Although C&L Value Advisors provide business advisory services mainly to businesses in the $1 to 5 million range, they recently shared four strategies to help small and mid-sized firms grow their businesses and improve profitability, which even Startups can learn and benefit from.
1 – Increase the number of the right customers:
Few businesses know how to analyze which of their clients are most profitable. As a result, they focus on sales rather than profitability. Using the formula of 80% of revenue coming from 20% of the clients, companies should seek and apply the right measuring tools to know which client is right the them. Clients who pay on time, come back for more jobs, and who can refer you to their colleagues and partners, those should be given more attention and superior support.
2 – Increase the value of each transaction:
They call it many different names, like capitalize, up-sale or up-scale. Look at what your business is offering now for clients, study them well, then identify and offer more services or products to meet the additional / future client needs. Offer the complete solution.
3 – Increase the frequency of transactions:
There are many ways to do this, including regular re-evaluation of customer needs, loyalty programs or just looking for ways to provide better service. One good example is that of a hair salon that dramatically increased sales by booking the next appointment on the spot each time a client visited!
4 – Improve your business processes:
Few businesses know how they are really operating in terms of time and process management. Knowing who is touching the client and how effective that is can make a huge difference in profitability.