Finding Hidden Profits In Your Business - 7 Strategies To Use Today
If I walked into your business and spent an afternoon, I'm fairly confident I could find several little hidden profit centers, just waiting to be used. Let's talk about 7 strategies for finding hidden gold in your business. Strategy #1
Let someone else do the mopping and filing When you "save money" by doing $8/hour work rather than letting someone else do it, you don't save money, and in fact - it costs your business MORE. You're stealing from yourself. What should you be doing instead? Things like keeping your existing clients, finding new clients, working on your marketing, improving your products and services, creating new products and services, training your staff, business planning, and similar IMPORTANT work. Those are the things that your $8/hour teenager knows nothing about. Strategy #2
Get a LOT closer to your existing clients Don't believe me? How many businesses that you buy from have gone out of their way to see what else they can do to help your family or business life get even better after they sold you the first product or service. I'm guessing "Not many". I want to know as much as I can about their clients. Why? Because that info is the key to figuring out what else your business can provide to those clients. They already trust you, why wouldn't you offer additional products and services to help them? Every additional product and service they can depend on you for will strengthen your relationship with them. Strategy #3
SYSTEMATICALLY collecting and using testimonials When you see a sign or brochure that says "We're the best mortgage broker in town", do you believe that? Doesnt everyone say that, or something similar? How do you know who to talk to? Now consider this made-up testimonial: "Joe helped us figure out how to refinance the house even though my husband had been laid off. He helped us when everyone else told us it couldn't be done. Now my husband is working again and we're doing great. Joe believed in us like a friend when no one else would and I'll never forget that."- Mary Smith, Columbia Falls Montana. Everyone feels they are taking a chance on your business the first time they come in. A believable testimonial from existing clients, with their full name and the city where they live, is extremely powerful. A picture of the smiling client with you is even more powerful. Strategy #4
Measure, measure, measure. A friend of mine is CFO for global wholesaler of furniture and home goods. One of her favorite sayings is "That which is measured will be managed." Boy is that a mouthful. Do you know how much it costs your business to get a new client? Do you know how much it costs your business to get a sale? Can you tell me how many dollars you get back for each dollar you spend on each of your marketing campaigns, ads, etc? If you can't answer these questions, how do you know which ads are helping you? How do you know which clients are profitable and which ones are sucking you dry? Strategy #5
Industry norms are for people who like normal results This is what everyone else does, so you should do it too, right? Most likely...WRONG. Industry norms are often artificial barriers, rules or benchmarks that were placed there by those at the top of the food chain in that industry. It's not your job to adhere to industry norms, it's your job to make your business the best that it can be. Look at Domino's Pizza. 25 years ago, NO ONE delivered pizza to your house. I mean, who would possibly pay for THAT, right? Certainly, no one guaranteed they'd deliver hot pizza in 30 minutes or it was free. Take out and eat in pizza was the "industry norm". Domino's Tom Monaghan didn't pay attention to industry norms back then and neither should you today. Strategy #6
Stop trying to beat Walmart at THEIR game Everyone knows who has have the lowest prices in town, everyday, right? Walmart. Let's pretend for a moment that you sell lawn mowers. Even worse, you sell the same brand that Walmart sells, but you might sell different models. Or maybe not. Do you really think you are EVER going to be able to compete ON PRICE with a company that buys shiploads of mowers while you are buying them by the pallet? PLEASE. If you really want to make money by competing with Walmart ON THEIR TERMS, go buy some KMart stock. Yeah, I thought so. Ok, Ive got that out of my system:) You more than likely can't beat Walmart, at least not on price. You CAN co-exist and make a LOT of money doing so. In fact, you might considering putting your store next door to them in order to take advantage of the traffic. Strategy #7
What we have here is a failure to communicate The famous line from the movie "Cool Hand Luke", right? Well, your business most likely experiences this same failure: Not communicating often enough with your clients. Yeah, I know. You think this is common sense, but it'll never work for you cuz your business is different. I'll tell you what. Let me start the same business as yours right down the street. You keep on doing what you're doing now. Meanwhile, I'll start sending your clients a monthly newsletter, weekly emails, birthday cards, anniversary cards, reminders about their frequent purchase benefits, recorded voice calls on special occasions, brief personal notes to them that include recent newspaper articles mentioning them or their kids (etc), and so on. A year from now, we'll see who they spend more $ with. If you're still around. Copyright 2006 - Mark Riffey. