Ever wondered what you can do to increase your profits?
Here are some tips and ideas to help you.
1. Raise your prices– You’ll be surprised how few complaints you’ll get about a 5-10 percent price increase. A slight increase each year is less noticeable then one large increase.
2. Sack a customer – You know those demanding customers that take up all your time but buy very little from you? Ask them to leave and free up your time to focus on your top customers.
3. If it’s not selling, drop it – There is no point having a product just to fill up your shelves. If it isn’t selling, get rid of it and try another product or fill the shelves with products that are selling.
4. Develop and maintain your customer database – Selling to your existing clients is far cheaper than trying to find new ones. A good database is an asset you must exploit.
5. Put lots of information on your website – This will help reduce the amount of time you spend on the phone answering customer queries.
6. Issue invoices promptly – Get your invoices out as quickly as possible to get paid quicker.
7. Create incentives for creditors to pay faster – Offer a small discount to clients prepared to pay within a week and your cashflow will improve.
8. Run credit checks– Before taking on a major customer, check their credit worthiness and references.
9. Use email – Cut postage costs by migrating customers to email.
10. Cap your phone – New cap plans are great for setting a fixed monthly cost and offer great value.
11. Negotiate – Shop around, bargain and try get the best price. Don’t always pay their first price.
12. Check your invoices – Don’t just pay up blindly. Make sure your suppliers aren’t over-charging you.
13. Benchmark your business – Compare your business to that of your competitors. This will show you what you’re spending on certain items versus your industry and it will point out where you need to cut expenses.
14. Survey your clients – Find out what they like about you and what they don’t like. Decide where you should be investing your time and energy.
15. Outsource – It could save you thousands. There might be no need to add another employee, just outsource.
16. Make an acquisition – Buying another company is a quick way to grow revenue. The key is managing the integration.
17. Copy -There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. If you see something that works, incorporate it into your business.
18. Customer Satisfaction – The cheapest and most reliable form of advertising is word-of-mouth.
19. Advertise online – Online advertising is relatively cheap and its effectiveness is much easier to measure.
20. Head hunt – Luring a proven employee with a big salary may end up being cheaper and less risky than hiring and training new staff.
