Business Profitability: How To Increase Business Profitability

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Business Profitability: Discover The Secrets

Are you an entrepreneur who wants to increase business profitability?

Do you dream of being able to treat yourself to life's little luxuries like the Lamborghini in the picture?

This lens is designed to help you to build a bigger, better business with increased profitability using the eight pillars of business prosperity.

It will help you to become a customer focused entrepreneur or custompreneur committed to succeeding by helping your customers to succeed.

Together We Can Make This A Great Resource For Increasing Business Profitability 

I have designed the lens to be as interactive as possible so as you read, I recommend that you take part in the surveys and check out the current results, vote for your favourite business profitability related book and if it is not there, add it to the list and leave comments and stories.

By working together we can make this a great resource to help you to increase the profitability of your business now and in the future.

Most of all please tell me how I can make it a better source of business profitability information but remember I do have plans to write detailed lens on each of the eight pillars.

As well as my own ideas, I have tried to help you by packing this page with free reports, articles and my favourite business books and audios.

Towards the bottom I have a little survey on why people buy or don't buy business advice. It would be great if you could vote on your reasons. Thanks.

Guide To Improving Business Profitability Contents 

Thank you for visiting my Business Profitability page.

The following sections are included in this guide to increasing business profitability.

Your Business Profitability Goal 

You won't increase your profits by wishful thinking.

You have to set a business profitability goal and then take purposeful action towards achieving that goal.

However I believe that profit is the reward for providing great value to customers and therefore, to achieve your business profitability goal, you need to become a customer focused entrepreneur (or custompreneur).

The Eight Pillars Of Business Prosperity 

As an entrepreneur or owner of a small business I would like to introduce you to my model for helping you to increase business profitability - The Eight Pillars Of Business Prosperity.

Each pillar gives you opportunities to improve your profit and move you closer to achieving your business profitability goal.

Poor performance in any one pillar could be holding back your business. It would be like driving your car with the handbrake still on. Every forward step you take would be harder and more difficult than it should be.
  1. Your key numbers - the way you measure your business performance and react to the issues revealed.

    Good performance on this pillar allows you to identify opportunities and problems quickly so that you can take the right action. Poor performance leaves you guessing about what is working and what is not and where you concentrate your time and attention.
    ...
  2. Your vision for your business and the way that vision is translated into goals and priorities that control how you manage your time and the time of your team members.

    Good performance on this pillar gives you laser like focus on where you are going, what you should do and how you allocate and manage your time. Poor performance leaves your drifting and unsure what to do next.
    ...
  3. Your distinctive market position. What makes your business different and better than your competitors and more appealing to your target market.

    Good performance targets the right prospective customers and clients with the right offers at the right time. Poor performance leaves you unsure who your best customers are or what they want so you send out infrequent marketing messages with little direct appeal leaving you to appear average and bland.
    ...
  4. How you generate more leads for your business.

    Good performance creates high qualified leads eager to buy your products and services. Poor performance generates little interest and few responses.
    ...
  5. How you improve the rate you convert leads into paying customers.

    Good performance makes the selling process easy and highly profitable. Poor performance leads to high costs, sales staff with low morale and as a result high staff turnover.
    ...
  6. The way you persuade customers to buy from you once you have made that first sale and buy more from you in the future.

    Good performance gives you delighted customers who will buy from you again and recommend you to their friends and associates. Poor performance leads to little repeat business and holds back your profit like a massive lead weight. Get this pillar right and it is like finding the key to the treasure chest filled with gold.
    ...
  7. How you lead your team to achieve your business vision.

    Good performance means happy, motivated and successful staff working tirelessly to build the company you have always wanted. Bad performance means life is hard and tough and you can't trust anyone to do what you want, when you want to the right level of performance.
    ...
  8. How you systematise your business so that it works well without you.

    Good performance means the business operates like a well oiled machine delivering high quality, consistent, predictible results that delight customers and puts cash into your bank account while you do what you have always wanted to do. Poor performance means the business depends on you to be there or on call every hour of every working day. There is no escape. You and your business are chained together.
    ...

Using The Eight Pillars Of Business Prosperity To Reach Your Business Profitability Goal 

When I start working with a new client I focus on three essential issues:

Where are you now? This looks to answer the question "How is your business currently performing?"

Where do you want to go? What do you want your business to be in the future?

How you get from where you are to where you want to be. To move quickly you need to identify the priority areas that need action taken and apply the right skills which you either have, you learn or you outsource.

