I imagine by now that everyone must have recognised that business this year is at the very least going to be different, if not harder than last year. That said I am convinced that budgets are still being allocated, albeit with a greater degree of caution. We can expect buying cycles to be longer and that will inevitably cause all of us to manage of cash flow tightly.

Paradoxically, I believe this a great time to be in the market: the laws of natural selection will take care of poor quality suppliers, allowing clients to have more faith in those that remain. The same is true, of course, for how suppliers view their clients - and this is where it gets really interesting.

I am sure that we all have some way of tracking revenue. A simple spreadsheet is a common method, with the months defined as columns and the rows being the different clients -- you end up with a grid giving you a picture of which client is going to provide how much revenue in which particular month. So far so good, but what this system doesn't do is give a view as how likely it is that you'll actually close any future business -- it simply records what's out there on your radar -- for example, $5,000 from Client T in March and $4,000 from Client Y in April.

This week's tip is to add a percentage weighting to the projected revenue and multiply the two to end up with a weighted revenue figure.

This is how you do it:

1. Insert an additional two columns for each month, giving a total of three columns for each month.
2. Enter your projected revenue figure in the first column.
3. Enter your percentage chance of closing the business in the second column.
4. Multiply the two figures together and enter the result in the third column.

In terms of assessing 'percentage chance of closing the business', here's the logic I use:

• 20% = The prospect knows who I am and we're exchanging generic information.
• 40% = We are discussing a particular project.
• 60% = The prospect is expressing interest in my particular offering.
• 80% = We're talking about the fine details and deal is really done, even though the contract might not be signed. You would not expect an 80% opportunity to fall away, it should go all the way to conclusion.
• 100% = Money in my bank account, for example, the client has paid in advance.

Going back to the above examples:

Client T - $5,000 in March
Client Y - $4,000 in April

Say Client T is someone you've met at a networking event. You have a fairly clear idea of what you could do for them, however, you've only really started talking to them quite recently. This is a 20% opportunity and therefore, the value of the opportunity to you -- right now -- is 20% x 5,000 = $1,000.

On the other hand, Client Y is an established client who has bought from you before and wants to buy more of the same -- it's just a question of scheduling dates. This is an 80% opportunity and its value to you -- right now -- is 80% x 4,000 = $3,200.

What's the first job? Sort out the diary schedules for Client Y -- and having done that worry about Client T. Seems obvious, but it's amazing how many people I meet who go chasing after every deal for the sake of 'doing the deal', rather than (a) assessing its real value (right now) and (b) looking at what's already on the table and dealing with that.

Hope this has been useful to you -- please don't hesitate to send me your comments. I'm particularly interested in having your views on the new layout of the Business Booster -- thanks.

Chris Davidson
Editor, Professional Speakers Journal
editor@professionalspeakersjournal.com