Tag: Business Growth

Boost Your Profits Without Discounting: Master the Art of Product Bundling

Boost Your Profits Without Discounting: Master the Art of Product Bundling

Welcome to the strategic world of business growth, where savvy entrepreneurs and business owners like you learn to thrive without entering the perilous trenches of price wars. Today, we’re uncovering a treasure trove of wisdom on how to boost profits without relying on discounts. Say hello to the power of product bundling!

Why Say No to Discounts?

Before we dive into the world of bundling, let’s address the elephant in the room: discounts. Offering a discount seems like a quick win to attract customers, but it’s a double-edged sword. Discounts may increase short-term sales, but they also reduce your profit margins and can devalue your brand. Remember, every dollar discounted is a dollar not contributing to your bottom line.

The Bundle Brilliance

Now, let’s explore the magic of product bundling. This is where you package complementary products or services together, offering them at a price that seems like a steal compared to purchasing each item separately. But here’s the secret: the combined sale boosts your overall profit.

How Bundling Amplifies Your Profits

Imagine selling a product from which you make a $15 profit. Now, consider bundling it with an additional item that costs you $5 but retails for $20. By doing this, you’ve effortlessly doubled your profit with the extra sale, and since you’ve already covered your overhead with the initial product, the bundled item is like a bonus hitting your cash register!

Bundling: A Strategy for Every Business

Whether you run a coffee shop, a tech gadget store, or a service-based enterprise, bundling can be your golden ticket to higher profits. Offer a muffin with a latte, a phone case with a new smartphone, or a maintenance package with a service contract. The possibilities are endless!

The Bundle Bottom Line

Bundling is more than just pairing products; it’s about enhancing value for your customers while keeping your prices stable. It’s a win-win situation where you avoid the pitfalls of discounting and instead, enrich the customer experience.

Your Action Plan

  • Identify products or services that complement each other.
  • Calculate the cost and ensure the bundled price is profitable.
  • Market the bundle highlighting the value and savings for the customer.
  • Train your team to understand and sell the benefits of the bundle.

Conclusion

Embrace the art of bundling and let your business shine with added value and increased profits. It’s time to say goodbye to discounts and hello to smart, strategic growth.

Happy Bundling!

How To Increase Your Profit Margins In Your Small Business

A small business is often called a start-up business. It is defined as any business that has a limited number of employees and is less than 10 years old. In this article, I will discuss how you can increase your profit margins in your small business.

Increase Profits

If you are just starting out with your own small business, you may be tempted to focus on increasing your sales volume first. This is the wrong approach. Your first priority should be to increase your profits. You need to realize that it takes time for your business to reach profitability. This is why you should not be discouraged if your sales volume does not increase immediately.

Increase Prices

If you are selling products or services, your primary focus should be to increase your product prices. If you sell products or services at a fixed price, then you have to increase your prices to increase your sales volume. However, if you are selling products or services at a variable price, then you have to focus on increasing your profit margins instead.

Increase your profit margins by lowering your cost of goods sold. If you sell products or provide services, then you have to lower the amount of money you spend on the materials or the labor costs involved. Lowering your cost of goods sold will increase your profit margins.

You can also increase your profit margins by lowering your overhead expenses. Overhead expenses are the expenses that do not directly involve in producing your products or providing your services. Examples of overhead expenses include office rent, utilities, insurance, and advertising.

For example, you can reduce your office rent by moving into a smaller office space. You can reduce your utility bills by switching to energy efficient appliances. You can reduce your insurance expenses by buying insurance from a low cost provider. You can reduce your advertising expenses by using free classified ads sites.

Increase Sales Volume

Once you have reduced your overhead expenses, you can then focus on increasing your sales volume.

If you want your business to be successful, you have to make sure that you select the right type of business. For example, if you want your business to be a service based business, then you have to focus more on improving your customer service skills. On the other hand, if you want your business be a retail based business, then you have focus more on increasing your sales volume.

https://impelonline.com/wrong This short presentation will teach you a system for successfully marketing your business … to a point where it becomes instantly obvious to your prospects that they would be an idiot to do business with anyone other than you… at anytime, anywhere or at any price.

Word of Mouth Tactics – Part 3

Last time we talked about the second part of the word of mouth tactics that help you put together a system to help shorten your customers’ purchasing decision time, which can increase your profits immensely.

Today we’re going to talk about the nine levels of word of mouth, which gives you a tool to measure word of mouth circulating your company, products, and services. You can then see where you are getting negative or weak word of mouth and find ways to correct it.

