Every company, regardless of industry, shares one common goal: to increase revenue and profit.
As long as you’re playing fair, as long as you don’t cross the line into unethical territory, nothing is off limits. If there is a way to increase revenue in a hurry, you should take full advantage.
Make no bones about it, your competition shares the same goal. As you search for ways to boost revenue, your primary competitors are thinking about the same thing. What will you do to take the lead? What will you do to set your company apart from the competition?
If your revenue is stagnant and you are looking to give it a shot in the arm, here are five strategies to implement:
1. Increase Your Number of Customers
Before you think it, let us say it for you: it is easier said than done. If it were simple to add more customers, every company would be doing it. Even so, this is no excuse for sitting back and watching the competition pass you by.
Review your business growth strategy for guidance on which steps to take next, as well as details regarding what you have done in the past (both successfully and unsuccessfully).
With a targeted plan, you will know where to spend your time and money. For example, corporate blogging and content marketing continue to grow in popularity.
Your strategy doesn’t matter. What matters is the results it brings to your business.
2. Increase Your Average Transaction Size
This is easier for some companies than others, but something every business should consider.
Why go out and find new business when you can earn more by upselling your current customers?
Take for example a company that sells clothing online. The Red Dress Boutique is a great example, as it has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years (thanks in large part to its appearance on Shark Tank).
With 300 to 400 new orders per day, the company has no problem generating revenue. However, consider this: if it is able to upsell customers at checkout, its revenue will climb without having to attract more consumers.
Note: if you don’t know your current average transaction size, calculate this number before you do anything else.
3. Raise Your Price
It doesn’t matter if you own a brick and mortar store, service-based business, or some other type of company, you have the option to set your price and rates as you see fit.
Here is the question you need to answer: can you raise your price without angering your current customers or scaring off new business? If you can confidently answer yes, it is time to experiment with this strategy.
Consider the business structure of a web design firm.
For the sake of this example, let’s assume a firm charges $5,000 for a custom website. If the company averages five projects per month, its monthly revenue from such projects will equal $25,000.
Now, let’s look at what happens if the company increases its price, even if only by 10 percent. A 10 percent increase would result in a new standard price of $5,500. In the end, the same five jobs total monthly revenue of $27,500. This is a monthly increase of $2,500, and an annual increase of $30,000.
Best of all, this doesn’t change the amount of work for the company.
4. Hire Your More Salespeople
Have you been doing all the selling yourself? Have you been relying on word of mouth, as opposed to actively searching for new business?
It may be time to generate new business by hiring your first salesperson. If you already have a sales team, think about adding to it (as long as it makes sense from an ROI perspective).
Here are 10 things you should know before hiring a salesperson. If you need advice hiring your first salesperson, this article is right up your alley.
Tip: if you hire the right salesperson, your revenue can quickly climb. If you bring the wrong person on board, don’t be surprised if you find your company losing out on the deal. A salesperson with an annual salary of $50,000 needs to bring in more than this in new business. If he or she does not, you have to reexamine where to go from there.
5. Add New Products or Services
This strategy allows you to upsell your current customers, while attracting new business at the same time.
Think about your current business. Do customers often ask for other services that you don’t offer?
A residential painting company is a good example. If you have knowledge of residential painting, there is no reason why you can’t expand into the commercial market. Sure, you may have to change your sales approach and hire more workers, but this goes along with the territory.
As long as the products and/or services align with your current offerings, you aren’t taking a big risk. What you are doing is putting yourself in position for a huge reward.
Try one, try them all
All five of the strategies above are meant to boost your revenue in a hurry. It may not happen overnight, but with the right dedication and approach you can use one or more of these methods to your advantage.
Image Credit: andresfranco.net/Creative Commons
Make no bones about it, your competition shares the same goal. As you search for ways to boost revenue, your primary competitors are thinking about the same thing. What will you do to take the lead? What will you do to set your company apart from the competition?
If your revenue is stagnant and you are looking to give it a shot in the arm, here are five strategies to implement:
1. Increase Your Number of Customers
Before you think it, let us say it for you: it is easier said than done. If it were simple to add more customers, every company would be doing it. Even so, this is no excuse for sitting back and watching the competition pass you by.
Review your business growth strategy for guidance on which steps to take next, as well as details regarding what you have done in the past (both successfully and unsuccessfully).
With a targeted plan, you will know where to spend your time and money. For example, corporate blogging and content marketing continue to grow in popularity.
Your strategy doesn’t matter. What matters is the results it brings to your business.
2. Increase Your Average Transaction Size
This is easier for some companies than others, but something every business should consider.
Why go out and find new business when you can earn more by upselling your current customers?
Take for example a company that sells clothing online. The Red Dress Boutique is a great example, as it has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years (thanks in large part to its appearance on Shark Tank).
With 300 to 400 new orders per day, the company has no problem generating revenue. However, consider this: if it is able to upsell customers at checkout, its revenue will climb without having to attract more consumers.
Note: if you don’t know your current average transaction size, calculate this number before you do anything else.
3. Raise Your Price
It doesn’t matter if you own a brick and mortar store, service-based business, or some other type of company, you have the option to set your price and rates as you see fit.
Here is the question you need to answer: can you raise your price without angering your current customers or scaring off new business? If you can confidently answer yes, it is time to experiment with this strategy.
Consider the business structure of a web design firm.
For the sake of this example, let’s assume a firm charges $5,000 for a custom website. If the company averages five projects per month, its monthly revenue from such projects will equal $25,000.
Now, let’s look at what happens if the company increases its price, even if only by 10 percent. A 10 percent increase would result in a new standard price of $5,500. In the end, the same five jobs total monthly revenue of $27,500. This is a monthly increase of $2,500, and an annual increase of $30,000.
Best of all, this doesn’t change the amount of work for the company.
4. Hire Your More Salespeople
Have you been doing all the selling yourself? Have you been relying on word of mouth, as opposed to actively searching for new business?
It may be time to generate new business by hiring your first salesperson. If you already have a sales team, think about adding to it (as long as it makes sense from an ROI perspective).
Here are 10 things you should know before hiring a salesperson. If you need advice hiring your first salesperson, this article is right up your alley.
Tip: if you hire the right salesperson, your revenue can quickly climb. If you bring the wrong person on board, don’t be surprised if you find your company losing out on the deal. A salesperson with an annual salary of $50,000 needs to bring in more than this in new business. If he or she does not, you have to reexamine where to go from there.
5. Add New Products or Services
This strategy allows you to upsell your current customers, while attracting new business at the same time.
Think about your current business. Do customers often ask for other services that you don’t offer?
A residential painting company is a good example. If you have knowledge of residential painting, there is no reason why you can’t expand into the commercial market. Sure, you may have to change your sales approach and hire more workers, but this goes along with the territory.
As long as the products and/or services align with your current offerings, you aren’t taking a big risk. What you are doing is putting yourself in position for a huge reward.
Try one, try them all
All five of the strategies above are meant to boost your revenue in a hurry. It may not happen overnight, but with the right dedication and approach you can use one or more of these methods to your advantage.
Image Credit: andresfranco.net/Creative Commons
Meredith Wood Meredith Wood is Editor-in-Chief at Fundera, an online marketplace for small business loans. She is a current and past contributor to Yahoo!, Amex OPEN Forum, Fox Business, SCORE, and more.
