Friday

So it's Friday and I am just exhausted.

It's not that I lost sleep or exerted myself to much, it's just the tension of the week finally being done with and over. We had some serious work to do this last week in order to make sure that everything that needed to be done in July will get finished before August 1st. I know that there are two work days left in the month, but there was a LOT to get done.

One of our largest brands has their fiscal year begin in July. For us this means that July is a phenomenal time to get ahead of the game and stay there. If we can get to the end of the month up a few percent, we can keep that trending positive and carry that growth throughout the year. It also gives us a bit of breathing room if we have a slow month...

August is also Washington Wine Month. It doesn't sound like that big of a deal to most people out of the state, but here it is huge. Washington has a ton of state pride when it comes to their wines and a lot of people will drink very little else. To me it's foolish, but hey, if someone is thrilled about our wines and wants to have nothing else, more power to them. August will be one of our biggest wine months, and as a result there is a lot to be done before the 1st...

Then there are incentives. A LOT of summer based incentives for our sales guys end in July (to allow them to cap off their numbers with one of the biggest beer months of the year). Incentives range from a couple of hundred dollars to $5,000+. One of the neatest incentives simply has an allotment of money to be won. People earn their portion of the cash by hitting their personal sales from last year for the territory they sell in, and then their percentage of increase is their percentage of the money they earn. The pot is in the neighborhood of $12000. A five percent increase nets you $600. A fifty percent increase nets you $6000 (a number that they expect NOBODY to hit). It's a really cool structured incentive that really gives people one hell of a goal. 5% is easy (the beer business for this brand is already trending at 7%), but growing from there requires effort and intelligence. Because this same incentive happens every year, and every year the money grows, a SMART victory is the key. Sure one could turn an 30% increase this market, but to make A DIME next year they have to match that number and then grow from there.
So, the end of July is a very busy time with us running hundreds of numbers for our guys and for ourselves.

And now, for the most part, I don't have to worry about much. So I'm at home relaxing...

It's a good Friday.