What Is The Biggest Business Problem You Have? 

This is your chance to tell me which of the Eight Pillars Of Business Prosperity is giving you the biggest headache. What is the biggest constraint to you increasing business profitability?

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Where Are You Now? The First Stage To Increasing Business Profitability 

Too many business owners struggle with business profitability problems because they don't know how their business is performing.

Instead of managing for the business based on facts they try to manage based on feelings, emotions and opinions.

I find it very revealing when I see what is measured and how often.

It tells me how results oriented the business owner is, how well the business owner understands his economic business model and to what extent the entrepreneur controls what happens in the business.

In fact it tells me whether the owner is managing business profitability or allowing profits to be whatever they will be.

Just as fascinating is the answer to "what do you do with the information?"

Too often I see performance information and management accounts produced too late, to a wrong level of detail and full of irrelevant data.

It discourages action to improve business profitability.

The tendency is to hope any problem is a blip and has got better by itself. It saves making a decision and taking action.

Sometimes this approach works and the problem does go away. More often the problem has become worse and more money is wasted.

If you think measuring performing and understanding the drivers of business profitability is busy work then see what Bill Gates has to say:

"How you gather, manage and use information will determine whether you win or lose."

This is why establishing a clear focus on your key numbers is covered in Pillar 1 and involves understanding your business model and establishing benchmark performance levels.

I have created another Squidoo lens to help you concentrate on Pillar 1 and Measure Your Performance which explains How To Use Key Performance Indicators although it still needs its content extended.

Where Do You Want To Go? 

Without a clear direction, business can become a matter of day to day survival rather than building a profitable business for the future.

Entrepreneurs can lose the original vision and the dreams they had when they first started.

But it is that vision which created the passion and enthusiasm to start the business and it is an essential part of being able to continue to drive the business forward towards increasing profitability.

As the saying goes "If you don't know where you are going, any road will do."

Clarifying your vision is the topic of Pillar 2. When you have a clear vision and direction for the future, you should set goals to establish a pathway with milestones from the present day "here" to the future "there".

For example you may set your vision to be the largest specialist retailer in your area in five years time and you decide that to achieve your vision, your goal is to grow from sales of £400k per year to £5 million. It is ambitious but if you aim low, you may achieve even less.

By breaking down the goal into milestones

Year 1 0.6 million
Year 2 1.0 million
Year 3 2.0 million
Year 4 3.5 million
Year 5 5.0 million

it forces you to focus on the changes which must happen in your business if you are to achieve your vision.

Those goals drive the priorities for actions that need to be taken. These important priorities need be introduced into your normal working week so that the day-to-day urgent tasks of running your business don't drive out your important business building actions.

How you manage your time is a primary driver of the profiyability of your business.

How Do You Get From Where You Are To Where You Want To Go? 

There is a section below that starts to explain the other six Pillars of Business Prosperity.

I am in the process of creating additional, more detailed lens on each Pillar but it will take time.

At the moment I am not sure whether it is better to produce one definitive pillar on performance measurement or the skeletons of all eight pillars and add to each as inspiration arises.

Perhaps you would like to share your thoughts on this dilemma in the feedback box. Whis are do you feel you most want and need extra advice on to increase business profitability?

Your Favourite Business Guru To Increase Business Profitability 

This is your chance to cast your vote on a favourite business guru who has had the biggest impact on your business success.

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My Favourite Resources To Help You To Increase Profitability 

I really wish this was mine but when I found out about Scott Hallman and his Small Business Growth Club in 2007 I was amazed.

Superb profit building information and it is taken down to step by step implementation guides.

Want to learn how to upsell and cross-sell? No problem.

Need more referrals? Easy using the Small Business Growth Club systems.

You would like your customers to buy more often? OK, this is what you do first, second...

I can't stop raving about it and I don't understand why Scott Hallman is not much more famous.

If you want to increase your business profitability, join the Small Business Growth Club and start implementing the ideas from the Optimise Profits modules.
Small Business Growth Club
The website is horrible but don't let that put you off.

Just let Scott Hallman guide you through with the audio.

The contents is superb.
Mark Joyner Simpleology
Best selling author and entrepreneur Mark Joyner is bringing a terrific set of resources together based around his concept of Simpleology - the simple science of getting what you want.

The sign up page doesn't give you a clue to the treasures that are inside - many of which are free including an excellent time management course, Simpleology 101 - and mastering time is critical to improve business profitability.

