Up your profits in a down economy part 3

In a down economy or market, far too many businesses withdraw and adapt a bunker mentality. This is the absolute biggest mistake they can make. Continue with your marketing but be more demanding for accountable results. If you need to cut anything, cut overhead that is not contributing to increased sales.

I’m going to be throwing up a lot of suggestions about what you can do to increase your profits. A lot of them will cost you absolutely nothing but will require time and focus.

The first and easiest thing to do is to focus on increasing the value of every transaction. Most businesses leave a fortune on the table with each transaction because they never attempt to cross-sell or up-sell. MacDonald’s makes an absolute fortune by asking the simple question, “Would you like fries and a drink?”

The easiest person to sell to is an existing client and you can leverage this fact. If they just made a decision to buy, what additional products or services can you add to the transaction? What will add to their initial purchase? Car dealers sell maintenance agreements, restaurants add deserts, clothing stores add accessories, CPA’s can add consulting services, insurance agents can add an umbrella policy.

You must train your staff and give them the sales scripts and the words they should say. Leave nothing to chance. Get your staff to suggest products and services that go together. Create a phone follow-up program to thank the client for their purchase and offer them a special “customer-only” discount or coupon on an additional service if they buy within the next 30 days. Always have an offer and a deadline.

I’ve worked with clients and increased the average transaction by 20% and more just by teaching them to do this. I made sure it was part of their culture. I created incentives and contests for staff to insure they were on board.

This is the easiest money that is hiding in your business!!! If you do nothing else with your marketing except to focus on this strategy, you can easily increase profits by 10% or more. The great thing about it is that it costs you no extra money to make the additional sale.

Go for it!