversion rate * Traffic

It is important to remember that this formula is mathematical, that is, if we substitute our current indicators into the values ​​of Average Receipt, Conversion Rate and Traffic, we will get our current turnover.

We will discuss what to do with these indicators and how to influence them in the following articles.