So, launching into the nine levels of word of mouth-it should seem relatively obvious that the negative levels are, well, negative and the positive levels are positive.

Minus 4

This is the worst of the worst and means your product is creating a scandal. Remember when the popular over-the-counter pain relievers, like Tylenol were deemed unsafe? Yea, you won’t want that kind of word of mouth.

Minus 3

Disgruntled customers are going out of their way to convince other consumers from purchasing your products and services. They are boycotting you.

Minus 2

While not outwardly boycotting, when customers are asked about you, they will give a negative response.

Minus 1

At this level, people are mildly dissatisfied, and while not outwardly talking about it, they will have an opinion if asked. Now they may purchase from you despite their negative feelings. This can be a little confusing.

Level 0

This is sort of a neutral place to be. Customers are using your products but don’t really talk about them. People rarely ask them about it, so they aren’t sharing their opinion with others. This can be a bit of a slippery slope because you don’t want to turn that neutral experience into a negative one. In fact, you should work to make it a positive one.

Plus 1

At this level, we are finally starting to work our way into the positive word of mouth about your company, products, and services. Plus 1 signifies that people are generally pleased with your products but don’t really say anything about them unless asked.

Plus 2

When asked, your customers will talk about how much they love your products.

Plus 3

Customers will go out of their way to talk about your products, services, company, and their shopping experience with you. This is most evident when you see how people recommend movies to their friends and family.

Plus 4

Your product is the toast of the town. There is an unmistakable buzz going around, and your business is the place to be. People are not only talking about your excellent products and services, but they are talking about their shopping experience, your customer service, and how they perceive the company to help them in the future.

Some great examples of Plus 4 companies are:

  • Lexus
  • Harley Davidson
  • Saturn Cars
  • Netscape
  • Apple Computers
  • Celestial Teas

We’re going to leave this lesson for you to mull over and take a look at what kind of word of mouth you are generating. If you need help with this process, try our GUIDED TOUR to get help from our experienced business coaches.

Next time we’re going to talk about the 30 ways to harness the power of word of mouth.

5 Killer Mistakes – Part 2

In the last post, we covered the first two of the five biggest mistakes you can make in dealing with big fish clients. Today we’ll cover the third and fourth ones: Taking on More Than You Can Handle.

When you take on too much, your business can’t keep up, and therefore you can quickly lose control of everything and find yourself barely functioning. You want your business to be successful, no doubt, but you need to plan how you will handle the growth. Your clients expect excellent customer service and high-quality products/services. They don’t know or care about your behind-the-scenes operations required to get those things done.

  • Look for these signs that you are taking on more than you can handle:
  • Clients’ needs aren’t being met.
  • Employee morale is low, clients are upset, and you’re in a panic.
  • You have to react in emergency mode to save accounts.
  • Your current clients are suffering from trying to keep up with new business.
  • Profits are going down.
  • You are just trying to pick up the pieces of your business.
  • Your clients/customers leave.
  • Resources are being reallocated.

 

There a trick called the Mock Fish Plan. This plan can help you react positively when you are facing some or all of these things and help you get your business back on track. This plan will:

  • Help increase sales in a short period of time.
  • Alter your products/services for the better.
  • Fulfill the promises you made to your clients.

 

There are six steps to this plan:

  1. Bring in your best team and have them all help to meet the fish needs.
  2. Review your operational system.
  3. Anticipate future problems better.
  4. Communicate better.
  5. Include costs in your quotes.
  6. Always have a back-up plan.

All Your Eggs in One Basket

You can allow your company to become dependent on any one fish. Eventually, or for specific periods, there will be a slowing down period with your fish. To stay in the game, you need to diversify.

If you’ve ever mishandled a fish, you could drive away potential fish as well. In order to keep balance and prepare for a healthy future, there are a few things you can do.

  • These things include:
  • Stay in the loop and try to know what’s going on inside your fish company.
  • Constantly reinvent yourself and stay at the top of your industry.
  • Stay exclusive.
  • Try to secure multi-year commitments and contracts.
  • Spread your contracts out.
  • Price your products/services correctly.

 

You will also need to work to reduce your dependency on your fish. Generally, this can be measured in sales or profits. Please take a look back at the process we’ve used thus far to snag more fish to keep this all in balance.

These are the ways you can help avoid the killer mistakes that can make you lose it all. If you need help with any of these tips or tricks, try our GUIDED TOUR to get the help you need fast.

Next time we’ll talk about the last of the killer mistakes and how to combat it from hitting your business hard.