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.

What is that all about? Why did I want you to watch that video?

Because there’s a great lesson in that video that applies directly to how you present your message… the message you want your customers and clients to see, understand and come to the inescapable conclusion that you have what they need and more importantly what they want right now and that they’d be absolute fools to miss out on this opportunity to do business with your company right now if they didn’t contact you to get it.

Too many times business owners, professionals and entrepreneurs try to be subtle or understated in the way they present themselves and their message. And that’s a BIG mistake. You’ve got to be very clear and very plainly let your customers, customers and patients know exactly what you can do for them and what steps they need to take to learn more.

There is no value in hiding or disguising your message because you’re modest or because you don’t want to come across as “salesy.” Do that, and you’ll surely lose opportunities and clients.

One of the most powerful marketing and positioning tools I teach small business owners is what I refer to as the “ProfitsMakeOver Marketing™ Audio Business Card.” The purpose of this “ProfitsMakeOver Marketing™ Audio Business Card” is to provide the listener… your prospective client or prospect with a thumbnail sketch of who you are, what you do, and how you can be of benefit to them.

It should be informational (tell what you do), short (no more than 12 to 18 minutes), a
compelling way to showcase your business (make the listener say, “Wow! Makes sense. I want more information.”)

One of the biggest problems small business owners make when putting their marketing message together is trying to accomplish too many things. The result is that the main message is lost in the clutter.

When your message isn’t clear… when you don’t make a compelling case for what you do… for the benefits your prospect can get from working with you… when you focus on too many things and your prospect can’t focus on the main benefit you provide… they may miss the “moonwalking bear” – the real reason you put the “ProfitsMakeOver Marketing™ Audio Business Card” together in the first place.

Watch this YouTube video and what two words does each player ask? If you answered, “Pick me” then you are right. What lessons can you take into your business from these NFL players?

BUSINESS STRATEGY TIPS: Why should your customer, client or patient pick your business or service to do business with you?

What are you doing to stand out in your market?

How are you branding yourself?

How are you cost-effectively using your marketing budget?

What lead generation tools are you utilizing to bring customers in the door?

While economic times are tough and scary this is also the greatest opportunity for growth in your business because most of your competition will react with fear and some will cut their marketing campaigns by at least 50%.

It is prudent to watch expenses and trim the fat. However successful businesses know it is the marketing that is the fuel that runs a clean engine.

Miss America was losing its edge and ratings so it made drastic changes this year.

A Trip Through Pageant History: A Real Slice of Americana reveals the first pageant was held in Atlantic City, N.J. in September 1920 as a way to keep tourists in Atlantic City after the Labor Day weekend.

The information gives us a factual look at “The Firsts” of the Miss America Pageants.

Here are some other pageant “firsts”: The only way to improve results is to learn from the past and keep testing in the present. In 1920 there certainly was not nearly as much competition as there is today.

Videos get messages out faster than most mediums. Playlist: Best of the 2009 Miss America Pageant Contestants on YouTube

Description: We sent each of the girls a Flip Ultra video camera and a set of 13 questions. Here are some of their best answers. The marketing plan to send each contestant a Flip Camera I have utilized as a marketing strategy with my private clients.

Rate this video at: http://www.tlc.com/MissAmerica Miss West Virginia (Kayla Lynam) tells us about her most embarrassing moment.

People love to read about stories and even more enjoy reading “Most Embarrassing Moments”. It works to humanize the contestant and be able to connect with her. The winner in this contest is Miss West Virginia for having the most views at the time of this blog post.

There were many strategies utilized in what I have defined as the “Miss America 2009 Marketing Makeover” that will be studied so make sure to follow my articles at Ezine Articles Directory.

In today’s economy you need to think of creative ways to capture prospects or potential customers that visit your website(s) or blog(s). You must keep an open mind and look for new ways to maximize each visitor generated through the internet. Your job is get that unique visitor involved by getting them to take some sort of action with you or your business.

