Tag Archive for: Profitability

Where Do You Get Your Confidence?

I thought it was a stupid question. However, it did come directly from a finance professional who was a serious worrier, and with him, “the sky was always falling.”

My response was that my confidence came from completing 150-200 Cash Flow Analyses per year for the last 20+ years. In other words, this “wasn’t my first rodeo.” One item that added to my confidence was this Client’s long-term history and their solid Cash Flow performance.

If you complete this type of analysis regularly, it will undoubtedly build your confidence. Whether your Cash Flow results look positive or negative, you will gain a much better grasp of your numbers. The largest benefit of this entire process is that if you measure the Cash Flow of your operation, you will understand it better. If you understand it, you can start to gain control over your Revenue & Expenses. If you can control these items better, guess what? You can improve them, and that is the ultimate benefit of completing this process.

Ray Kroc of the McDonald’s Corporation said, “I didn’t invent the hamburger. I just took it more seriously than anyone else.” Similarly, I didn’t invent the process of Cash Flow Analysis, but I have definitely taken it more seriously than most people! In fact, now I’ve created a system for you to complete your own Cash Flow Analysis. I call it the Success Strategies AdvantageTM . With the input of about 20 numbers related to your loans and feed inventory, it will create a budget, using numbers for your region of the country. Then, after you input about two dozen “Actual” numbers from your QuickBooks or other accounting system, it will provide you with the following items:

  • A Year-to-Date (YTD) Cash Flow Comparison of your operation compared to a budget that is based upon typical numbers for your region of the country.
  • It will show you where you may be over or under budget.
  • It will provide you with Break-Even Levels for Milk Price/cwt, Feed Expense & Production per cow per day, all useful information for reaching higher levels of profitability, as well as setting your price level coverage through the Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP) and Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) programs.
  • It will also equip you to better understand where you might be over budget and help you to talk with your Team (e.g., Nutritionist, Veterinarian, Financial Consultant & Others) about how to refine your numbers
  • Finally, it will give you solid information to share with your banker, showing how you are currently doing and guiding you about future changes or investments that will help you streamline operations.

I recommend you look at it by visiting www.success-strategies.com to see if it will assist you to be more profitable.

You Want to Know My What?

This was the question I was asked when I met with Jerry for the first time. Our discussion was by phone, but I can imagine the look on his face when he asked me this. The question that I had asked him was “What are your Break-Even Levels?”

Surprisingly, this is one of the most important items to know in any business. However, it is also probably one of the least understood concepts. Essentially, it is the Price Level or Cost of Production that needs to be achieved in order to not lose money, if all other variables remain the same.

Looking at the Chart below:

Actual        
12 Month Totals
Feed Expense/Cow/Day  $                    5.93
Feed Expense/Cwt  $                    9.21
Net Milk Price/Cwt  $                  15.86
Income over Feed Cost  $                    6.65
Breakeven Levels  Breakeven Levels
Milk Price (Net)  $                  15.54
Feed Expense (cow/day)  $                    6.14
Feed Expense (per cwt)  $                    9.53
Production (#/cow/day)                      76.45

This producer is feeding his cows for $5.93/cow/day and has been making money. You can also see that his Feed Expense per cwt is $9.21, which, given his Net Milk Price/cwt of $15.86, provides him with an Income over Feed Cost of $6.65/cwt.

Next, you can see his Break-Even Levels in the bottom half of the chart. If all the other variables stay the same, his Feed Cost per cow/day could rise to $6.14 and he would still break even. We know that he is currently making $0.32/cwt, because we know that this is the amount that his milk price/cwt could decrease ($15.54 minus $15.86/cwt) or his feed cost/cwt could rise ($9.53 minus $9.21/cwt) and still allow him to reach break-even.

What value is there in knowing this? I’m glad you asked. Knowing this will allow him to understand what changes he can make or, in the case of cost increases, what increases he can withstand and still not lose money. This information is also very useful to him in understanding where he may want to set his price floors within programs such as the Dairy Revenue Protection Program. This program, for example, is designed to assist producers to place a profitable floor under their milk price. Knowing your break-even levels is the only way to use this type of program successfully. This is what makes knowing your Break-Even levels so significant. Can I help you with this?

Want to learn more? I’d like to invite you to join me for our upcoming Next Level Thinking™ workshops later this year, within which, I’ll continue to focus on the benefits of this type of proactive thinking. We’ll be doing this through Zoom Group Sessions.

Let’s take your business to the Next Level!

What’s Up with this Measurement Acronym?

In previous articles I have often stated that if you measure something, you can understand it. If you understand it, you can control it, and of course, if you have the ability to control something, you can then improve it!

Please take a moment and consider the possibilities of this acronym – MUCI… Its benefits are unlimited. Just think about any item that you measure in your business. Again, if you take time to measure it, you undoubtedly will better understand that item. If you understand it, you will be more empowered to gain control over it, i.e., adjust it to your advantage. Finally, once you fully understand this item and gain some control over it, you will have the ability to improve it. That is where the fun and excitement begin!

We recently ran a summary of our Dairy Clients and their results for the last four years. We have been measuring Cash Flows on some of them for over 15 years now, but we simply looked at the last four years on each of them to obtain a comparative set of results. Now, these operations are quite variable in terms of revenue, but the most noteworthy observations include the following:

  1. Every one of them has experienced upward pressure on many of their expenses, particularly Labor, Supplies and Repairs & Maintenance Costs.
  2. However, all of them have boosted their bottom-line results, some by as much as $3.00 to $4.00/cwt of milk. Part of this is a direct result of improved cost controls, and in several cases, it was due to actually putting some items out for competitive bids… Imagine that!
  3. With a couple Clients, we were able to “discover” additional sources of Revenue they had overlooked previously. In one case, this, combined with a decrease in their interest expense, boosted their bottom line by over $3.00/cwt, vastly improving their Break-Even levels!

Ultimately, to answer the question in the title above, this is “What’s Up.” This same resource is available to you in your business, regardless of your industry. My Business Coach Dan Sullivan states that: “Our eyes only see what we are looking for…,” and that’s what makes this process so valuable. It can definitely boost your profitability and better equip you to use tools such as the Dairy Revenue Protection program, using your actual numbers rather than just plugging in industry averages.

If you would like to learn more about this tool and take full advantage of this process, just shoot me an email stating “NLT Workshops,” and I will be sure to include you in future invitations, as outlined below. Want to learn more? I’d like to invite you to join me for our upcoming Next Level Thinking™ workshops later this year, within which, I’ll continue to focus on the benefits of this type of proactive thinking. Let’s take your business to the Next Level!