Sales Mix Shift
Salesmatrix · How To
Taking it to a meeting
Export, beside the Revenue / Margin % / Margin switch, makes a report of the bridge: the heading, the Analyse and Compare choices it was run with, the costing note if there is one, then one page per view with its sentence, chart and table. All three views are ticked; untick any you don't need.
- PDF to print or attach as it is.
- Word (RTF) to add your own commentary first. The text and tables can be edited, and the chart is a picture.
The report is made from the figures on screen, so choose Analyse and Compare first. Choosing a cell or a movement in the grid makes no difference to it. For the names behind it, use Export this cell on the grid.
Choosing the comparison
| Compare | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Last 12 months vs the 12 before | The yearly picture: win-back, range review, rep targets, the annual report. Seasons cancel out. |
| Last 6 months vs the previous 6 | Margin trends, if your business has little seasonality. |
| Last 6 months vs the same 6 last year | Half-year reviews in a seasonal business. |
| Last 3 months vs the previous 3 | Spotting a sudden change. In a seasonal business it will mostly show the season. |
| Last 3 months vs the same 3 last year | The monthly account review and the quarterly report. Like for like on season. |
Short windows put more records in Low Activity, because fewer customers buy on more than one day in three months. That is expected; compare like with like.
Before you act
- Data arrives overnight. The page shows sales up to the last import, and the most recent month may be only part of a month.
- Costing errors are left out. A line whose cost is more than ten times its sale value (and over 1,000) is treated as a costing error and left out of both the grid and the bridge. A yellow note says how many lines, on how many products; fix those cost prices in your accounting system.
- Check Nil Margin before you call. A missing cost price puts a record in Nil Margin, and a margin beyond ±500% reads N/A. Both point to the source data, not the customer.
- Bands move with you. A record can change band because the cut-offs moved. Compare the revenue and margin figures, not just the band.
- Small numbers mislead. If a cell holds three records, read the three names rather than the arrow. The same goes for a bridge step of a few hundred against a total in the millions.