Part 2 - 5 Ways To DOUBLE Your Profits By December 31st 2010 Continuing on with our 5 steps:
3. Bring in more customers
Now this seems like an obvious "duh" but hold on a minute. When I say bring in new customers, where does your mind go? Does it go to the same "tried and true" techniques you always use to find new buyers? Or did you start thinking outside the box, thinking how could I get new customers in ways I haven't tried before? The latter is what I'm talking about. Hardly any companies have ALL the lead generation methods nailed down - so there's most likely room for improvement in your business.
Here's a few ways you can use to get new customers (and don't say I can't do that to any of these - your business depends on how often you say I can, not I can't):
a.) Telemarketing - Contrary to what you might think, telemarketing is still a very good way of generating customers. Sure, it's not glamorous and you'll hear a lot of no's, but those extra customers you bring in are extra dollars in your pocket.
b.) Classified ads - Both online and off now offer classified ads and they both get read quite frequently. Places like Craigslist, Kiiji, Backpage, and more exist online, and we all know the offline places; Thrifty Nickel, local newspapers, etc.
You can target these places two different ways, putting your services out there for everyone to see (ad), or looking for people who could use your services and contacting them (kind of like a Craigslist/telemarketing approach). The second approach converts better, but don't discount ads.
Just make sure you're making your service or product look valuable - focus on promoting the VALUE of your product, not the price. "We offer the lowest prices in town" also implies "We offer the worst service in town" to many potential customers. An ad that focuses on the value you provide and the benefits they can expect draws a lot better crowd than engaging in a price war with your competitors.
Remember, they are only your competitors until you increase your VALUE so much that no one can compare to you.
c.) Reactivating "dead" customers - remember all those people who bought your product/service before? If you provided the value I've been preaching, those same customers would be happy to buy from you again. You just need to remind them of your product/service and why they need it again. A simple email, letter, postcard, phone call, or visit can be the key to unlocking a flood of new profits.
Why?
Simple - you've already sold them once! You don't have to go through the whole selling process from start to finish, you just need to show them why they need your service on a continuing basis (continuity) or need a bigger solution (upsell). This goes into Step 2 a little, I know, but it is one of the easiest ways to add profits to your business. Don't overlook it.
While we are on the subject of easy ways to increase profits, let's talk about price again. I know you heard about it in Step 1, but it needs to be repeated again.
Increase your prices AND the value of your product!!!
If you do this first, not only will you start making more money right off the bat, your future steps will bring in more profits as well.
Think about it, if I do Step 3 and bring in 100 new customers but still charge the same price I did before (let's say I charge $500 for my services), I've increased my profits by $50,000. Not bad, but what if I had also increased my price 20% as well? Now those same 100 customers are worth $60,000 in new profits!
That would have taken 20 more customers at my old price; or let me phrase it this way - I cut my workload by 20% and still made the same amount of money! Now I have more time to give those 100 customers, meaning I can provide more value to them.
It's a win/win situation for everyone and all it took was raising my price and the value of my product/service a little bit, and stepping out of the box to attract some new customers.
Stay tuned for steps 4 and 5 - they offer even more power-packed ideas to DOUBLING your profits by the end of 2010!
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