One of the most often repeated phrases in marketing is, “There are three ways and ONLY three ways to grow a business. 1) Increase the number of customers; 2) Increase the amount of each sales transaction; and 3) Increase the number of times customers buy.”

While that sounds reasonable, it’s only partially true. In actuality, there are a number of other things that any business owner can do that will enable their business to be more sustainable and add more profits to its bottom line.

Here are 5 simple, easy to do, but often overlooked or undervalued examples:

Step 1: Control or Reduce Expenses

Getting a handle on the things that drain money from a business’s bank
account is critical. Most businesses have an incredible amount of unaccountable waste, not only in actual dollar loss, but in human capital in the form of lost or wasted time by employees, staff, and even management.

Keeping a very tight reign on all expenditures is not only a smart thing to do but it’s absolutely critical to adding to the profitability of the business. Money, no matter how large or how small the amount, should only be spent after careful consideration and analysis as to how it will contribute to the bottom line profits of the business.

One of the biggest money wasters is in the area of advertising and marketing. Careful testing of ads and promotions should be carried out in small runs before “rolling out” to the entire list of prospects, clients or customers. Direct response ads with enticing and compelling offers should be tested against more traditional image or institutional ads, and measured in terms of quantity of responses and monetary production.

When you consider how much it costs to bring in a dollar of actual profit and then see how easy it is to spend that money without getting a positive return, it’s understandable to see why so many businesses have a difficult time showing a positive balance at the end of the year.

Step 2: Increase Profit Margins

Profit margins are the difference between what a particular product and service costs to make, produce, purchase, or acquire, and what it is sold for, and after deducting sales, processing, fulfillment, and delivery costs. The more steps there are in the process from production or acquisition to delivery, the more room there is for excess costs to creep in, and hence, the lower the margin of profit.

Every effort should be made to monitor, control and slash costs whenever possible. Remember, a simple two-dollar savings on a twenty dollar product can add up to 20 percent more profit.

Step 3: Create A Teamwork Approach

Businesses cannot afford to be run with a “super-star” mentality. Just as in any team sport, to be truly effective, it takes the entire team to make a company run smoothly and efficiently. Want to know how to make any company more responsive to the needs of its customers and prospects? Hold a team meeting. Invite people from every department – sales, manufacturing, accounting, fulfillment, delivery, even janitorial.

Have a brainstorming session and get every idea possible on the table. Don’t be judgmental. Get them all out. Then go through each idea and discuss how it can be used to more fully satisfy the needs of each “level” or segment of customers and potential customers. Sometimes the best ideas come from completely unexpected
sources.

Step 4: Manage Time More Effectively

Every person has exactly the same number of hours, minutes
and seconds in their day. No one has an advantage in this area. It’s true that different people have different jobs, tasks, priorities, and responsibilities, and those all require different amounts of time, but the amount of available time can significantly be increased by simply taking stock of what a person is spending their time on, and then
effectively employing the principle of delegation.

If each person were to concentrate on things that matter most or that only they can do, and then delegate the lesser important tasks to the lowest competency level – that is, the person who can handle those tasks effectively, efficiently and most cost-effectively, there will be more time to focus on the important priorities – the things that can produce greater results and more profits.

Step 5: Increase The Staff’s Knowledge And Competence

It’s not uncommon to call a business and ask a question seeking help or assistance, only to have the person on the other end of the phone act like they had no idea of what the caller was talking about or where to get the answer. It happens all the time.

Knowing how to hire the right employees is becoming increasingly critical, as is ensuring that they’re adequately trained to handle a variety of (oftentimes, unexpected) situations. It’s surprising how few businesses have regular (what seems like) old-fashioned staff or employee meetings. And for those that do, most of their meetings
have to do with administrative duties, and are “reactive” in their approach.

Changing the focus and conducting meetings that more pro-actively deal with difficult situations, how to sell more effectively, and how to show appreciation and concern to customers, will not only improve the morale of the company’s image, but it will also be a contributing factor to the business’s profitability.

Your homework try implementing one of these ideas and let me know how it works in your business.Your comments, feedback and suggestions are always welcome.