http://forum.ilandscape.com.au/ Tue, 15 Sep 2026 09:49:22 +0000 MyBB http://forum.ilandscape.com.au/thread-146.html Wed, 20 Jul 2011 08:59:20 +0000 http://forum.ilandscape.com.au/thread-146.html
I hope you have all had a lovely Winter thus far. We have been fortunate enough at this stage to have not been severely affected by frost unlike some other farms in the area. Having said that we still have 6 weeks of Winter to go!

Please further note we have changed the format for the Newsletter to include our other farm on the Sunshine Coast, Glenview Turf. If you have been receiving these newsletters but thought we were too far away to service you please note that Australian Lawn Concepts services from Northern NSW to North Brisbane and as far west as Ipswich whilst Glenview Turf cover North Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Gympie. Please note however that both farms can accommodate deliveries state wide and frequent Rockhampton, Qld and Murwillumbah NSW. We have also delivered as far west as Moura, Roma, Mitchell and Blackall. Please note that we have attached ALC’s price list servicing Northern Brisbane, Brisbane, Ipswich, Gold Coast and Pottsville. If you wish for a price list covering the Sunshine Coast through to Gympie please do not hesitate to contact Karen on the details below.

This month’s edition highlights some exciting news for the Turf Industry as a whole. Turf Queensland launched the Turf Accreditation Process on the 6th July 2011. ALC have completed and are now a fully Accredited Turf Producer, Glenview are well on their way and should be accredited by Spring. The program will place a standard classification on turf quality characteristics (see attached Quality Standards) which matches your expectations with delivered product. Along with many other benefits that include, WHS audited system, Natural Resource Management, community environmental assurances in production and knowledge that you’re dealing with a reputable business. To read more about the Turf Accreditation and how using an accredited supplier can help you grow your business, please read our Quarterly Newsletter (attached). Keep an eye out for this logo to ensure you are purchasing from an Accredited Supplier.

I look forward to working with you as an Accredited Turf Supplier.

Kind Regards, Kind Regards,

Erin Quinlan Karen Banbury
Turf Consultant Turf Consultant
Australian Lawn Concepts Glenview Turf
Ph: 07 5543 0145 Ph: 07 5494 5616
http://www.alcturf.com.au http://www.glenviewturf.com.au
erin@alcturf.com.au info@glenviewturf.com.au

Living Growing Greening...

  Newsletter August 2011.pdf (Size: 889.54 KB / Downloads: 3030) ]]>
I hope you have all had a lovely Winter thus far. We have been fortunate enough at this stage to have not been severely affected by frost unlike some other farms in the area. Having said that we still have 6 weeks of Winter to go!

Please further note we have changed the format for the Newsletter to include our other farm on the Sunshine Coast, Glenview Turf. If you have been receiving these newsletters but thought we were too far away to service you please note that Australian Lawn Concepts services from Northern NSW to North Brisbane and as far west as Ipswich whilst Glenview Turf cover North Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Gympie. Please note however that both farms can accommodate deliveries state wide and frequent Rockhampton, Qld and Murwillumbah NSW. We have also delivered as far west as Moura, Roma, Mitchell and Blackall. Please note that we have attached ALC’s price list servicing Northern Brisbane, Brisbane, Ipswich, Gold Coast and Pottsville. If you wish for a price list covering the Sunshine Coast through to Gympie please do not hesitate to contact Karen on the details below.

This month’s edition highlights some exciting news for the Turf Industry as a whole. Turf Queensland launched the Turf Accreditation Process on the 6th July 2011. ALC have completed and are now a fully Accredited Turf Producer, Glenview are well on their way and should be accredited by Spring. The program will place a standard classification on turf quality characteristics (see attached Quality Standards) which matches your expectations with delivered product. Along with many other benefits that include, WHS audited system, Natural Resource Management, community environmental assurances in production and knowledge that you’re dealing with a reputable business. To read more about the Turf Accreditation and how using an accredited supplier can help you grow your business, please read our Quarterly Newsletter (attached). Keep an eye out for this logo to ensure you are purchasing from an Accredited Supplier.

I look forward to working with you as an Accredited Turf Supplier.

Kind Regards, Kind Regards,

Erin Quinlan Karen Banbury
Turf Consultant Turf Consultant
Australian Lawn Concepts Glenview Turf
Ph: 07 5543 0145 Ph: 07 5494 5616
http://www.alcturf.com.au http://www.glenviewturf.com.au
erin@alcturf.com.au info@glenviewturf.com.au

Living Growing Greening...

