Key #24 – Sales vs. Same Month Last Year

For this key number, we want to know how our sales for the past month compared to the same month last year by expressing it as a positive or negative percentage.

Total sales last month were $50,000. Total sales for the same month last year were $47,000.
$50,000 ÷ $47,000 = 1.06
Our sales this year were 6% greater than the same month last year.

So, our key number is 6%

When looking at this number for a typical established independent shop which is solidly profitable, this number will normally run between 5% and 15%. For young shops, this number will often be much larger initially.