The 11 key ways to make more profits

There are hundred’s of ways to make more money; here are a few key ones:

1.      Thing long term and start planning to make more money. Profit improvement is a process and needs planning. Do you know what you plans and goals are? It is surprising how once you know where you are going, you are more likely to get there. Don’t just wait until you are in crisis

2.      Don’t just cut costs and rush to get new customers, try to get more income from your existing customers: why don’t you sell more often, or increase the value to clients by selling more services. Surely getting more income from existing customers is easier and makes more sense from a customer care angle?

3.      Have you got the right sort of customers? Do they fit your future plans? Are you going for the right mix of customers through your marketing?

4.      Review your systems systematically, the way you do things. Document them in an overview chart to get the high level picture and make sure you cover all the key systems in the business: production, production administration and general administrative support including finance. Can you do things in a better way?

5.      Ask where is the waste in your business?

6.      Ask your staff. They run the business day to day and will know best how you can make more money.

7.      Involve the staff more in the running of the business. Do you keep your staff informed? Do they feel involved and part of your future? Do they know your “Purpose”, your “Why”, the reason your business exists?

8.      Don’t underestimate the challenge of implementation. Make sure you have a structured process to making the agreed changes happen

9.      Do you truly know if you are making money? Are your financial records up to date? Do you have up to date key financial figures and also management accounts? Do you monitor trends in financial numbers? With this detailed information, you know where to take action

10.  Prepare financial forecasts. You can use these forecasts to compare how you are doing to your original plans. The exercise highlights where things haven’t gone to plan and where immediate action is required.

11.  Benchmark your business. How do you compare to your competitors? So as well as monitoring performance to internal measures including previous performance and forecasts, it is more important that you compare to independent measures which you can get from benchmarking. 

Want help or want to know more?  Contact Jan on 07890 239442, jan@sandersgeeson.co.uk