Unfortunately, most business owners spend most of their time, money and effort in trying to attract new clients to their businesses. There’s no question that getting new leads (prospects) who are potential candidates for your products and services is important. It’s very important. But that’s not where the real money is to be made - especially when there is more competition in the marketplace today, than there ever has been. If that weren’t enough, you’re faced with some business owners who are “buying” market share by offering lower prices, and other companies who sell their products and services through the Internet and toll-free numbers. Now add in your marketing costs such as, running ads, sending out mailers and paying for telemarketers. Then figure in the time consumed in qualifying prospects (either in person, by telephone or mail), as well as the entire sales process, including the time involved, salaries, commissions and bonuses you pay your staff, your overhead, and all the other attendant expenses. When you total it all up it’s easy to see why it costs up to six times more to get a new customer or client than it does to sell to an existing one. In fact, most business owners don’t even get enough new customers from their ads or sales letters to break even, let alone make a profit on the products they sell from those ads or letters.
The Single Most Expensive
Thing
The simple truth is, as
important as getting new customers or clients is, that activity
is the second most costly thing you can do to grow your book of
business. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current | Improvement | |
| Existing clients | 1,000 | 1,000 (no change) |
| 1.Client losses per year | 100 | 50 (50% improvement) |
| 2. Average profit value | $200 | $220 (10% increase) |
| 3. Number of referrals | 1 | 2 (100% increase) |
| Total Income At Year End | $180,000 | $418,000 |
That’s a whopping 132% increase!
I’m confident you’ll agree that a $238,000 raise in one year isn’t bad - especially without bringing any new staff or employees on board!Now I’m aware that the above figures may or may not apply to your particular business or the actual products or services you sell. But the point is, and what the illustration demonstrates, is that even if you don’t add any new customers to your business, you can still grow your business by keeping in contact with, and taking care of your existing customers and creating additional value for them to do business with you.
And you can do it so much more cost effectively than you could if you were attempting to create that $238,000 increase by going after raw new prospects.
Even if you only did half as well as the illustration shows you’ve still netted a 162% increase in profits - that amounts to $111,375 extra in your pocket! But even if you only did half of that you’d still end up with $53,828 in extra income for the year!
Don’t Let The Way
You’ve Always Done Things,
Your Competition Or The
Economy
Dictate What Your Income Will Be
With so much competition, and very little difference in products and
services, the logical thing to do to get more business is to cut
prices, and make it more attractive for your customers and
prospects to do business with you, right?It is if you want to be like every other business, and find yourself in the same situation. Take a look at the following table and see how many additional units you have to sell to maintain the same gross margins you would have at the previous selling price.
|
If You Cut Your Price |
With Your Present Gross Profit Being: | ||||||
| 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% | 30% | 35% | 40% | |
| 5% | 100.0 | 50.0 | 33.3 | 25.0 | 20.0 | 16.7 | 14.3 |
| 6% | 150.0 | 66.7 | 42.9 | 31.6 | 29.0 | 20.7 | 17.6 |
| 7% | 233.3 | 87.5 | 53.8 | 38.9 | 30.4 | 25.0 | 21.2 |
| 8% | 400.0 | 144.3 | 66.7 | 47.1 | 36.4 | 29.6 | 35.0 |
| 10% | -------- | 200.0 | 100.0 | 66.7 | 50.0 | 40.0 | 33.3 |
| 11% | -------- | 275.0 | 122.2 | 78.6 | 57.9 | 45.8 | 37.9 |
| 12% | -------- | 400.0 | 150.0 | 92.3 | 66.7 | 52.2 | 42.0 |
| 15% | -------- | -------- | 300.0 | 150.0 | 100.0 | 75.0 | 60.0 |
| 16% | -------- | -------- | 400.0 | 144.3 | 117.8 | 84.2 | 66.7 |
| 18% | -------- | -------- | 900.0 | 257.1 | 150.0 | 105.9 | 81.1 |
| 20% | -------- | -------- | -------- | 400.0 | 200.0 | 133.3 | 100.0 |
To illustrate
further, if you sell 100 units for $100 each at a 40% profit
margin, your gross sales would be $4,000 ($100 x 40% = $40 x 100
units).
If you cut your price by just 10%, you will
have to sell 33.3 additional units to make the same gross profit
($100 x 30% = $30 x 100 units = $3,000 x 33.3% + $3,000 =
$4,000).
Cutting prices is one of the quickest ways
to business failure there is. Yet, nearly every business owner
you talk to thinks that’s the way to get more business and
generate more income.
Just knowing this information
has given you a tremendous advantage over your competition
already. But knowing this alone, won’t bring you any additional
business or add any additional profits to your bottom line. You’ve got to have other strategies – practical strategies –
that will enable you to crush your competition.
