Ah, January. Maybe it’s the cold, the eggnog-induced five extra pounds or the impending credit card bill. Anyway you slice it, getting revved up for work in the new year isn’t easy. But here’s the good news: We’ve got five sure-fire ways to start making more money in your business right now. That should get your fire burning!
Cut a Cost
We guarantee that you are paying too much for something in your business. Either you’re paying for something you don’t need (extra phone services, a subscription to a publication, an inefficient employee or contractor), or you’re overpaying for something that you could get for less (office supplies, your web site designer). Finding ways to lower your costs means more money in your pocket. Remind Your Customers About Your Business
It’s always a good idea to reconnect with past clients. It helps keep you front of mind and it can drum up some business. Recently, our print broker contacted us to ask if we had any printing needs and, lo and behold—yes we did. Simply by reaching out to us, our print broker picked up a piece of work. You can also send an email blast to your customers. And why not sweeten the deal? See if you can provide an incentive for your customers to do business with you again. When we issue a newsletter, we always offer a coupon to our customers. It never fails to spike our sales. Reminding people about your work is always good for business. Expand Your Services
One way to boost your sales is to try to get more money from your existing clients by offering them more. At Admiral Road, we used to only sell blankets. We’ve since added other items—books, stuffed animals—as a way to increase the average purchase on our web site. If a customer is looking to spend money, we want it to be with us!
Raise Your Prices
When was the last time you compared your prices to the competition? Are you undervaluing what you do? Is there room in the market for a modest increase? If you can reasonably justify raising your rates, you’ll see an instant impact on your revenue. Let Go of Something on the Home Front in Order to Boost Your Productivity
Now is a great time to evaluate how you’re spending your time. As moms, we know that there just aren’t that many hours in the day available to work on our businesses. If you can agree to give up something you do around the house, you’ll have more time available to grow your business. Maybe it’s worth paying the dry cleaner $1 a shirt instead of ironing. Maybe you can get take-out once a week. Or a house cleaner once a month. When you do the math it’s likely worth the money to outsource something at home so you can bump up your bottom line.
So why not kick start the year by resolving to tweak at least one aspect of your business in order to make more money? And whatever you choose, we wish you a wildly successful 2012.
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