Subscribe to Dropship Digest and grab your self a copy of our free report for beginners! Link on feed.Five Ways To Start The Year Right With Your Drop Ship Business
It’s the beginning of the year and the perfect time to take a little time to reflect and recharge your drop ship business. While that’s easier said than done, most likely January sales are a little slow (what with the holidays just ending), so what better time to do some housework. Here are five things to do to recharge your drop ship business.
1. Close Out Accounting and Review
Everyone hates accounting, except, I guess accountants. But chances are you fell behind a little during the holiday rush. Now is the time to get everything in order. Enter all back sales receipts, get those credit card and checking accounts reconciled, and make sure your vendors get your invoices out to you. You really want to get your numbers closed out as soon as possible. Remember, your corporate tax return is due on March 15th, not April.
Once that’s done, you need to go over your numbers to see what went well and what didn’t last year. See where too much money was spent and where more should go. If you ended the year in the red (lost money), why? Did you spend too much on advertising campaigns that didn’t work? Maybe that new laptop wasn’t a smart purchase. Who knows, but you need to examine so you can make adjustments now to get back on track. If you ended the year in the black (made money), why? What things went well and how could things be tweaked to do even better this year?
2. Review Individual Supplier Sales
Run sales reports and break it up by drop ship supplier to see what you are selling. Ask your supplier if they can run a similar sales report on your account and compare. Do their numbers match yours? Make a list of pros and cons for each supplier. You want to note things like stock levels, are they always back ordering stuff, are they easy/hard to buy from, do they invoice quickly and accurately, do they communicate well or do you never know when new/discontinued products are added? Use this list and compare to sales numbers. Here is a little matrix I use to make some supplier decisions based on this review:
-If a supplier has lots of cons and low sales, maybe it’s time to get rid of them.
-If supplier has lots of cons and high sales, it’s time to have a discussion with them. “I really love your product line and sell it well, but I’ve got some concerns, can we discuss them?”
-If a supplier has lots of pros and lots of sales, see if how you can strengthen your relationship with them.
-If a supplier has lots of pros and low sales, it’s time to communicate with them and see what can be done to sell more.
3. Identify Underperforming And Potential Product Categories
Product categories are just as important as suppliers. What product categories are doing well and which are dogs? Maybe something you carried as an afterthought has really sold well, could you expand that line with more similar and higher priced items? Conversely, you will probably see some lines that just don’t work for you. Is it worth keeping the category if you didn’t sell a single one all year long?
4. Check Vendors For New Prices, Discontinues, Or Missed New Items
The holidays are hectic and I know that I missed some updates from my suppliers. Now is the time to get updated product lists and make sure you’ve deleted old/unavailable product and updated any price changes. Even more importantly, did a supplier add a great new item that you forgot about during the rush? Well then add it and promote it, quick!
5. Clean Up!
Finally, after a crazy November and December, I bet your office is a royal mess (mine is). Time to clean. Buy a fresh box of folders and eliminate that “to be filed” pile of papers. Get rid of the clutter, the excess cords that don’t connect anything, the trash and boxes, everything that is just in the way. Put stuff back in cabinets and drawers where they belong. Maybe you should, dare I say, dust and vacuum. Believe it or not, cleaning up can go a long way to boosting your morale and making you feel like you’re ready to tackle another long year.
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January 25th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
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