4、可怕的营销预算表

4、可怕的营销预算表

Marketing Department（市场部）的Director Frank是Nancy的顶头上司，他是一年前由美国headquarter（总部）派到中国来的。Frank的父亲是英国人，母亲是法国人，他的身上结合了这两个民族的性格特征，既有绅士风度，又不失幽默感。只是大家还会惊讶地看到，这个金发男子竟有着一双棕黑色的眼睛，于是有人就拿他开玩笑，说他的祖先有亚裔血统。Frank也乐得接受，还附和说：“That’s why I’m here. I am looking for my Chinese grandparents. （这就是我来中国的原因，我是来寻根的。）”

Frank对下属一向open-minded（开明），他总是要求他们多学习，在实践中不断提升capacity（能力）。这天上午，Frank给Nancy和同样是新加入Innovo的Brandy布置了一个任务，叫她们去找Finance Department（财务部）的Smith学习如何制定marketing budget（营销预算）。这对Nancy来说是个不小的难题，她上学的时候最怕的就是数学课，数字一多，她就仿佛看到无数小飞虫在眼前乱飞，很快就晕了。可今天老板交给她的任务又不能push off（推托），所以她只好硬着头皮，和Brandy去找Smith了。

Smith是Innovo的元老，因为当年随着公司进驻中国而来到北京，几年后就干脆在北京定居，把这里当成自己的家了。他对公司一贯忠诚守信，所以一直作为Finance Department的负责人，而且公司上下都对他有着极好的口碑。

这个笑容可掬的老人见两个女孩子紧蹙的眉头就明白了她们的担心。所以也不着急给他们讲制定budget making的方法，而是告诉她们自己当年刚做财务的时候，对数字特别头疼，总是把数字图标弄错，闹了不少笑话，好在有老板check（检查），否则给公司造成的loss（损失）就大了。Nancy一直以为，像Smith这样资深的财务人员，那应该是math genius（数学天才）啊，没想到也和自己差不多。

Smith见她们已经减少了顾虑，就打开桌面上的一个folder（文件夹），一层一层按照目录搜索着需要的文件。这让Nancy不禁暗自感叹整个folder的maintain（维护）做得这么有条理—— Smith工作态度的严谨可见一斑。接下来，Smith就正式开始向Nancy和Brandy讲解制定marketing budget的要点：

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.

说到这里，Nancy提出了自己心中的担忧，“Is the mathematics for it complicated?”

听完Nancy的问题，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两人都一边听一边飞速地记笔记，生怕漏下要点，但还是有些力不从心，有些内容还是没有记下来。于是，Nancy请求Smith把这个文件夹copy（复制）给她们一份，回去再好好研究。Smith似乎早有准备，随手把桌上的一个光盘给了她们，并告诉她们，“今天讲的内容已经都在里面了。”两个女孩儿感动得不知道说什么好。这个Smith呀，经验就是丰富，考虑得太周到了。

两人回到办公室后又是一阵研究，好不容易才把这个marketing budget弄明白了。总结起来就是：

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.