Mastering the Art of Business Transition: Business Growth Strategies That Work!

This is an excerpt from my free e-booklet Mastering the Art of Business Transition. Please feel free to share. I believe in eliminating barriers to knowledge, so there is no requirement to provide an email address or identify yourself in any way. 

Excerpt from Part One:

The Fine Art of Money Hunting

Many small to mid-sized companies are unaware of the abundance of lost revenue due to inefficiencies in operations. Finding and solving the problems that cause lost revenue is akin to finding cash hidden under the floor boards. It’s a wonderful treasure that’s been there all along. If you’d like to expand your bottom line, then you should check these places for hidden money.

Sales: This may seem like a real no-brainer, but your sales funnel is the first place to look. Many small to mid-sized companies lack a strong sales process. Do your sales reps have a sales kit to work with? How are you capturing and delegating leads? Do you provide ongoing sales and customer service training to support your business? In most cases, the answer to these questions is, no. Taking steps to correct that could easily allow you to triple your sales revenue.

Bridge the gap between sales, customer service and delivery. Here’s a scene that plays out often in businesses. An eager sales rep promises delivery of a product within a time frame the customer service team finds impossible because the stock is on back order and not in the warehouse. The customer is annoyed, and all other parties are annoyed with each other. Nobody ever seems to be in step. Usually we find this is an issue of communication hampered by an inefficient way of tracking customers, sales, orders and inventory. The solution here is relatively simple. Microsoft Dynamics offers a broad product line designed to help small to mid-sized companies streamline the way they communicate information between departments. Don’t imagine they are all out of reach in terms of price point. They’re not. Anyway, you’d be surprized at how much money you will recoup and how many customers you will save by using one of these systems.

Vendor Rebates: It’s a little known secret but many credit card companies and other business to business vendors will negotiate rebates for a significant amount of spend. If you know from years of experience that you will spend a particular amount on a credit card or on an essential product / service for your business, then you may be able to negotiate a rebate. Every vendor will have a sweet spot that you need to hit to qualify, so do a little investigating and see what you can get back. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Check the garbage. Manufacturing defects, wasted supplies and spoiled product can cost you a lot of money over the course of a year. Often, this kind of waste is the result of employee apathy. Consider ways to engage your workforce and have a process in place that encourages employees to be conservative in their use of supplies. Don’t overstock items either for office, manufacturing or customer use. Buy only what you need and know what will be used in a quarter. As you conduct your operations planning, these are things you will need to consider, so write that plan and stick to it.