Unlocking Clarity in Your Business with the Income Matrix
Ever wondered how to bring real focus to your revenue goals? The Income Matrix is an eye-opening business tool designed to give you clarity, structure, and smart direction for achieving your sales targets. It’s not just another spreadsheet — it’s a visual guide to understanding where your income is coming from now and where it could come from in the future.
Why Use an Income Matrix?
Many business owners simply set ambitious goals like “we’ll increase sales by a million this year” without truly unpacking where that money is expected to come from. The Income Matrix helps you dig deeper. It encourages you to break down your revenue by product or service and then cross-reference that against your customer or client segments — for example, education, construction, or retail sectors.
This approach gives you something far more powerful than a top-line figure. It shows you which products are performing, which customer groups are driving your income, and where your energy is best spent to achieve future growth.
How It Works
It’s quite straightforward once you start. Here’s the process – start with a blank spreadsheet or page (or contact us for a worksheet):
- List your main products or services down the left-hand side.
- Note the average annual price or unit cost for each (for instance, $1,000 per month or $12,000 per year).
- Identify your key customer segments across the top — aim for three to five.
- Fill in your current revenue mix — how many customers in each segment are buying each product.
- Then do it all again for your desired 12-month future — what you want those numbers to look like.
- The difference between your Now and Where gives you a clear roadmap of what’s required to close the gap.
This visual mapping supports better strategic thinking. It’s a brilliant conversation starter for your team too — instead of abstract targets, you can discuss specific products, customer groups, and the actions needed to lift results.
Real Gains for Strategic Thinking
By building two matrices — one for your current position and another for your desired future — you can literally see where growth opportunities lie. Maybe the answer is to focus on a high-performing service and amplify its reach, or perhaps your pricing needs adjusting. The exercise naturally leads to those “aha!” moments that make planning so much easier.
It’s also a terrific tool for improving cross-department alignment. Marketing can see where to focus its efforts, sales know which clients to prioritise, and leadership can track realistic progress towards financial goals.
Ready to Try It?
Click here to begin your free Sales diagnostic. Next, set aside time to review the results and prepare your Income Matrix spreadsheet with your team and have some open discussions about where the next 12 months’ growth will come from.
It’s a simple process, but the clarity it delivers can be game-changing. The Income Matrix helps you move from vague goals to pinpoint precision about what needs to happen, when, and where to make your business thrive.
Need Help with your Business, Bookkeeping, Tax or SMSF requirements?
If you would like a little help, please get in touch with us for assistance. We can help with your business, bookkeeping, tax and SMSF requirements.
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Please also note that many of the comments in this publication are general in nature and anyone intending to apply the information to practical circumstances should seek professional advice to independently verify their interpretation and the information’s applicability to their particular circumstances. Should you have any further questions, please get in touch with us for assistance with your SMSF, business, bookkeeping and tax requirements. All rights reserved. Based on content from Mindshop, a trusted resource for business advisors worldwide. Liability Limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.