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, give author name credit where credit is due and follow all of the EzineArticles terms of service for Publishers. Mark Riffey is the CEO of Rescue Marketing Inc ( http://www.rescuemarketing.com ), a Columbia Falls, Montana based firm that specializes in helping small business owners get the most out of their marketing and technology dollar and implementing techniques, strategies and solutions to put your business on autopilot. After purchasing several small, struggling companies and surviving their turnarounds, Mark now uses the experience and lessons learned during those times when helping a business owner "makeover" a struggling business. He is Montana's only Dan Kennedy-certified Independent Business Advisor. The father of 2 teenage boys, Mark is heavily involved in Scouting, having run summer camps, and served as VP of Marketing for Montana Boy Scouting. He is currently the Scoutmaster of a northwest Montana troop, and in his spare time, helps the high school jazz band raise funds for its activities, and serves on the local Rotary chapter's board of directors. |
Other Forex Trading Articles
The EURO 12 member countries of the European Union adopted the Euro in 1999. (Denmark, Sweden and UK are using their own currency only). Investors used to invest domestically mainly, but with the Euro introduction more investors are now attracted to euro areas. Euro is a floating exchange rate, therefore market demand and supply controls the value of the ...Ten Tips for Cross Cultural Communication Here are some simple tips to help you improve your cross cultural communication skills:Slow DownEven when English is the common language in a cross cultural situation, this does not mean you should speak at normal speed. Slow down, speak clearly and ensure your pronunciation is intelligible. Separate ...E-currency Trading - An Alternative to Futures & Forex Trading I find it amazing that nearly everyday I receive something online or offline that is the greatest break-through in Trading. You know the stuff. This ‘system´ or that ‘method´ has been thoroughly tested and back-tested in every conceivable fashion and is wildly successful. Some work for a period of time but most do not. The decades old statistica ...My Most Recent Experiences about E Currency Exchange Trading You keep hearing about this money generating model that takes no marketing or selling, merely 60 minutes a day (at the most) and no genius skill.I have to see it to believe it!At the least that was the 1st feeling for any person that knows the internet for some time.Let's take a look at the Real Facts about E Currency Exchan ...Dog Dental Care Dental care of dogs is one of the most important things that need to be considered while taking care of pets. Regular and proper oral care is needed for dogs. Dental care is very important especially for security dogs, as teeth are considered the most effective weapons. A periodical check up with a veterinarian is compulsory. Bad breath from dog ...Develop Your Forex Strategy: Every Candle Tells A Story Your forex strategy will be greatly enhanced by a thorough understanding of candlesticks.Used by Japanese traders for centuries, the Western world has only recently (since around 1991) become aware of their value due to the work of Steve Nison.Candlestick charts are now the preferred medium for probably the majority of traders due ...Forex Options Market Overview The forex options market started as an over-the-counter (OTC) financial vehicle for large banks, financial institutions and large international corporations to hedge against foreign currency exposure. Like the forex spot market, the forex options market is considered an "interbank" market. However, with the plethora of real-time financial data ...Is there a Bad Breath Solution? Do you suffer from bad breath? Are you sick of feeling self conscience about your bad breath? Breath freely I say.Why suffer from bad breath when you can do something about it? I have never understood why people suffer from things that can be fixed. If I woke up one day and discovered I had bad breath, well maybe not a good example si ...Big profits from Currency Trading If you want to make big profits from currency trading, you need to lock into and follow the longer-term trends.“The art of contrary” thinking is one of the most powerful tools a trader can use, and is a trait with which all true great traders are familiar with.What is the Art of Contrary Thinking?Humphrey Neill’s book, "the ...How Many Forex Order Types There Are And How to Use Them In Your Favor Once you have decided to enter the Forex trading world, one of the first things you will have to do is downloading the trading station provided by your chosen forex broker for free. When you open your trading station software, you will find there are two main ways to enter a market or, said in another way, there are two ways to place an initial ...Dxinone E-Currency Trading Review If you are just starting to learn about this dxinone trading system, it's normal for someone who is just learning about it to be feeling confused about how the opportunity works.I personally recommend this system, and although it's an amazing investment strategy, Here are some tips when starting the dxinone system:-When you're gett ...Day Trading Systems Day trading is a style wherein traders either sell all long positions are sold or cover short positions at the end of the trading day. With day trading, you can be sure of finishing the day in cash and can therefore avoid the risk of holding the shares overnight. There