For many organizations, the economy has caused a focus on cutting expenses to compete, to survive or to eek out a profit. However, you can only cut expenses so far before bleeding to death as an organization. Cuts in marketing mean you disappear from the minds of your customers/members, so leads and new accounts fall. Cuts in training mean no talented staff to serve customers/members for the service experience that keeps them coming back. And, no profit means there is no ability to grasp new opportunities.
So, what’s the way to ramp it up with streamlined costs? For some of our clients, there are ways to make a difference in revenue:
- Can you bundle? Review products for relationship pricing to see if you can sell more products and/or services to your existing base by creating a “value package.” The “value meal” or “combo” is the fast food version of pulling items together to provide more value at a slight discount to gain more sales.
- Are there companies you can partner with to create a Win/Win? Partnering with a company that has a product or service that would be of interest to your existing customer/members, referring business and mean you earn a finder’s fee or referral fee.
- If you already have business partners, can you increase effectiveness and volume for more fee income? In the financial biz, the financial investment partner, mortgage partner, or insurance partner all represent opportunities to build more revenue together.
- What’s hot that might be of value to your customers/members? Find new services to offer that can provide a line of income. For example, one item that has been popping up is data storage or back-up services for vital information.
This is the time to step outside your traditional business model and see what opportunities might be there to spark new life in your revenues for the 4th Quarter!