PLEASE DON'T IGNORE THIS FREE OFFER - At Last You Can Get Advice To Increase Business Profitability From The Top Business Expert 

The League of Extraordinary Minds is a brand new venture starting October 15th 2009 which brings together 53 of the top business brains.

Headed by two of my main mentors - Jay Abraham and Rich Schefren - the League of Extraordinary Minds will offer a wide range of free business advice which you don't want to miss if you want to increase profitability.

Sign up for more details at League of Extraordinary Minds (affiliate link) to follow this exciting venture. The LOEM is promising a lot of free stuff but inevitably there will be offers to buy stuff as well if you want to know more.

Over 27,000 entrepreneurs took up this offer of free business advice in the first four days. Make sure that you don't miss out on tips that could make a big difference to your profits.

If you are a fan of Jay Abraham, and I have never known anyone with a better mindset for finding and exploiting opportunities for profit, the bonus offer for the mp3 copies of the recordings is stacked with bonuses and is great value - see League Of Extraordinary Minds Bonus

Other LInks To Resources To Help You To Increase Business Profitability 

Here are some recommended links to my favourite blogs and websites that are focused on helping you to increase business profitability.
Business Coaching
My main blog with more of my ideas on how to increase business profitability and the news and thoughts of my eight business development superstars - Jay Abraham, Michael Gerber, Jay Conrad Levinson, Chet Holmes, Brian Tracy, Peter Thomson, Rich Schefren and Scott Hallman
Small Business Success
A great website for owners of small businesses.

It now includes a forum where I am a regular contributor.

"Sign up for free profit tips and more details of the Eight Pillars of Business Prosperity"

Why You Should Sign Up To My Newsletter 

Everyone has a newsletter but mine is a bit special. (Totally biased I know but if I don't believe it, you won't).

As an immediate signing on bonus you receive two special reports to help you increase business profitability:

How To Win Profitable Business Away From Competitors - one business adviser who signed up emailed back and said I should be charging £10 for this.

Marketing Secrets For Small Businesses - a little introduction to the thinking of Jay Conrad Levinson (Guerrilla Marketing) and Jay Abraham.

Over time I train you on how you can apply the Eight Pillars of Business Prosperity to your business.
Sign Up To Newsletter
Remember you get the free reports, I don't pass on your email address and the most emails I send out in a month is four.
How To Increase Your Profit by $5k in 30 Days
Scott Hallman has given me permission to give you his excellent guide to boosting your profits by $5k in 30 days. Highly recommended.
Jay Abraham Windfall Profits Paradox
I also have permission to share Jay Abraham's Windfall Profit Paradox

How To Get From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be And Increase Business Profitability 

The remaining six pillars concentrate on how you can get from where you are to where you want to be.

(I am in the process of creating separate lens for each of the pillars - please be patient.)

Pillar 3 is about your business and market strategy and in particular how you find your unique position that differentiates you in the eyes of your target market while operating from a low cost base.

The more you stand out from your competitors in ways that are valued, the more loyalty you will create. The more customers will be prepared to pay a premium price and the more reasons they have for buying from you rather than your competitors.

This "marketing strategy" issue of correctly positioning your business is a key ingredient to increasing business profitability but it is often over-looked in the rush to attract customers, any customers.

Pillar 4 looks at how you generate leads in your business in terms of the different ways you create attention, interest and desire and in the cost effectiveness of each route to market.

Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the best selling Guerrilla Marketing series of books has now identified 200 different Guerrilla Marketing Weapons, many of which are free or low cost.

Pillar 5 examines the way that you convert leads into customers.

To some extent this is controlled by how you use the lead generation ideas to target in to your ideal buyers who you and you alone can satisfy. If that happens, the sales cycle is effectively done for you although you are still in a position to lose sales.

Most of us don't target such a tight niche to make us the only possible solution so there is work to be done to convert a lead into a sale.

I don't believe in hard sell so my techniques can be seen as helping the customer to buy, if but only if, the product or service is right for the customer.

Any business that aims to smooth talk customers into buying unsuitable products is storing up a heap of trouble and is being extremely short sighted.

Pillar 6 looks at turning a one time buyer into a regular customer.

You will have heard it before but it costs about six times less to sell to an existing happy customer than it does to a new prospect.

The profit from any customer relationship is in these back end sales and this is very much Jay Abraham territory.