are various websites on the Internet that provide information on various day ...Fibonacci Retracement Trading - Take Advantage Fibonacci, Actually named Leonardo of Pisa, was born in Pisa, Italy about 1175 A.D.. Today, he is recognized as the greatest European mathematian of the middle ages. Fibonacci is credited with introducing the Arabic-Hindu numeral system to Europe. He also introduced the decimal system. Both became the basis of mathematics we use today. Enough ba ...Energies Update – Did You Make Big Gains On Recent Break We Did! But Where not here to crow on about that, instead we want use this move as an illustration of how to time a trade correctly. In all markets when they go right great and sure we piled up big profits, but markets can make us all look stupid and they do regularly!Here we want to go over two ways to cut the risk of trading in energies (and other ...Online Futures Trading Brokers The World Wide Web is filled with hundreds of online futures trading brokers who offer services to hedgers and speculators wishing to play the futures markets. To access these brokerages and have round-the-clock information at your fingertips, it is necessary to make sure that your computer has the right configuration in order to run the trading ...E-Currency Exchange: 4 Great Income Streams and Counting This article provides a brief overview of the 4 sources of income we can take advantage of as a participant in the e-currency exchange trading system.Specifically, I am refering to the e-currency exchange program through DXinOne. DXinOne is by far the leader in facilitating e-currency conversions. The fees charged to account for these tra ...A Guide to Global FOREX trading It's probably hard for some people to believe, but the global FOREX trading market dwarfs that of equities, even though the former gets little attention and the latter is talked about incessantly on the news.The daily volume of global FOREX trading now exceeds $2 trillion dollars! To be sure, it is the leader in the competitive field of m ...Insight into Trading - What Percentage of Your Trades Are Winners? An Inquiry into Trading Systems, Money Management and the Human Psyche At a recent seminar, I got involved in an interesting discussion with other attendees centered on trading success. More specifically, the percentage of successful trades and the percent of accuracy you should realistically expect from trading.For whatever reason, our m ...Introduction To Forex Trading There are many markets: markets for stocks, futures, options and currencies. These are probably the most accessible markets for everyday traders like you and I. People easily understand the basics of trading shares, so I will occasionally use examples from that market.I began trading shares first and then I moved on to trading currencies; ...Forex Currency Trading Systems Everybody wants to make quick money, and there is no other legitimate market like forex trading, where you can build a fortune, if you are lucky enough, in a matter of minutes or even seconds. Also, forex trading is a legitimate business, and there is no stigma attached with as there is with gambling, though practically speaking, trading in curr ...Forex Pros And Cons Trading is a skill that takes some time to be trained. Same as boxing it’s also an expertise that takes more time for learning. And without any training, if you get into a professional boxing ring you’ll get beat up easily in a physical manner! But in certain cases, if you get into the Forex ring without any training, you’ll get beat up economic ...Forex Trading: Introduction to Foreign Exchange Trading The foreign exchange markets are always in a constant state of flux, and for the budding trader, it can be a rather daunting place to invest and trade your money. We bring you into the world of foreign exchange trading. As you look into the prospect of forex trading you will begin to understand the width and breadth of the forex market. I ...FOREX Real-Time Data Providers: Learn What Is Best For You Many articles have been written on the subject of FOREX trading. The vast majority of them have detailed analysis advice as well as investing tips. What just few of them found interesting enough is the subject of selecting the right real-time data provider. Simply stated, this is the software platform used to deliver quotes and charts, ...Forex Trader Forum - Where Forex Traders Talk About Forex Savvy forex traders often pinpoint the opportunities in forex trading and persist to time the industry so they know precisely when the right time is to trade, or buy. The problem is many traders buy at the wrong time, although they have monitored, explored, and checked the quotes daily. In addition, these people tend to bank on the notion that b ...Online Trading Online trading has gained popularity over the years because people from all backgrounds find it to be a more convenient way to trade stocks and bonds. In the past, online traders only made small deals or purchasers in order to pick up a little extra money. There are still people who go for this method of trading online, however, a lot of people ...Candlestick Charting – Adding a Visual Dimension To Your Trading Candlestick charting is great for traders wanting an extra edge in their quest for profits - this is due to the way the candle bodies are drawn, that gives a better insight that is visual, and shows trader psychology.More traders than ever are using candlestick charts due to the extra trading edge they can get with this form of charting - ...
|
