Theory into Action - Calculating Damages
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Each customer, sales transaction, sales rep and sales channel is unique. Assigning 'rule of thumb' overhead and indirect costs uniformly across all products, service offerings or sales channels masks the true costs associated with each of these segments. Track actual costs for each discrete selling unit as much as is practical, but don't go overboard with the details. The objective is not to obtain more precise data, but to obtain more valuable information, so80-percent accuracy is sufficient.
Enter the data you've compiled into a spreadsheet to sort and aggregate it on various dimensions. For example, if you make repeat volume sales, look at individual unit revenue and costs per invoice line item and consolidated unit revenue and costs per customer or sales rep. If the nature of your business is one-time or occasional sales, look at unit revenue and costs per line item and consolidated revenue and costs per sales region, market segment or distribution channel.