We are over the hump and well into the second half of the calendar year. Depending on what you sell, you may be in your busy season or at an interstice between selling seasons. In either case, to ensure a profitable end to your year, take a few minutes to look at what is in your pipeline, what has been onboarded, and what is in production. Is it what you expect?

Be critical when you ask the question. It’s easy to decide that if there is work being done that all is well, but if a high percentage of the work in production is low-margin work, you aren’t in a good place. The same is true as you evaluate the pipeline and what is in production. How would you rate the profitability of that work?

If you find that you have been taking work without evaluating the profitability just to keep the machines in motion, your strategy could backfire. While it isn’t always possible to turn work away, it is possible to get the entire sales team on the same page when it comes to looking for profitable work. To do that takes a clear understanding of profit margins for each type of work you do, what customers buy, and the approved discounting strategies.