BUSINESS COACH
Higher Profit Goals With a Little Sales Strategy By Steve Firszt
“Everybody wants more cash. Well, almost everybody.” That’s Jimmy Fallon’s pitch in a current cash-back commer- cial. A cereal-throwing toddler acts as the “almost everybody,” emphatically denying any desire for more cash. Well, I guess if you’re a toddler, in a good home, more cash isn’t at the top of your list (yet). But we’re grown-ups, with businesses to run and bills to pay. We want more cash, which means we need to generate higher profits. Here I’ll talk about the easiest way I know to improve profit-
ability. But first, here’s a review on two commonly discussed profit-boosting strategies.
1. GROW SALES Intuitively, this seems the quickest and most fun path to higher profits: Do more business, make more money. Simple concept; not always easy to pull off.
There are three general strategies for growing sales. The first two focus on increasing the number of customers your com- pany serves:
a.) Increase leads, i.e., talk to more prospects (a marketing strategy)
b.) Increase conversions, i.e., convert a higher percentage of prospects to paying clients (a sales strategy)
42 Mobile Electronics December | January 2012
c.) Increase the amount of money each client spends each
year. This is a really powerful strategy. No additional prospects or clients are required. And it can be accomplished through a combination of sales, merchandising, and marketing tactics: • In your weekly sales meetings, stress the importance of step-up and add-on selling — and review which salespeople are being successful at it, and which aren’t. • Merchandise add-on items or offers in the proximity of the main item(s). Create powerful POP for step-up items. • Follow-up with existing customers to make sure they know about new products and services, special offers and promo- tional events.
Each of theses “grow sales” strategies can be effective on
its own. Consider, though, the impact of a blended strategy, where your company is focusing on all three. Here’s the math…
Improve any one of these areas by 5%, and sales will grow by 5%. Improve each of these areas by 5%, and your sales will grow by 15%.
2. REDUCE COSTS Out of necessity, this has been the focus of many companies
over the past few years. There is a limit, though, to how low you can drive your costs. Plus, it’s not very much fun.
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