Capturing leads or getting new customers is all about the follow up process and building a relationship so your visitor gets to know you. An excellent way to do that is by writing articles. Almost every expert that discusses how to capture new leads or customers suggests writing articles as one method to be utilized in your marketing plan. It gives you credibility and establishes you as an expert.

Ezine Articles Founder, Christopher Knight, has done just that by two months ago launching a new feature that allows readers to subscribe via email to be alerted whenever an author has a new article accepted. While this feature hasn’t taken off like a rocket ship, we are now managing 2,957 permission-based email subscribers (86% growth over October 2008) on behalf of 2,273 unique expert authors.

The top member has 32 subscribers, the 2nd and 3rd have 20 subscribers each and so forth. Obviously no one is going to fall over in their chair and be blown away with this feature today; But a year from now, “I believe the organic growth alone will make this feature become important enough that you’ll notice it… Especially older members – will be more rewarded than newer members due to having “face time” to attract more email subscribers. Ideally, I’d like us to be able to attract 7,000-12,000 double opt-in email subscribers for EVERY single EzineArticles expert author, but know this dream won’t happen overnight.” states Christopher M. Knight, CEO & Publisher.

Every day it is in the news depending upon who you believe we either are in a recession or will be soon. Your business must be ready to go on the offense. Referrals are the best kind of leads any business can utilize. Referrals are equally one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing you will ever do in your business.

John Jantsch, an expert in generating referrals lists 7 “touch points” to consider when creating a referral program (see below).

One of the keys to tapping the systematic generation of referrals is to identify and address the customer touch points that add up to lead a customer to the logical and emotional decision that your organization is referable.

Martin Howey states, “every person, place and thing in your business that comes into contact with a prospect or a customer is performing a marketing function. Your organization’s referability is being decided by the sum total of those contacts.”

(more…)

Secret if http://www.myspace.com is not part of your marketing plan you are throwing away advertising dollars.  This website is not just for teenagers anymore. It is for authors, musicians, businesses etc.

Who is my top friend in my space? http://www.myspace.com/profitsmakeover  You get the picture.
Robert Kiyosaki, Author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad states, “I have finally arrived to the phenomenon that is MySpace.com.”   What are you waiting for? 

Save some advertising dollars by following the example of  Robert Kioyosaki, who started at age 60. What is
your excuse?  I don’t care how old you are; market where millions are visiting daily and the cost is ZERO.

Each of your ads and mailings must have a definite, targeted purpose. And each ad must be measured to see that it, in fact, does accomplish that purpose. We’ll talk more about this in a later section.

But for now, here’s a simple 4-step system you can set up to measure the results of each and every advertising or promotion campaign you run:

1. Put together an “Advertising and Promotion Results Analysis” book. A simple 3-ring binder works well for this.

2. On the inside of the binder, insert a few clear plastic “page protectors.”

3. Print up some copies of the “Advertising and Promotion Results Analysis” forms found on the next page, and insert one in each of the page protectors facing the back of the binder.

Every time you run an ad or promotion, put a copy of that ad or promotion in one of the page protectors facing the opposite direction of the Analysis form.

If you do this every time you run an advertisement, a promotion or a direct mail campaign…and you carefully analyze the results, you’ll quickly see which promotions are working, which ones need a little tweaking to improve them, and which ones you should discontinue as soon as possible. As your binder grows, make two additional binders.

In one binder place all your “A” ads and sales letters. That is, the ads that pulled the best. In another binder, place the ads and letters that produced marginal results, or at least broke even. And in the third binder, put all the “losers.” The ads and letters that absolutely bombed.

Then, when you get ready to do another promotion or mailing, you’ll know which ads or letters you can depend on, or at least which ones you can model your next promotion after.

Now, regarding the third binder… well, stay away from the ads in that binder. Those ads have already proven that you won’t want to run them again.

But, the second binder… the one with the marginal or break even ads and letters. That’s one that you may want to experiment with. Look over the ads and see what may have gone wrong.