How to sort finance - A checklist

 

Some suggested pertinent questions you might do well to ask yourself
 
 
1.    Is there any way that you can put prices up on any of your existing products?

 
2.    Have you been to all of your existing suppliers and asked, ‘Is that the best price that you can do? Have you been to new suppliers and asked them if they can better your existing suppliers?

 
3.    Have you sacked all of your under-performing:
 
a.    Suppliers?
b.    Staff?
c.    Customers?
d.    Products?
 
    If not, why not?

 
4.    What are the ten top strategies you can use to increase sales?
 
a.    Ask for the business
b.    Design a compelling elevator pitch
c.    List 25 target customers and create a five-step strategy to get them
[eg email followed by letter followed by offer of a free book followed by offer of a free report followed by request for an appointment]
d.    Gather together your five top well-connected people and take them out for a meal, then ask them for help finding potential buyers in specified companies and/or industries
e.    Run a customer survey which involves you talking to all of your existing/past customers/clients
f.     Run a private dinner for five existing and five potential clients
g.    Operation Testimonials
[eg ask all existing/past clients for a testimonial or a story to go on your website]
h.    Commit to phone 25 people a day with a target of talking to a minimum of five with an implied target of getting one appointment each day
i.      Remove ten per cent of your product lines to make your offering more specific to your target audience
j.      Create a specific offering for a specific set of customers
[eg free healthcheck for all new orders in this month or Product A combined with Product B for our Top Ten clients...]
 
 
 
 
 
Robert Craven shows MDs and owners how to grow their sales and profits and focuses on how to do this in recessionary times. His latest book is the runaway success “Beating the Credit Crunch – how to survive and thrive in the current recession” www.directorscentre.com
 
He is a keynote speaker and the author of business best-seller ‘Kick-Start Your Business’ ‘(foreword by Sir Richard Branson) and runs The Directors’ Centre, helping growing businesses to grow.
 
For further information, contact Robert Craven on 01225 851044 rc@directorscentre.com .