10 Profit Boosting Tips
By Renee O'Brien **
Profitability is important to all of us. To improve your profit you have two options ... increase sales or decrease costs. Of course, there are hundreads of ways to imporve 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 service 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 the Unique Benefits of Your Service
Know 3 or 4 unique benefits that your customers enjoy from your service. There are over 100,000 cleaning companies nationwide, and you need to stand out as unique from them. When a customer has something tangible to hang onto (ex. "Earth-friendly products"), 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
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 Method & Procedure
Your Method & Procedure is a collection of the exact steps that you take to accomplish the cleaning tasks at client homes. 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's 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 in staff members getting lost on the way to the job site? 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 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 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.
** So, who the heck is Renee O'Brien?
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Renee O'Brien, founder of SharpChip Consulting, helps business owners achieve their dreams. With a background in management consulting, Renee previously owned a successful 25 employee cleaning company in Seattle. She helps her clients increase their profits, reduce their employer headaches, and achieve a self-running business. For a limited time, sign up for SharpChip's FREE email newsletter ScrubPro News at:
http://www.sharpchip.com/cleaningbiz.html
Renee can be reached at renee@sharpchip.com or toll free at
1-866-622-8473.
As Renee says on her site:
Don't settle for less than your dreams. Get Started today on building your business!
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See you next time, until then, Keep It Clean!
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