But. as well as looking at marketing, Pillar 6 also looks at the topic of customer service. For a customer to keep buying, they have to be very pleased with the value of the products and services they receive.

Pillar 7 shifts focus from the outside world of customers and competitors to what happens inside your company and in particular the way you recruit, manage and lead your team of employees.

It is virtually impossible to deliver great customer service without having a happy, committed and motivated team.

Pillar 8 recognises that however good your team is, they need the right systems, processes and resources to work with.

I am in the process of creating detailed lens for each of these pillars to help you find the best ideas and information.

I Used To Think These Reports Were Too Good To Give Away Free 

I have always tried to give away high quality free information but sometimes I used to think "This is too good to give away free."

But I have changed my mind and I am starting to release the best I have but there is one catch - you do have to give me your email address.
Pricing: How To Price What You Sell
For many businesses this is the number 1 lever to get more profit because so many people don't know how to price. This 21 page report lets you in on the secrets and tells you how to learn even more about pricing for extra profit.
Presentation skills
Learn how to make better presentations with this free 15 page report. Improving your ability to present can help you throughout the sales process, help you lead your team and help you to involve your employees when systematising your business and improving the processes. In short better presentation skills are a key skill for improving your profit.

Do You Make An Irresistible Offer? 

One of my favourite resources to help business owners increase profitability is Simpleology, the training company created by marketing guru Mark Joyner.

There is a lot of great stuff available but the thing I want to focus your attention on now is the chance to get his best selling book, "The Irresistible Offer" for free.

The Best Books To Help You To Increase Business Profitability 

So many business books, so little time.

Here are my top tips for the books that I recommend you do make the time to read.

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition by Jay Abraham

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition by Jay Abraham

In my opinion Jay Abraham has the finest mind for more...2 points

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber

Groundbreaking book that explains why most small b more...0 points

E-Myth Mastery: The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company by Michael E. Gerber

E-Myth Mastery: The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company by Michael E. Gerber

Skim read Part 1, the gold is in part 2 as Michael more...0 points

Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your SmallBusiness by Jay Conrad Levinson

Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your SmallBusiness by Jay Conrad Levinson

I was won over to Guerrilla Marketing with one sen more...0 points

The One Minute Manager by Kenneth H. Blanchard

The One Minute Manager by Kenneth H. Blanchard

Short, easy and quick to read. Suddenly managing y more...0 points

The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Kenneth H. Blanchard

The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Kenneth H. Blanchard

This great little book stops you making a fundamen more...0 points

The Best Audios To Help You Increase Business Profitability 

I am a big fan of audio courses because it can be easier to listen to someone than read. Audios are great for people who drive long distances and for people with mp3 players.

I really think this is a great way to absorb improvements tips to help you increase business profitability.

The MasterMind Marketing System

Jay Abraham's great audio that converted me into a massive fan - a master at increasing business profitability.

Amazon Price: (as of 11/28/2009) Buy Now

The Best-Kept Secrets of the World's Greatest Achievers - Do what great achievers do so you can have what great achievers have!

Every month for more than ten years Peter Thomson has interviewed a great achiever and this audio course compiles the lessons and includes some of the interviews. Tips for personal improvement and business profitability.

Amazon Price: (as of 11/28/2009) Buy Now

Close the Deal

An introduction to the Sandler Sales System which takes a different approach to many traditional sales systems. As well as being informative it is also great to listen to for its entertainment value if you are involved in any sales activities and extra sales usually mean increasing profits.

Amazon Price: (as of 11/28/2009) Buy Now

The Latest Business Profitability Advice From My Business Coaching Blog 

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Your Stories Of Successfully Increasing Business Profitability 

Please share your success stories of how you have improved your business profitability.

Do you have a particular tip to pass on to readers of this lens that made a major difference to your business in one of the pillars of business prosperity.

submit
  • Reply
    chefkeem chefkeem Apr 23, 2008 @ 9:56 am
    I'm glad you commented on my "diary of a small business owner" lens, so I could find you! I will come back and browse your lenses. You seem to provide tons of very useful business info. Thank you! 5*s
  • Reply
    seowebdesigntips seowebdesigntips Mar 15, 2008 @ 6:46 pm
    Nice, informative, interactive. Thanks for sharing it!
  • Reply
    Marian Snow Marian Snow Mar 10, 2008 @ 11:53 am
    Love your highly informative lens! Lots of info. I've met Jay Abraham and heard much about his work.

