4、可怕的營(yíng)銷預(yù)算表

4、可怕的營(yíng)銷預(yù)算表

Marketing Department（市場(chǎng)部）的Director Frank是Nancy的頂頭上司，他是一年前由美國(guó)headquarter（總部）派到中國(guó)來的。Frank的父親是英國(guó)人，母親是法國(guó)人，他的身上結(jié)合了這兩個(gè)民族的性格特征，既有紳士風(fēng)度，又不失幽默感。只是大家還會(huì)驚訝地看到，這個(gè)金發(fā)男子竟有著一雙棕黑色的眼睛，于是有人就拿他開玩笑，說他的祖先有亞裔血統(tǒng)。Frank也樂得接受，還附和說：“That’s why I’m here. I am looking for my Chinese grandparents. （這就是我來中國(guó)的原因，我是來尋根的。）”

Frank對(duì)下屬一向open-minded（開明），他總是要求他們多學(xué)習(xí)，在實(shí)踐中不斷提升capacity（能力）。這天上午，F(xiàn)rank給Nancy和同樣是新加入Innovo的Brandy布置了一個(gè)任務(wù)，叫她們?nèi)フ褾inance Department（財(cái)務(wù)部）的Smith學(xué)習(xí)如何制定marketing budget（營(yíng)銷預(yù)算）。這對(duì)Nancy來說是個(gè)不小的難題，她上學(xué)的時(shí)候最怕的就是數(shù)學(xué)課，數(shù)字一多，她就仿佛看到無數(shù)小飛蟲在眼前亂飛，很快就暈了。可今天老板交給她的任務(wù)又不能push off（推托），所以她只好硬著頭皮，和Brandy去找Smith了。

Smith是Innovo的元老，因?yàn)楫?dāng)年隨著公司進(jìn)駐中國(guó)而來到北京，幾年后就干脆在北京定居，把這里當(dāng)成自己的家了。他對(duì)公司一貫忠誠(chéng)守信，所以一直作為Finance Department的負(fù)責(zé)人，而且公司上下都對(duì)他有著極好的口碑。

這個(gè)笑容可掬的老人見兩個(gè)女孩子緊蹙的眉頭就明白了她們的擔(dān)心。所以也不著急給他們講制定budget making的方法，而是告訴她們自己當(dāng)年剛做財(cái)務(wù)的時(shí)候，對(duì)數(shù)字特別頭疼，總是把數(shù)字圖標(biāo)弄錯(cuò)，鬧了不少笑話，好在有老板check（檢查），否則給公司造成的loss（損失）就大了。Nancy一直以為，像Smith這樣資深的財(cái)務(wù)人員，那應(yīng)該是math genius（數(shù)學(xué)天才）啊，沒想到也和自己差不多。

Smith見她們已經(jīng)減少了顧慮，就打開桌面上的一個(gè)folder（文件夾），一層一層按照目錄搜索著需要的文件。這讓Nancy不禁暗自感嘆整個(gè)folder的maintain（維護(hù)）做得這么有條理—— Smith工作態(tài)度的嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)可見一斑。接下來，Smith就正式開始向Nancy和Brandy講解制定marketing budget的要點(diǎn)：

The goal of marketing budget is to control expenses and project revenues.

It also assists in the coordination of marketing activities within our company.

A realistic budget establishes a standard of performance for your actions, and communicates those standards to others responsibly for implementing your marketing strategy.

A well-designed budget is also a tool to keep you on target and indicate when there is needed modification of your marketing plan — especially if something goes really right or very wrong.

說到這里，Nancy提出了自己心中的擔(dān)憂，“Is the mathematics for it complicated?”

聽完Nancy的問題，Smith回答到：“Not at all. The math of the expense budget is very simple, sums of the rows and columns.”

Just look at the example, rows are horizontal, columns are vertical. Each line of expense occupies a row, and months and years occupy columns. The source spreadsheet hides the monthly columns for March through October for the purpose of illustration, so you can see the annual total without scrolling. Those other months are there, even if they don't show.

The total expense row sums the individual expense rows. The annual expense column sums the months for each row, including the total rows.

As you develop a budget, think of it as educated guessing. Consider your plan objectives, your sales and marketing activities, and how you'll relate your spending to your strategy. Remember as you budget that you want to prioritize your spending to match your priorities in sales and target marketing. The emphasis in your strategy should show up in your actual detailed programs.

Nancy和Brandy兩人都一邊聽一邊飛速地記筆記，生怕漏下要點(diǎn)，但還是有些力不從心，有些內(nèi)容還是沒有記下來。于是，Nancy請(qǐng)求Smith把這個(gè)文件夾copy（復(fù)制）給她們一份，回去再好好研究。Smith似乎早有準(zhǔn)備，隨手把桌上的一個(gè)光盤給了她們，并告訴她們，“今天講的內(nèi)容已經(jīng)都在里面了。”兩個(gè)女孩兒感動(dòng)得不知道說什么好。這個(gè)Smith呀，經(jīng)驗(yàn)就是豐富，考慮得太周到了。

兩人回到辦公室后又是一陣研究，好不容易才把這個(gè)marketing budget弄明白了?？偨Y(jié)起來就是：

Budget-making is closely connected with marketing activities.

Just do simple math and you get the work done.

Combine numbers on the paper with your actual strategy.