This is a nonworking sample of the AMP calculator. We invite you to look at all of the benefits of this tool and see how the $40 annual investment could be the best investment you make in your business each year.

Click here to order the AMP calculator

A.M.P. Calculator
Advertising, Marketing, Promotion

The old saying is, "When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Yet so many businesses decide how to present their image to their customers on a weekly basis. If they are going to utilize television, radio, or newspaper advertising over a weekend, they begin to decide what merchandise to promote on Monday morning.

The amount these businesses spend is often determined as a result of the influence of the media salesperson, and the products that are to be advertised are determined by what inventory is sitting on the shelf on that same Monday morning.

For the business that wants to succeed and grow, this is most definitely not the way to decide how to spend the advertising dollars.

Instead, the most successful businesses make plans, and then carry them to completion. The most successful businesses also review their plans, efforts and the results on a frequent basis. Then you will see them making adjustments to the plan so they can profit from their efforts and the lessons learned from their efforts.

So many businesses state that they do not have the time to dedicate to developing such a plan, nor do they know how to where to begin.

Having heard this concern expressed by so many, we have developed the AMP calculator. AMP stands for Advertising, Marketing, and Promotion. With this calculator, we will guide you through the step by step process of determining how much, when, and where to spend these dollars.

As compared to just being a line item of advertising on your financial sheet, we will suggest that you consider spending some of these dollars for promotion, marketing, and even establishing a budget for contingency and donation advertising.

The best part of all, is that we will walk you through this, step by step through the five charts. You will make entries in charts one and five. In charts two and four, we will create your plan for you based upon your input. On the Profits+Plus web site, we will retain the information for you, and as you execute your plan we will help you track the results. From this information we will help you adjust the plan for maximum results in the coming months. Charts five allows you to provide additional information for creating themes/names for your events, and establishing start and ending dates.

The information you enter in the AMP calculator is encoded and stored on our server. When purchasing the AMP calculator service, you are given a login code that you will enter each time you visit the calculator.

After you click SAVE FORM at the bottom of this form, your data will be saved. Each time you revisit the AMP calculator on our site, login, and you will see your plans. Now you can make changes to your plan.

Be sure to make your code an alpha, numeric, or alpha/numeric entry that you can remember or post in a convenient but secure place. We would also suggest your printing a copy of the calculator for easy reference as well as to confirm the security of your entries. In the box below, enter a unique name for this plan (ex: ABC Tampa AMP 2003).

Begin by determining what percentage of your sales are to be spent for advertising, marketing and promotion. This number traditionally varies from .75% to 5% of gross sales. Enter that number, as a percentage here.

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A contingency budget is a great part of a budget used by businesses to cover the last minute advertising opportunities that may occur. It may be a radio station that has had another business cancel the advertising sponsorship of an event, or a vendor that has offered you a close out special on a group of merchandise.

If the idea of a contingency budget has a place in your business, enter a number in the space below. Businesses that utilize a contingency budget often use 1% to 10% of their overall advertising budget. This number represents a percentage of the dollars from the chart you just created.

An old, and very wise, adage of business is, "Never forget a customer, never let a customer forget you". Translated into dollars, it will cost you about five times as much to attract a new customer to do business with you as it will to retain an existing customer.

The promotion budget is used by many successful businesses to maximize this great opportunity. Promoting is doing the things that keep your name in the mind of your existing customers. For examples of how to do this, take a look at either of Tom Shay's Power Promoting books. Click on either of these links to see some of these powerful promotional ideas.

100 Profits+Plus Ideas for Power Promoting!

100 More Profits+Plus Ideas for Power Promoting!

If you want to utilize a promotion budget in your business, enter a number in the space below. Businesses that utilize a promotion budget often use 1% to 10% of their overall advertising budget. Again, this number represents a percentage of the dollars from the chart you just created.

%

Chart One. Your AMP budget should then be based upon your sales of the last 12 months, or for a more aggressive plan, based upon your sales expectation of the next 12 months. For each of the next 12 months, enter either:
* Actual sales of the last 12 months OR
* Anticipated sales for each of the next 12 months

Chart One

Chart Two. Based upon your entries, click on to obtain the dollar amount for each of the next 12 months. If there are any of the months in which you want to make a change, you may make an adjustment by manually entering a new number. The numbers shown below do not include the contingency or promotional budget amounts.

Chart Two

While most businesses subscribe to the theory of spending the most dollars in the months that produce the most revenue (make the best months even better), some businesses like to utilize a reverse strategy - spending the most dollars in the months that produce the least amount of revenue (letting the best months take care of themselves, and working to improve the worst months).

The chart above uses the first theory (make the best months even better). If you would like to use the reverse strategy (working to improve the worst months) then click on the box below. Doing so will mean you are spending the most dollars in the months that produce the least amount of revenue.