Taking an accurate stock of your business’s goods is an important task that requires careful planning and preparation. If you don’t keep track of your stock on a regular basis, you could see your profits fall and your business eventually fail. Here are some Do’s and Don’ts of a good stocktake that you may find helpful.

Do schedule your stocktake during a time of day when you don’t have a lot of customers or vendors coming in and out of your premises. Nothing is more distracting to your daily business than conducting a stocktake during your busiest times. Customers can sometimes get in the way of the stocktaking staff and vice versa. It’s best to take stock when there’s very little traffic on the premises and the vendors aren’t trying to stock the shelves.

Don’t let your employees do your stocktake. Taking an accurate inventory is a skill that should be left to the professionals. You might think you are saving money by having your employees do this task but it actually costs more in time and money when you have an employee-run stocktakes than when you hire a professional stocktaking company to do the job.

According to statistics that track fraud, “7 per cent of a businesses gross sales revenue is lost to internal theft and/or shrinkage.” That means if there’s employee theft going on, it would be a lot easier to find out if there was an independent stocktaking company doing the counting.

Do hire a stocktaking specialist that has extensive experience of working with your type of business. So do your research and choose well.

Don’t hire anyone who can’t give you good references from past stocktaking jobs that they’ve done for other premises that are similar to yours. There are lots of stock takers out there who think all they need is a bar code scanner to do a good stocktake for you. The truth is, it could end up costing you more than you wanted to pay if the inventory count is not accurately done.

Also, do hire a company who will provide you with a computerized stock report before they leave your premises. This is a sign that your stocktaking services company is on the ball and using the latest technology to complete your stocktake accurately and efficiently as possible.

You can make your next stocktake a painful experience for everyone involved or make it run like clockwork depending on who you decide to hire for the job.

Do you own or manage a hotel, pub or restaurant? We can help you increase your profit margins with our innovative food and drinks stocktaking systems specifically tailored for the hospitality sector. Call us today to discuss how we can help and book a free, no obligation demo.