    I LOVE Seth Godin's writing and insights. So much to do...so little time! I have written a bestselling book and would love to send you a preview. I'm using Seth Godin's "Unleashing the Idea Virus" concept to get my book, STOP SITTING ON YOUR ASSETS, out to everyone for no cost: To get a free copy, just cut and past this link:

    http://www.coauthor.biz/ca/SSOYA-FreeNCA.exe

    You can also read about it at my hubpage to see the link at:

    http://hubpages.com/hub/thin_credit_file

    Love your info above. It is really valuable.
  • Reply
    thomasz thomasz Feb 12, 2008 @ 11:31 pm
    Interesting lens. Nice info.
  • Reply
    Your_Profit_Coach Your_Profit_Coach Feb 2, 2008 @ 8:47 am
    Thanks Engi for being the first to comment on this lens.

    Can I ask people to put general comments in my Please Provide Feedback section rather than this Success Stories section which I hope will build up some inspiring tales of entrepreneurial success and serious money making.
  • Reply
    engi engi Feb 2, 2008 @ 4:24 am
    Very educational. I am trying to create my own internet business but not very business minded. This lens has provided me with some useful info.

I Would Love To Receive Some Feedback On This Business Profitability Lens 

Please let me know what you think and if you love it, don't forget to vote.

I hope that you like my Squidoo lens explaining how to improve business profitability.

I appreciate feedback, both praise and constructive criticism. It all helps me improve the lens to help you and people like you.

submit
  • Reply
    expert_edge expert_edge Dec 31, 2008 @ 7:38 pm
    Great lens! There is a lot of very helpful information and resources here for increasing profitability. I'd love it if you'd stop by The Expert's Edge lens and say hello when you have the chance.
  • Reply
    g_e_ g_e_ Nov 6, 2008 @ 2:21 am
    great info! a lensroll for you!
  • Reply
    g_e_ g_e_ Nov 6, 2008 @ 2:21 am
    great info! a lensroll for you!
  • Reply
    Tom_Antion Tom_Antion Mar 26, 2008 @ 11:17 am
    Great lens! Love the information. Please visit my The Great Public Speaking Shoppe right here on squidoo. Get great deals for all my stuff on eBay and be the best speaker you can be! -TOM
  • Reply
    NatChar NatChar Mar 1, 2008 @ 9:15 am
    A great lens! Lots of resourceful information that a persons needs to follow and structure in their business. 5 stars!
  • Reply
    Your_Profit_Coach Your_Profit_Coach Feb 15, 2008 @ 10:30 pm
    Evan

    Sorry if you think this is the normal hypeyness as that was very far from my intention when writing the lens. It is intended to point you towards resources which I believe will be help you to be successful.
  • Reply
    Evan Evan Feb 14, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
    Hi,

    Your site seems to have lots of good information - althought there is the usual hypey-ness. This is especially funny when people like Rich Schefren (do you think that is really his first neame?) try to use non-hype as the latest spin on hype.

    I am wanting to build a successful and profitable blog. My main motivation is not money. Most business stuff is not oriented to the cottage level that I want to work at. I don't want a big team. If I can keep it to me and outsource tech stuff and do advertising or get a marketer so that there is two of us that's best by me. Best would be just me. As you can see I'm not in the usual entrepreneurial bag - the values and approach of some of the people in this world are quite repellent to me. Some of them seem to think that being wealthy makes them admirable - these are sad people.

    So, if you can provide business stuff for pepole starting out at may level who want to go where I want to head this would be fantastic.
  • Reply
    Feb 12, 2008 @ 2:55 am
    Hi, really amazing lens,i like this lens because it has a massive information which i need .The bottom line goal of any business venture is to make a profit. Computing business profitability is the key to understanding how well this goal is being met.I have a lens based on how did you lose weight fast,this lens as a lot of valuable information which would be really helpful to all. Thanks.
  • Reply
    Your_Profit_Coach Your_Profit_Coach Feb 10, 2008 @ 2:33 am
    Carla, thanks for the comment and you are right I should have included Napoleon Hill since he was the first to really study success. He has been added so that you can vote when you return.
  • Reply
    CarlaFox CarlaFox Feb 9, 2008 @ 11:45 pm
    My favorite Business Guru is Napoleon Hill. He wasn't in the list, but I had to give him props. I'm going to have to favorite your lens and come back for more. Thanks for the info.
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Business Coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Your Profit Coach is a trading name of Planning & Control Solutions Ltd, a company registered in England No 3897173
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