“There are only two ways to make money: increase sales and decrease costs.”

– Fred DeLuca

The basic law of business is thou shalt make profit. If you violate that law, you will ultimately lose the right to be in business. The intentions you create for your business sets your goals and course, but a business system also needs to be created and put into action to achieve the results you want.  The essential components that you need for this system include a business plan, profit, accountability, self-evaluation and support.  In this article, we discuss finding the money and gearing for profit.  

To identify a good market to sell to, do some research to see who is making money and who has money to spend on your product or service.  There are various ways that you could conduct this research.  For example, if you are someone who provides online advertising services to companies, you might look through the yellow pages to see who is paying for large ads.  You could then call these people and suggest that they spend money on online advertising.

Even in a bad economy, there are still individuals and companies who are doing well, so identify your targets and how much money you want to make.  For example, your target might be a million dollars in sales in a year.

As the economy, technology, and other factors change in the marketplace, you need to be ready to make adaptations and transitions in your business to keep up with the changes.  Keep your eye on where the money is flowing and adjust your business accordingly to continue making a profit.  Eliminate anything that is no longer working in your business; this may include systems, inventory, equipment, or employees.  By doing this, you will lighten the load and reduce complexity in your business. As a result, your business will function more efficiently.

Success Story
I worked with a company whose sales had dropped from three million dollars a year to two million dollars a year. In order to adapt to the change in circumstance, they made some tough decisions and reformatted their business.

Afterwards, they were making more profit at two million than they did at three million due to streamlining their business systems.

To determine how much marketing you will need to do to make a sale, and how you might need to adjust this for future circumstances, calculate how much time and money is needed to generate a sale.  You can do this for online marketing, offline marketing and cold calls.  In the future, or when the economy changes, you may need to increase your marketing efforts to make the amount of sales you want.

The success of a business is measured by its profitability. Your business system should be geared to make a profit now and in the future.

Want to know more? We are excited to offer our Sales2Win course. This course will distinguish you as someone who consistently maximizes their sales and achieves top results.