  Newsletter August 2011.pdf (Size: 889.54 KB / Downloads: 3030) ]]> http://forum.ilandscape.com.au/thread-144.html Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:24:32 +0000 http://forum.ilandscape.com.au/thread-144.html
A simple way to ensure business profitability and healthy cash flow is to focus on what drives both.

• What drives revenue needs to be understood.
• How saleable is the product or service and what’s the market?
• What marketing is working and how much is it costing to acquire a customer?
• Is it profitable revenue?
• How does the true cost of delivering the product or service compare with the price?
• Are customers returning and if not why not?

One of the biggest missed opportunities we see in business reports is lumping all revenue into one account and not breaking it down into categories. Breaking down, not only the revenue, but the costs associated with each revenue source, enables you to see clearly where you’re making and losing money.

Pricing of products and services is vital to profit. To ensure profit it’s vital to know the true cost of the product or service and keep an eye on it, to avoid ‘margin squeeze’ i.e. allowing costs to rise without increasing prices and absorbing extra cost. Market forces have an impact on pricing but it’s not viable to continually absorb cost increases without price increases. It’s not always necessary to increase everything.

Example: One client recently told us they hadn’t increased prices for years. We did some analysis to find out what were their best selling products. On each of these we agreed to a small increase with no resistance from customers. A small regular price increase is much easier to achieve that irregular big ones. Most customers expect a CPI increase and if it’s written into contracts, it’s much easier to achieve.

Costing of products and services is vital knowledge to work out gross profit. Gross profit is the difference between revenue and costs and is an important benchmark.

Cost of products may include: the product, importing, freight, packaging, labour, warehouse, raw materials etc.

Cost of jobs may include: labour, materials, out of pocket expenses etc. If gross profit is below expectations it may be necessary to assess how products and services are costed and acquired.

Example: We had one client in a wholesale business whose packaging was a large portion of costs. When we questioned their ability to negotiate a better price with the supplier, they said it wasn’t possible. We did some shopping around and found a supplier who offered a 10% reduction. The regular supplier soon agreed to a similar reduction.

Labour is another example of cost management on jobs. It’s often the case where chargeable labour spends time doing non chargeable work such as admin. If you take the number of people, and calculate the total hours spent on admin multiplied by their hourly charge out rate, it’s often the case that the cost of employing someone else to do it, is less than the missed income.

Overheads can get out of hand where there is no budgetary control. Owners don’t always have time to keep an eye on what everyone is spending, or shop around for the best deal. A budget can be a saver as well as keeping your banker happy.

One overhead that can get out of hand is wages. Often in a growing business, staff are employed to meet demand, without proper job descriptions. An organisational chart can be useful for a growing business. Begin by listing all tasks in the business, then list who currently does them. Any overlaps and gaps should become obvious and job descriptions can be realigned to suit. Giving someone the task of shopping around for better deals can be a saver.

Debt collection is an area that has blown out recently. Dunn & Bradstreet recently reported that average collection days were 55.6 days. Compare this to your 7 day terms to see what impact this is having on cash flow. Start with Terms of Trade so your customers understand the expectation. Invoice as soon as the product/service has been delivered or get a deposit or progress payments. Then follow up smartly. Email follow ups for small amounts and phone calls for large amounts. Keep good records of reasons/excuses for late payment and agree to outstanding amounts being paid off in instalments over a period.
Stock and Jobs can be a huge drain on cash flow. Think of stock as dollars piled up on the stock room floor and jobs in progress as dollars on the work room floor. It really pays to reduce the time stock sits in store and jobs wait to be finished and invoiced. Good records and planning are vital to management of both. There are some cost effective online systems available that can save thousands of dollars in working capital requirement to fund stock and jobs. Examples are Unleashed Inventory Software and WorkflowMax Job Management Software, both of which link to Xero Online Accounting Software.
Slowing down payment to suppliers is often the last resort where there’s cash flow problems. Often we see suppliers being paid too quickly or worse being overpaid. A close eye on this area can provide much needed cash.

CFO On-Call would like to offer a FREE book ‘The Seven Key Numbers that Drive Profit and Cash Flow’ to readers of this article. Call us for your copy on:

1300 36 24 36 or visit www.CFOonCall.com.auhttp://www.CFOonCall.co.nz (AU),
0800 180 400 or visit http://www.CFOonCall.co.nz (NZ).

