Posts Tagged ‘profits’

Hi Brad, I was wondering how much business coaching costs?

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

It depends on the program, but having a Business Coach is less expensive than you might think and if you consider the return on investment you get from coaching, it can actually pay for itself.

For the cost of a part-time team member, a Business Coach can work with you to boost your revenues and profits and give you the kind of balance between your business and your life that you need to enjoy the rewards of your hard work.

For the certified practicing business coaches of ActionCOACH, you can rest assured you will see a return on your investment as we have a 17 Week/ 7 Point Guarantee which means that the goal of every ActionCOACH Business Coach is to “find their fee” in the work they do with you that will pay for the cost of their services within 17 weeks.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Hi, I have an import/wholesale company that sells glassware, ceramics, handbags and jewelry. I sell basically gifts for women. The problem is, I have an average number of transactions per customer of only 1.5 per year and most of them are mainly for Christmas. What can I do to increase my numbers?

Friday, August 12th, 2011

When it comes to increasing your numbers, there’s one formula you need to know, The 5 Ways.

With The 5 Ways, you can focus on ways to improve your business’ profitability across the board.

So what are The 5 Ways?

Lead generation, conversion rate, number of transactions, average dollar sale and profit margins.

These are the drivers that generate cashflow and lead to profits, so if you improve your business in just one of The 5 Ways, your bottom line will grow, but if you can improve in all 5 areas, your numbers will multiply exponentially.

For you, the biggest problem right now seems to be the number of transactions your customers make with you. If you owned a car dealership, your average of 1.5 purchases per year per customer would be strong, but as a gift shop that number is the main reason you’re struggling.

So what can you do?

I have more than 65 strategies to improve that average number of transactions. In fact, our coaches employ these strategies with their clients every day.

Here’s a list of 10 strategies you can use:

1- Make your customers feel special, provide them with magic moments.

2- Under promise and over deliver

3- Streamline your service

4- Deliver consistently and reliably

5- Keep in regular contact

6- Inform customers of your entire range of products and services

7- Send out a newsletter

8- Pre-sell or take pre-payments

9- Plan future purchases with clients

10- Educate on full value of what you sell

There are literally dozens of other strategies and you can learn each and every one of them for each of the 5 Ways by picking up my book, Instant Cashflow.

Or if you really want to grow your business, hire an ActionCOACH Business Coach to teach you every strategy you’ll ever need to build the business you want.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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I’ve just started my own computer repair business out of my home. I once was told by a seasoned computer guy to stick to just doing onsite computer repair from my house and never open a computer repair shop. What are the advantages and disadvantages to both types of business and should I open my own location or just keep working out of my basement?

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Whether you should keep working from home or open a location where customers can visit you depends on what your overall plan is. You can run quite a nice business from home and you can do it at your pace through appointments, but you have to have enough clients to make it worth your while.

The big advantage you might have by opening a location is, if your location is good enough, you might generate customers who wouldn’t normally be able to find you. You’ll also have a location for walk-up customers and some instant advertising with your storefront and signage.

But the downside is you’ll have to pay for your location and all the overhead and, unless you want to be their all the time, you’ll need to train and hire staff.

I believe your “seasoned computer guy” probably comes from a position where it’s easier, and more cost effective, for him to service his clients when he wants to and working from the home makes that a much easier proposition.

But remember, just because that’s the road he has chosen, that doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for you. You have to decide what type of business you want to run and that involves weighing your priorities.

Opening a shop might lead to the type of success (and wealth) you hadn’t considered, but it will be a lot of work to get there.

If you can generate enough referrals to keep you busy and making enough money by working from home, that might provide better balance in all things. Nobody can truly answer this question but you, and to do that you’ve got to weigh it all out.

Write everything down, the pros and the cons. Figure out if opening a shop will lead to more revenue or profits, or leave you be scrambling to pay your rent. Once you’ve weighed all the factors, you can make a decision as to the right course for both you and your business.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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I saw you when you came to Canada last year and you said that your ultimate goal when you own a business is to have it operate without you or to sell it. I want to create a business I can hand-down to my kids. How long do you think it takes to have a business that works without you?

Friday, June 10th, 2011

You can’t just snap your fingers and have the business of your dreams. In general it will take anywhere from 7 to 10 years to reach that level.

Getting to the point where your business runs without you is a process that is not easy, but it’s incredibly rewarding. It doesn’t sound like you’ve created your business yet, which is actually a tremendous advantage. You don’t have to make any corrections and you can start with the end in mind.

To get to that point, you need to write down your plan to get there, master the basics of your business then transform those basics into systems and teach those systems to your well-trained team.

So where do you begin?

Start by writing it all down. What do you want to sell, how will you bring new customers to your business, what makes your business unique in the industry? You wouldn’t get on a plane that didn’t have a detailed flight plan would you? So why would you invest your entire life into a business without spelling out exactly where you want to go and how you will get there?

Once you’ve got your plan, it’s time to get to work on your business. Figure out how to best deliver your product or services to customers consistently. Understand the numbers that go into your business and the resources you invest in marketing, rent, payroll etc.

The goal is to create a business that works off of cashflow first, then profits then systems. But you cannot start out with systems in place, you’ve got to develop the mastery of your business in each area before you can.

When you understand exactly how to most easily leverage all parts of your business, you can put your systems in place but you’ll need a great team of employees to run the systems so you don’t have to.

All in all, to create a business that runs without you it will take you as long as it takes to build great systems that work within your business and then hire a great team that can run those systems.

This is not an overnight process, but nothing worth doing is. Start with an extensive plan of action, master the basics of your business and transform those basics into systems that can be used by a well-trained and customer service-oriented team of employees.

Once you’ve accomplished those steps, you should have a business you’ll be proud to hand down to your kids one day.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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