The problem for many of the businesses I have talk to lately is not generating demand for product and services, but having the resources and ability to capture more of the already existing demand.
There are a number of ways to do this...
1. Lower time needed on current clients.
- Lower time needed per client by 20%
- Use that extra 20% to take on more clients with no additional costs
How: Look at automation, no code, augmentation, better data, less manual process
2. Lower lead-to-close cycle
- Lower cost needed to do a full sales/service cycle
- Use that cost to pay for outsourced help on major bottlenecks (or hire internally)
How: look at process and systems, use theory of constraints, try to halve all process and wait times.
3. Lower cash conversion cycle
- Same margins, more times per year raise your capacity and overall profits
How: Negotiate with vendors, Find ways to grab cash up front for work, jobs, subscriptions, etc
All of 👆🏼 these are low risk, no $ money investment methods
Now for some investment based ones 👇🏼
4. Use a CRM
- Automates tracking customers, assembling data
- can often make receiving and answer leads faster with less knowledge loss
How: look into CRMs like pipedrive, close.io, ServiceTitan, etc
5. Build more capacity
- More warehouse space
- More trucks
- More service, ops people
How: Expand, invest in infrastructure, buy a used truck, look for more employees, use craigslist, indeed, the local classifieds, talk to everyone you know, look for space on loopnet.
Note: Before you hire more sales people, lead generators, or put more into google ads, check that there isn't demand and leads already coming in that you can't service.
Sometimes the secret to growing more is building more operational capacity, not sales and leads!
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Many owners often neglect return diminshers by not considering up front.
Here are a few things to watch for
1. Rate.
Know your hurdle rate. The rate above which something (a new customer, a new machine, quality issue remedy) must be above to be worth your while.
Taking 5% returns because it "raises sales" will dilute your return and eventually leave you time and cash strapped.
This will help you
- say no to new opportunities
- keep high margins
- maintain value for your time
- have an attractive business
- grow more sustainably
There are a few key contributors to building a company that will last 100+ years. One of them is understanding risk, downside, and what will "end the game for you".
There are a number of actions you can take or not take, each has risks
If you now take those actions including everything from messing a bit on your taxes, to not properly handling a customer issue fast enough, each has a different chance of potentially putting you out of business.
Let's say we know what will happen...
Your job in building a sustainable enterprise is to choose ones that help grow (because stagnation is just slow death) but not put the entire enterprise at risk.
This is the line that drives me and excited me. It’s the one that at one point haunted me... but now it’s my fuel.
Small business owners who just figure business is a constant grind for survival...
... employees who are weighted under greater and greater workloads, being penny pinched by suppliers and bullied by customers. No time time to enjoy the success you’ve achieved, and never enough cash to do what you really want to do.
I saw it with my father, I walked it myself
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Someone told owners that it’s tough, to outwork every problem, and to do it yourself.
The entrepreneurial attitude that forged your company, may also be the independence that is weighing you down.
If your are a small business owner who has people double-checking, QCing, or verifying things a lot in your business, I want to share how you can automate that (and how it works).
Maybe:
Invoices : packing slips
payments : invoices
schedules : billed
parts : orders
orders : plan
2/ First, let's understand what is being done.
A person has existing data or knowledge that allows them to compare incoming information to that existing reference.
So you get an invoice, you compare to existing packing slip to make sure you are billed right. This is to data.
3/ You get a list of items to quote, and use your industry knowledge to price them. This is comparing incoming information to knowldge.
Now lets take a break here, and discuss something else.