Now Is The Time To Capitalize
On The Inattention
Of Your Competition
Now, here is a very important point: You can’t realize
significant growth by using the same old marketing methods
you’ve always used.Because your buying public is more sophisticated, more educated and more savvy when it comes to buying any type of products and services, you’ve got to do things differently. You’ve got to use extreme measures if you want to catapult your business ahead of where you are now, and way beyond your competition.
If you’ve ever wanted to grow your business, now is the time to do it – even though you may not be as competitive as you would like, or perhaps are operating with staff, location, debt, production, or other limitations. The window of opportunity is very small. More and more business owners are beginning to realize that they can’t continue operating the same way they’ve always done. Things will turn around one day, and if you haven’t made your move during these opportunistic times, you may not get another chance. You’ve got to strike while your competition is asleep.
So Where Do You Start?
Good question! Most likely it won't be the same place
you started last time. How do we know that? Simple.
Most companies find themselves in what we call The Marketing
Tactics Trap.
You are in The Marketing Tactics Trap is when you decide
to create an four-color brochure or an expensive radio jingle
"just to get our name out" or "build our brand".
Without first figuring out what to say, how to say it, and whom
to say it to! (I'm guilty of that myself: been there,
done that, got a t-shirt, and blew a lot of time and money only
to go back and start over)
These three components -- what,
how, and who -- have to do with the strategy.
On the other hand, selecting a specific media to deliver the
message -- radio, brochures, web sites, paper ads or space ads
-- is tactics, and is secondary to
your marketing strategy.
In order to help you go from point A (strategy development) to
point B (tactical implementation and execution), we employ a
structured approach, The bizLeverage Process,
which is based on fundamental marketing principles and
practical experiences of hundreds of businesses.
Here's How
The bizLeverage Process Works
It is best described by this simple 5-step formula:
-
We typically start with a free 20-Minute Consultation on the phone.
-
It is followed by the Discovery phase to get as detailed information about your business as possible.
-
This information then becomes a basis for the Marketing Blueprint project to define you marketing strategy and create a tactical action plan.
-
And then we work together on the Implementation of your Marketing Blueprint.
-
As you keep using our business development and marketing systems, we will be conducting regular Check-Ups to review your progress, fine-tune the systems and see what else could be done to add more dollars to your bottom line.
A Complimentary 20-Minute
Telephone Consultation
When you register for a complimentary 20-minute telephone
consultation with us, you will receive a 15-page bizLeverage
Marketing Starter Kit, complete with questionnaires
and forms that you will be asked to fill in.
This information will provide us with a guidance as to which
strategies may work best in your situation. During the
20-minute telephone consultation, we will be referring back to
the answers you've provided in the Starter Kit.
We will provide with a high-level evaluation of your current marketing
processes, give you some you tips and recommend some further resources that you
can explore and that could be helpful in your situation, and we
will suggest a go-forward plan.
Getting The Most
Out Of Your Starter Kit
The tools and the exercises in the bizLeverage Starter
Kit are meant to help you evaluate your current
situation and start creating a vision of an ideal business
you want to become and which business development and marketing strategy
could work for your organization.
Thoroughly completing
these exercises will give you an idea of which areas you need to focus
on to get the biggest impact on the processes and tools to create the
desired business growth.
Preparing For Your
20-Minute Telephone Consultation
To prepare for your 20-Minute Telephone Consultation, and in order to get the most out of that time, we recommend the following:
-
Print your bizLeverage Starter Kit and have one copy available for each session participant.
-
Review the Starter Kit. Begin identifying and listing the team members that need to be present at the 20-Minute Telephone Consultation.
-
Complete the exercises in the Starter Kit to the best of your current understanding of the marketing systems and business processes you have in place, as well as the vision for your business.
-
Fax the filled-in questionnaire back to us at 416.240.7990.
-
On the day of 20-Minute Telephone Consultation, make sure that you and other participants will not be interrupted for at least 45 minutes (just in case you have some questions in the end that may require some extra time)
-
If you going to have more than one participant, find a room in your office with a good speakerphone. Make sure the equipment works prior to the 20-Minute Telephone Consultation.
-
At the scheduled time, dial the number you will be given upon the confirmation of your 20-Minute Telephone Consultation registration. If you have any issues, dial our main number 416.240.7990 and ask for the assistance.
Please NotebizLeverage 20-Minute Telephone Consultations run every week on Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 AM (EST) and 2 PM (EST), excluding statutory holidays. The time slots are booked on a first-come first-serve basis and become unavailable as they fill out. Please register early to get a desired time slot, but please note that we cannot guarantee its availability. If the time slot you requesting is unavailable, we will be contact you to re-schedule your 20-Minute Telephone Consultation. |
Register To Get A Complimentary
20-Minute Telephone Consultation
Enter your contact information in the form below and click the button,
and you will see the download instructions for this book.