Questions about the Sales forecast portion of my business plan

[petgroomer82]

I am unsure of how to estimate the number of dogs I will gain each month....is it all guess work or is there a method I should be using? TIA

[Emma123]

Guesswork.

[Admin]

If you are using the Grooming Business in a Box software, reference The Mary Groomer Business Plan sample. She opens a new business with no clientele and grows from there.

Conservative is the answer. UNDER PROMISE, OVER DELIVER. Otherwise you will start stressing right from the start that you are not reaching goals. That is needless stress. Then you also know you can financially afford an unexpected slower startup, and as well if you listening to the numbers, you know you have enough cash reserve to get by until you reach your conservative goals.

Many many people writing business plans overstate their first year and get depressed, in trouble financially if they are on a shoestring, and especially if they had to have it all and got expensive lease space, and though they plan for 4 workstations, they fully equip from the start even while working alone in a new startup. When you forecast like that it is "blue sky" figures.

If you will have staff later, you may get the electrical plugs ready for workstations, but don't equip them yet except perhaps one extra besides your current one. If you plan for 2 tubs, you can get the pipes ready and do the second tub later. Or start with an old used one in the 2nd position, and upgrade it later. The focus of course is to get cash flow going, and that is why we remind startups by the way, to enroll in a scheduling program, the "A" "B" system perhaps in From Problems to Profits. Appointment frequency is everything for the startups working with a small initial clientele. It's very true, I have real bookkeeping that shows some groomers have 100 active clients and have higher annual sales figures than those shops with 200 active clients but the owner just waits for all of them to call, or from them to say set me up. This "AB" system makes all the difference but it requires the commitment to the system, and not just say, would you like to schedule your next appointment now. That rarely works now and in the past. It makes a huge difference for startups.

So be very conservative, under promise, over deliver.

[Tuckie]

I track stats 2 ways: # of grooms per qtr & $ per qtr. A pattern is revealed as the qtrs and years go by :-)

[aprettypaw2]

I learned you have to make it believable.

[Anything But Dull]

I feel much more comfortable with under promise over deliver even in my grooming services, not limited to money I mean.

[CathyB]

My consultant at groomer box told me that to make loans banks usually want to see 10% growth a year, each a year. It doesn't mean you have to keep growing it, but it is typically want a bank expects to see.

[Teena2]

I did my first plan a few years ago based on that under promise over deliver, it really is a stress reducer, so if things start off more slowly than anticipated, you get by fine.

[Tin Man]

Under promise over deliver is the only way. My first plan was when I first got my own small shop and thats the way I did like the Mary Groomer plan. So happy I made sure I could get by with fewer than wanted clientele and so I felt good each month knowing bills paid, things tight, but I was doing better than projected. Now doing an expansion as we outgrew the small shop and going the same route.