CC BUSINESS
04.
Do less and sell more
03.
It’s likely that there are opportunities for growth that are being underused or overlooked, which you could use to sell more, but there’s also the possibility that a lot of effort is being expended on dead-end leads. Don’t sell to the unmotivated and qualify your contacts – jumping at any chance to sell will result in wasted time, resources and energy. Instead, focus on making life easier for existing clients as well as those who seem interested. Make the first move but make it personal. Learn more about them and make the best use of their time by calling whenever you know they’ll be more receptive. Create a schedule of follow-ups to start with at the end of the day. Develop iron-clad payment agreements with your customers to minimise collection costs and uncollectible accounts. It doesn’t matter how much you sell if you don’t collect.
Increase margins There are only three options when it comes to increasing margins: prices have to be raised, the cost of goods has to be lowered or both at the same time. Review the margins on all the products and services you sell at least once a year. After you review the margins, pick an optimal time to raise your prices – possibly one when your product or service is in higher demand. Analyse the percentage of price increase on each individual item, rather than implementing an across-the-board price increase. While raising prices may seem like a difficult and possibly unwise decision to take, it has been found that customers are generally quite tolerant to price increases – as long as the increases are commensurate with those of other retailers and products – go higher, but not higher than your rivals. You’re also less likely to lose customers if you have a good quality relationship with your customers, so make sure you take every opportunity to strengthen those links.
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APRIL / MAY 2017