Anyone starting or running a business does it with only one goal in mind! Make good profits. No one wants to operate a company that only makes losses or one that can’t compensate for the efforts put forward in running it.
Making profits in any business is easier said than done. Benefits don’t just pop-up without having some strategies, efforts, and sacrifices in place. For your business to become profitable, you have to know exactly what to do, how, and at what time.
So, if you want to turn the tables around and make your business more profitable in 2020, here are several tips you must consider.
1. Revisit Your Business Plan
When starting your business, formulating a sound business plan is usually the first thing to do. A business plan is what guides your actions to ensure that you stay on the course of your goals and dreams.
Therefore, one way to make sure that 2020 turns out to be a successful year for your business is to ensure that you are following the laid down plans. Revisiting your business plan will help you do just that.
If, on the other hand, it’s a new business you want to start, make sure that a business plan is your first agenda. Find a good business plan consultant to help you formulate one if you are not able or not in a position to create one yourself.
2. Manage Your Costs
If you want to increase profitability in your business, you must monitor and control your costs. Managing your costs ensures that there is no wastage of resources, or it is at its minimum.
However, this doesn’t mean that you should cut down on expenses that can affect the quality of products or services. You must ensure that you maintain the quality but at the lowest possible costs. To achieve this, these are the most crucial areas to focus on:
- Suppliers – you must ensure that what you are getting from your suppliers is the best they can offer. If you can negotiate for a better deal, the better. If not, you can even change your supplier for another with a better offer.
- Finances – when it comes to financing, you also must ensure that you are getting the most reasonable terms. This means that you must review your loans and other facilities to ensure that you are not being exploited.
- Premises – Is your space optimized? Is there any room for improvement to save on space? You need to evaluate your situation and see if there is even some extra space you can sublet or use for another purpose. Use the available space as efficiently as possible.
- Production – How is your production process? Is there room to cut down wastage and reduce material or labor costs? If possible, you must explore all available avenues to ensure you are producing efficiently.
3. Raise the Marketing Bar
To make profits, you must have customers for your products or services. But how do you increase your customer base? This is where marketing comes into play.
You must have concrete marketing strategies that will guarantee that people will get to know and appreciate what you offer on the market. To do this, you can increase your business presence on some of the most influential platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
You can also organize sales presentations, group meetings, and special promotions through webinars. You can offer demos and tutorials in the form of podcasts or webcasts for instant download. All these will help popularize your products or services, which is an excellent way to increase profitability.
Making phone calls has also been a very lucrative way to do marketing. Traditionally, you could just make calls through the onsite PBX system that could connect your voice phone calls to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). But now, you can use the VoIP service, which is Voice over Internet Protocol, to find business prospects. VoIP is more efficient and cost-effective compared to traditional phone advertising. Find the top hosted VoIP providers to work with to help you grow your business.
Another important strategy you shouldn’t forget about is the actual physical marketing, especially if your business is limited to certain geolocation. Although the possibilities are endless when it comes to digital marketing, people tend to remember radio jingles and huge billboards more. Use every chance you get to sell your product to potential new customers.
4. Improve your Lead Conversion Techniques
How do you make sure that your leads convert into loyal paying customers and, how effective are your leads conversion methods? The number of leads that becomes paying customers determines how effective your sales team, or efforts, are.
The higher the conversion rate for the leads you have, the more profitable your business will become. For example, if you double your leads conversion rate, it means that you increase your revenue, which in return improves your profits (other factors held constant).
Therefore, you must ensure that you come up with effective strategies to generate leads and convert these leads into customers who will spend on your offering. For example, when doing email marketing, you need to continually keep your customers informed with the latest news about your brand. With the Gmail automation tool, you can automate the repetitive and routine tasks of your email. This helps grow the trust of the customers to your brand, leading to a boost in conversion.
Also, you can adequately train your salespeople on the most effective ways to turn prospects into customers. This way, when talking to prospective customers either on the phone, live, or through email, you have a better chance of a conversion.
5. Maintain Detailed Business Records
Whether it’s a small or large business, records are a vital aspect of a company that can’t be ignored. If you want to grow your profits in the coming year, you must ensure that you keep detailed records of your business transactions.
When you have well-maintained records, you can quickly assess the financial stability of your business, as well as any challenges that your business might be facing. Through this information, you can strategize well in advance and overcome various challenges.