For more information members of iLandscape.com.au please visit iLandscape]]>
A simple way to ensure business profitability and healthy cash flow is to focus on what drives both.

• What drives revenue needs to be understood.
• How saleable is the product or service and what’s the market?
• What marketing is working and how much is it costing to acquire a customer?
• Is it profitable revenue?
• How does the true cost of delivering the product or service compare with the price?
• Are customers returning and if not why not?

One of the biggest missed opportunities we see in business reports is lumping all revenue into one account and not breaking it down into categories. Breaking down, not only the revenue, but the costs associated with each revenue source, enables you to see clearly where you’re making and losing money.

Pricing of products and services is vital to profit. To ensure profit it’s vital to know the true cost of the product or service and keep an eye on it, to avoid ‘margin squeeze’ i.e. allowing costs to rise without increasing prices and absorbing extra cost. Market forces have an impact on pricing but it’s not viable to continually absorb cost increases without price increases. It’s not always necessary to increase everything.

Example: One client recently told us they hadn’t increased prices for years. We did some analysis to find out what were their best selling products. On each of these we agreed to a small increase with no resistance from customers. A small regular price increase is much easier to achieve that irregular big ones. Most customers expect a CPI increase and if it’s written into contracts, it’s much easier to achieve.

Costing of products and services is vital knowledge to work out gross profit. Gross profit is the difference between revenue and costs and is an important benchmark.

Cost of products may include: the product, importing, freight, packaging, labour, warehouse, raw materials etc.

Cost of jobs may include: labour, materials, out of pocket expenses etc. If gross profit is below expectations it may be necessary to assess how products and services are costed and acquired.

Example: We had one client in a wholesale business whose packaging was a large portion of costs. When we questioned their ability to negotiate a better price with the supplier, they said it wasn’t possible. We did some shopping around and found a supplier who offered a 10% reduction. The regular supplier soon agreed to a similar reduction.

Labour is another example of cost management on jobs. It’s often the case where chargeable labour spends time doing non chargeable work such as admin. If you take the number of people, and calculate the total hours spent on admin multiplied by their hourly charge out rate, it’s often the case that the cost of employing someone else to do it, is less than the missed income.

Overheads can get out of hand where there is no budgetary control. Owners don’t always have time to keep an eye on what everyone is spending, or shop around for the best deal. A budget can be a saver as well as keeping your banker happy.

One overhead that can get out of hand is wages. Often in a growing business, staff are employed to meet demand, without proper job descriptions. An organisational chart can be useful for a growing business. Begin by listing all tasks in the business, then list who currently does them. Any overlaps and gaps should become obvious and job descriptions can be realigned to suit. Giving someone the task of shopping around for better deals can be a saver.

Debt collection is an area that has blown out recently. Dunn & Bradstreet recently reported that average collection days were 55.6 days. Compare this to your 7 day terms to see what impact this is having on cash flow. Start with Terms of Trade so your customers understand the expectation. Invoice as soon as the product/service has been delivered or get a deposit or progress payments. Then follow up smartly. Email follow ups for small amounts and phone calls for large amounts. Keep good records of reasons/excuses for late payment and agree to outstanding amounts being paid off in instalments over a period.
Stock and Jobs can be a huge drain on cash flow. Think of stock as dollars piled up on the stock room floor and jobs in progress as dollars on the work room floor. It really pays to reduce the time stock sits in store and jobs wait to be finished and invoiced. Good records and planning are vital to management of both. There are some cost effective online systems available that can save thousands of dollars in working capital requirement to fund stock and jobs. Examples are Unleashed Inventory Software and WorkflowMax Job Management Software, both of which link to Xero Online Accounting Software.
Slowing down payment to suppliers is often the last resort where there’s cash flow problems. Often we see suppliers being paid too quickly or worse being overpaid. A close eye on this area can provide much needed cash.

CFO On-Call would like to offer a FREE book ‘The Seven Key Numbers that Drive Profit and Cash Flow’ to readers of this article. Call us for your copy on:

1300 36 24 36 or visit www.CFOonCall.com.auhttp://www.CFOonCall.co.nz (AU),
0800 180 400 or visit http://www.CFOonCall.co.nz (NZ).

For more information members of iLandscape.com.au please visit iLandscape]]>