Is your business making the profit it should? Many individuals continually strive harder to make their business more successful, but in the end—despite their grand efforts—profit still languishes! Like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill in Hades, this is the essence of a lose/lose situation.
We recently heard of a hard working manager who, after assessing the cost for each of his business transactions, realized that each sale lost the company $261.00! If you are increasing the volume of your business, you must also increase your profit. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
How do you accomplish it? Here are the top ten requirements for any business to remain profitable.
1. Customer Benefits - Word of mouth business is the most profitable. Do not be overly subtle and clearly express the extras that only your business can provide. How about special promotions for past clients? A festive seasonal lunch, a weekend get-away or gift certificates? Extra benefits are what customers buy and their perception of your benefits will decide your success.
2. Extra Value - In our culture, customers don’t want a fair exchange – they want a bargain. You should under promise and over deliver. People perceive successful businesses as delivering more value than they charge for their service. Make value an intrinsic part of your image.
3. Superb Service - Have you ever heard of service that was too good? Absolutely not. Clients like to be able to reach a personal cell phone or be able to contact members of the team. Courtesies such as answering the phone on the first ring, having an eight hundred number, keeping customers informed, and maintaining impeccable guarantees provide an essential feeling of security for your customer. When they know you will take care of all the details, they will return.
4. Know your Audience - Take time to create a client profile. As you cannot be all things to all people, consider whether price, quality or reliability is most valued. Then live up to these expectations.
5. Location - Make sure your marketing message is heard! If you advertise in the yellow pages, make your ad is distinct and central. Be certain to work with your programmer to place your website at the top of search engines. Only market in the area in which you work, otherwise you are simply wasting time and money. Consider a local newsletter outlining market conditions in your area with an insert of properties for sale. Make the best and most visible use of the marketing you use.
6. Convenience - Make it simple for the customer to communicate with someone who has definitive answers. Though you cannot be available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, be available as much as possible and find someone else to take calls when you are not able.
7. Innovation - Customers respect and trust businesses that provide the most modern technology. Email, voicemail, pagers and faxes are a minimum. Live chat, information sharing, lightning fast research and comparative information sites are better. One interviewed company implemented homefeedback.com. Highly effective, the site has generated additional business since its inception. Keep up with advances, educate your employees and sellers about any updates and always consider new Internet options.
8. Reliability - Your advice, your attention to detail and your follow-through are critical elements to your service. Ensure that your customer can rely on you and your company. Realtors, for example, would be well served to do daily home previews in order to do a better job of appreciating the advantages of various properties. This allows them to do a better job of handling incoming calls and the sellers appreciate the extra effort.
9. Planning - Are you in control of your financial destiny? Without a plan, you are subject to the fickle winds of fortune. Plan to monitor, influence and profit from change by creating strategies, and tracking profitability.
10. Communication - Perhaps you know that it is vital to have great communication between yourself and your clients, but what about the communication between yourself and your employees? Without clear internal communication, your employees will not have the benefit of your profitability plan which will seriously affect its usefulness.
Bear these ten strategies in mind while calculating your financial plan. Remember, more work ought to equal more money!
With a client list that reads like a Who’s Who of the real estate industry, Ken Goodfellow (Coach Ken) brings experience and a proven track record to all his clients. As the CEO and Founder of CKG International (www.ckginternational.com ) he takes great pride in the caliber of the program offered. His proven coaching programs are highly regarded among real estate professionals as the top in the industry. In 2005 Ken was given the prestigious Business Coach of the Year Award. On top of coaching Ken is widely known throughout North America for his interactive and hard hitting speaking style that keeps audiences wanting more. He focuses on how to make your business extremely successful.
Within his first year of being in real estate Ken became a top producer and maintained that level for five years. He then went on to build his own real estate company from the ground up, creating a firm that had 3 offices and over 150 agents. After achieving success with his business, Ken moved into the training business bringing all his experience with him.
With over 10 years in coaching, Ken is widely known for taking high producing agents and real estate companies to a level they never dreamed possible. www.ckginternational.com
