Fan It Out: One Simple Shift That Can Unlock Financial Clarity
One of the most powerful financial principles we teach at EBS is simple, but often overlooked:
Fan. It. Out.
When most businesses first come to us, their accounting software typically lumps all their sales into one big generic bucket – often labelled something vague like “Sales” or “Revenue.” And while that might make bookkeeping straightforward, it doesn’t help when you’re trying to make smart, strategic decisions. If you want to grow a healthy, scalable business, this kind of surface-level reporting just won’t cut it.
Why Fanning Out Your Sales Matters
When you fan out your sales – meaning, break down your revenue into meaningful segments – you instantly give yourself a clearer picture of what’s working, what’s underperforming, and where the greatest opportunities for profit lie.
Take one of our plumbing clients as an example.
When we first looked into their numbers, all of their income was lumped into one category.
But once we helped them fan it out into three distinct service types, here’s what we found:
Residential services were underperforming.
Commercial jobs were growing steadily.
The third category (specialty work) was highly profitable but under-utilised.
This level of visibility gave them the insight to rebalance their efforts, double down on what was growing, and optimise their pricing where needed.
The result? Better margins, greater efficiency, and more confidence in their strategy.
How to Start Fanning Out
Start by asking:
What are the different types of products or services we offer?
Can each be broken into a revenue stream or category in your accounting system?
Are you able to track performance, costs, and trends separately?
Even a basic level of segmentation, for example, separating product sales from services, or online sales from in-person, can unlock game-changing clarity.
Your Turn: Have You Fanned Out Yet?
If you haven’t already, now’s the time.
The better you understand the sources of your sales, the easier it becomes to:
Identify your highest-margin services
Eliminate underperforming offerings
Forecast revenue with greater accuracy
Make smarter decisions, faster
Remember: Clarity equals power.
Fan it out – and watch what you find.
