This is the unofficial first week of the summer. For many people, this is the time to kick back and take it easy. You know the lazy, crazy days of summer! And, sure people do take vacations, but not all of them are gone every day all summer. So, you shouldn’t be either.
If you are trying to grow your business, taking it easy really isn’t an option. And, if you take advantage of the time many people do take it easy, your business will be ahead of the game.
Here are some ideas to kick-up your revenues this summer.
1. Start off with an intention or goal for the summer. You have roughly 90 days from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Decide what you what to accomplish in that time. Since we are talking revenue, pick a number and work back from there. Each week start with a weekly goal that will get you to that end result. Review it at the end of the week. It’s important to have a process to generate that revenue. For example, how many calls does it take or how many products do you need to sell to generate “X” dollars?
2. Go back through your business journal to look for an idea that you haven’t followed through on. I know you have an idea that could bring in cash if you went back and looked. Check out this blog post I wrote on the Secret of the $5,000 Notebook. If you don’t keep a journal, start keeping one. You’ll be amazed at how many ideas that you either forget or discard that can produce income for your business.
3. Raise your rates. This may be contrary to what you think you should be doing. I’m sure most of you are not the high cost provider so you aren’t going to price yourself out of the market. One of my clients, Beth, a longarm quilter, resisted raising her rates for fear she would lose clients. When she finally did, she not only did not lose clients, she realized she still wasn’t charging enough and raised the rates again. Charging too little for your products and services is an indication of the extent to which you de-value yourself.
4. Look for ways to bundle your products. If you offer one pattern, consider offering a packet of three. Or add a pattern to a book purchase. See if your shopping cart has an up-sell feature so you suggest additional products or services. That way your average sale will be higher. This idea works for both online and brick and mortar businesses.
5. Use social media to add revenue, whether that’s with a Facebook Flash Sale or Facebook or Instagram Ads. You can also use social media to drive sales to your retail brick and mortar for an unplanned sale.
6. Host an open house or an event. You can invite your customers to special showing of your products. Our local quilt shop hosts an event when her fabric rep is in town so she can show what’s new. Her customers come to see what is new, enjoy a treat and also spend time and money in the shop. Facebook lets you create events, and I have a friend who hosted a live event that featured a quiz and prizes. Of course, the customers who win likely wind up purchasing more.
7. Look at your numbers and review your profitability by product or service. Consider discarding those that do not either create a profit or do not contribute to the sale of other products or services. Look for ways to lower your expenses so you can increase your net profit.
Which idea will you use first to build your revenues this summer?
