How does ProjectionSmart work?

Dec 04, 2023 by Roger Scherping





It takes just a few minutes a month with ProjectionSmart for you and your clients to realize all of the benefits that a monthly prediction brings. Your clients will better understand the numbers of their business, have a 12-month financial plan to follow, and have the peace of mind that comes from knowing where their business is going. As their trusted financial advisor, you will have happier clients, a better differentiated business, and more revenue.

ProjectionSmart helps you turn your client’s backwards-looking financial statements into a forward-looking prediction. The process is quick and simple. We’ve done all of the hard work for you and put it into an online tool.

So consider adding a monthly prediction to the services you offer your clients. Here’s how we made the process quick and simple.


How to use ProjectionSmart

Once you complete your client’s monthly financial statements, schedule a 30-45 minute meeting with them to do a prediction.  Or add the review at the end of your regular monthly meeting with your client in which you review their financial statements with them.

If you’ve ever created a spreadsheet financial model to do a prediction, you know what is involved in capturing history, creating a budget, and determining what other plans the company has and then creating a multi-tab spreadsheet that creates an income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement. You worry about whether there is a formula error somewhere or a bad assumption that drives an erroneous result.

The good news is that at ProjectionSmart we’ve duplicated the spreadsheet for you and put it in a simple-to-use online tool! Instead of concentrating on cells and formulas, you just concentrate on your inputs and the results.


The ProjectionSmart process

Our process is simple and only takes a few minutes:
 

  1. History: Import your client’s last 12 month’s high-level financial history directly into ProjectionSmart from QuickBooks Online, or enter it manually. This history will be helpful for comparing to your prediction.
  2. Budget: Input your client’s high-level budget for the next 12 months. Don’t have a budget? Then create one from the last 12 month’s history or create a budget in detail.
  3. Future: Answer just 9 questions about your client’s plans. Do they intend to purchase any fixed assets? Pay down their credit cards? Make any loan payments? Take any money out of the business?

When you’re done, you’ll get a full prediction for the next 12 months: income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement. We also have easy-to-understand graphs of the key metrics compared to the prior year.

Now comes the fun part: Just ask yourself, “What if?”
  • “What if sales went up or down 10%?”
  • “What would happen if we hired an additional sales person?”
  • “What would the impact be on cash if reduced inventory by 20%?”
  • “What if we added a new production line? How quickly would it start generating positive cash flow?”
  • “Can the owner take some money out of the business next summer?”

All you need to do is change your input and see how the results change. Review the graphs to immediately see the impact on cash, and for more insight take a look at the cash flow statement. You will have immediate insights into the potential impacts of your decisions. You’ll be able to advise your clients like never before. They will have a peace of mind they have never experienced.

We even made it possible for you to run up to three different scenarios. You can compare best case vs. average vs. conservative. Or compare baseline case vs. adding a new product. Or compare baseline case vs. a company acquisition scenario. Imagine how this will help you help your clients make more quantitative business decisions.


Just Do It monthly

But your prediction is not a one-and done. Not at all. As soon as you have the next month’s financials complete, hit the green Update button and roll your prediction ahead one month. This way you are always looking 12 months ahead. You always know where your client’s business is going.

My clients love to go through the update process every month. First I walk them through their monthly financial results (backward-looking) so that they know where their business has been. Then we update ProjectionSmart (forward-looking), and they see where their business is going. After our meeting, they are ready to get back to work, with a solid understanding of the numbers of their business and a clear vision of what the future might bring.


Monthly prediction service

So add a monthly prediction prepared with ProjectionSmart to the services you provide your clients every month. ProjectionSmart is very simple to use, and it requires only a few minutes per month to achieve many benefits for both them and you.

Maybe you are able to bill for an additional hour each month to create their prediction, or maybe you bill them an additional fee for their prediction. It’s up to you.
                                                
When you do a monthly prediction with your clients, they will be more successful and more comfortable with their numbers. They will be anticipate and avoid problems, leverage resources more effectively, make more quantitative business decisions, and feel much better about their business’s future – all because of you!

On your side, you will increase your monthly revenue, have happier and longer-term clients, help your clients be more successful, and differentiate your practice.
                                         
After all, who doesn’t want happier and more successful clients and more revenue? Let us help.


Here’s a video to show you how easy ProjectionSmart is to use.
                          
Try out the new ProjectionSmart here.

 

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