10 Profit Boosting Goals

Profitability is important to all of us. To improve your profit you have two options … increase sales or decrease costs. Of course, there are hundreds of ways to improve a company’s profits , but this article contains ten quick ideas.

Know your Vision. When you have a clear idea of what your company is about, and where you are going, then you can convey that to every one that you come in contact with (employees, customers, vendors), and they can participate in helping get you there. Resources are often wasted when a company’s vision is unclear.

Know your Ideal Customer. Who is your ideal customer? What age (if consumer), location, size (if business), income/revenue level, previous experience using a business like yours, etc. These are questions that can help you identify who your ideal customer is. How does knowing your ideal customer improve your profits? Simply, when you exactly who to market to, then you don’t waste time or money marketing to people who don’t buy, don’t respond, or don’t understand your service.

Know 3 or 4 unique benefits that your customers enjoy from your service. There are likely many companies that do what you do nationwide, and you need to stand out as unique from them. When a customer has something tangible to hang onto (ex. “local experts”), they know how you stand out from the others, and may be more likely to choose your service…Thus, you will close more sales by knowing your client benefits.

Use Sales Scripts to highlight your unique benefits to your customers and prospects. No, I don’t mean droning on in a monotone fashion. Sales Scripts are useful tools for mapping out ahead of time some of your most successful client sales conversations. By writing a script you are more likely to remember to point out your benefits to your clients, address objections, answer common questions in a positive way and ask for the sale when it is appropriate. You may close more sales with a Sales Script.

Fine Tune your Delivery Method for Your Product or Service (Method & Procedures). Your Method & Procedures are a collection of the exact steps that you take to produce and deliver your product or service to the client. Not only what you do, but how you do it. It can give a healthy boost to your profits to review your Method & Procedure and see if there are better products or tools that can be used, if the collection of tasks that you provide adequate, and if there are faster more efficient ways to perform the same tasks. Every efficiency that you come up with here, can mean more dollars in your pocket.

Evaluate your staff productivity. It is good to keep a good handle on staff productivity, because a lot of money can be lost here. Are you billing for all on-the-job work hours? Are the staff following the Method and Procedure? Are you losing productivity time with poor tools, scheduling, training, or another area? These questions, and others like them are ones that should be asked regularly, and could untie the knot on the purse strings for your business.

Motivate your staff. Worn down, burnt out, unappreciated or disgruntled employees could be costing you plenty. An investment of time and funds to continually motivate your staff could be your answer to new found profits. Motivated staff with good attitudes can work harder, be better representatives for your company, contribute more creative idea, and sell more of your product or service.

Refine your training program. Most people want to do their best and perform well at work, but sometimes don’t know how. Refinements to your training program like using positive language, covering more troubleshooting techniques, beefing up the customer satisfaction section, may provide your staff with more tools to do outstanding work on the job.

Write down all of your operating procedures and systems. Not only does writing down all of your systems and procedures make them easier for others to follow, but in the process of writing them down you may encounter inconsistencies or flaws that may be costing you money.

Get 100% Legal. It is hard to move forward in your business, and bring in consistent profits if you have a legal issue looming in that back of your head. So, what I mean by “Get Legal” is make sure that you are following all of the legally required labor and hiring practices for your state and the federal government. Be sure that you are posting all of your labor posters, you have a file and a procedure for accidents on the job, that you are declaring all of you income, that you file all of the taxes that you are required, that you file your taxes on-time, that you are paying for workers comp, that you have a legal business license in your state and city, and any other things that leave you wondering if someone is later going to come knocking. Not only will you avoid profit-strangling penalties, but you will be able to sleep better knowing that there is nothing stopping you, and you are free to grow like gangbusters.

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