Growing your business means more cash for you now plus a higher sale price in the future when you decide to sell your business eventually.
We’ve put together four articles full of ideas to help you grow your business.
The four key areas are:
- Increase your customers
- Find new markets – with existing products or services
- Develop new products or services – to open new markets
- Improve profit
Here’s the fourth area… Improve profits
Automate processes to save time
Look at your current systems and processes you could change to save you time or money. One way could be changing from manual systems to automatic ones to free up time for more critical tasks.
Lower energy use
Look at each area of your business separately and come up with ways to reduce energy use. For example, if you’re a supplier and you hold your inventory in a warehouse that’s busy 24 hours a day, lighting and heating may be significant expenses. Can you switch to cheaper sources?
Reduce operating waste
Identify how to produce more efficiently to reduce leftover materials, which will lower the cost of goods sold. For example, if you manage and own a large department store, are there ways you could reduce total staff hours to lower costs.
Investigate ways to improve your output
Improve your output to deliver your products or services faster. Add staff, upgrade to the latest equipment, or change software; try anything to speed up production.
Negotiate ways to improve your margin
It sounds obvious, but whichever way you choose to increase prices, it all goes straight to your bottom line. Therefore, consider the impact on demand if you have price-sensitive customers. For example, you might be a goat farmer selling high-quality meat, cheese and milk. Does your product have any leverage to negotiate a higher price?
Identify what overheads you can lower
Audit all your expenses to see what you can reduce without affecting your business operation. Re-negotiate with suppliers and reassess any subscription services or set pricing plans.
Build a process to collect money owed to you faster
Take a close look at your debtors to establish which ones need extra motivation to pay you sooner. Consider changing your policy towards new debtors by tightening payment terms or adding a discount for quick payers. Make sure you have Internet Banking as an option.
Next steps
Why not contact us to Join the conversation and brainstorm the above ideas and create a tailored Action Plan to help you improve profits – leading to more profits for you and increasing the value of your business.