Sales for the first two months have increased slightly over last year with a 4% increase through the end of February. This is really good news as bad weather across the country has affected everyone this winter, even those in the South who are generally not affected by winter weather. In addition, we have overcome the effects of the loss of two significant programs which simply did not renew in 2014. I see much better sales increases coming in the next few months and predict we will break the $25 Million Dollar mark, which will mean we will need to increase sales by 14%. There are important lessons in looking over our total sales numbers each month.
First and foremost, I want to assure you that our focus is on helping our existing reps grow their business to achieve their goals. Secondly, by continuing to search for the sales professionals in our industry looking for a great home and a true partner, we can ensure a continued growth path for the company. Growth is not just "good" it is "VITAL" to every company's longevity. I firmly believe it is virtually impossible to expect to simply stay "even" for any period of time. Overall, you either grow your business or eventually it will decrease. We continue to invest in our employees, add new employees and invest in new ways to help you achieve your growth goals. I honestly feel we have more tools and more opportunities to help our reps achieve success than any other distributor in the industry.
Our Company Goals for 2014:1) Achieve $25,000,000.00 in Annual Sales by increasing our sales by 14%.
2) Continue to grow our "Gross Profit", we achieved 37.5% in 2014 and are well on our way to 38% in 2014. I believe as a company our Gross Profit can potentially average very close to 40%.
3) Increase our average order from $700.00 to $1000.00. ($1,000.00 is the industry average).
4) Achieve our first $3 Million Dollar Sales Month. (Our best month in 2014 was 2.5 Million).
5) Earn your support for "Best Places to Work" in 2014 by being the "Best Place to Work".
Suzie and I were fortunate to be able to spend the last 5 days with the "Proforma Million Dollar" achievers, those who billed over 1 Million or more in sales in 2014. Tim Andrews from ASI was a host and key note speaker at one of the evening events. He personally recognized the fact that Proforma has the largest group of "Million Dollar" and "Multi-Million Dollar" producers in the world for our industry. Did you know that doing 1 Million Dollars in sales in our industry places a rep in the top 4%, 5 Million places a rep or owner in the top 1%. At $22 Million, Proforma Albrecht ranks in the top 45. My point is, that when we attend the Proforma events, it gives us the opportunity to listen and learn as we see how other owners achieve their success which we can then pass along to you.
So here is your chance, as you know in July we will host our annual sales meeting and awards banquet in conjunction with the Proforma Convention, those same Million Dollar Club members will be there and will be sharing their successes with YOU. Sign up now for the convention.
Use our special link to register for the convention,
www.proformaalbrechtconvention.com. One word of caution, when you get to the "add participant" button you MUST push the "Green + sign" to add yourself as a registrant. If you run into any issues, feel free to contact Cory Short at
cory.short@albrechtco.com, he can help you navigate through the link.
Hotel space always fills up quickly. Registration is easy, just call the hotel and tell them you want the Proforma special convention rate.
One of the "Frequently Asked" questions is:
"When should I fly in and out?" - This will all depend on your situation but just plan to arrive in time for registration at 3:00 PM on Sunday July 20th and depart either late evening on Wednesday July 23rd or Anytime on Thursday July 24th. We will have a "farewell" social event on Wednesday evening for those planning to stay.
Fred
