5 Ways your business can make money!!!

5 Ways your business can make more money

The key to successfully increasing your business income is to be sure the cost of diversifying isn’t making your profits negligible or nonexistent. All of the ideas below are ways your business can make money without spending a lot of money to do it.

How to make more money:

1)   Rent out part of your business premises.

If you own or lease physical business premises, do you really need all of your current space? If not, you can make more by renting out the space to another business.

2)   Package services as products.

 If your business primarily involves selling services, you can make more money by packaging your services as products rather than charging clients an hourly rate.

3)   Shift your sales focus

Shifting your sales to focus to your current customers rather than attracting new customers makes excellent economic sense because your current customers are already converted prospects. They know your company and your products and are easier to sell to.

4)   Lend out your employees

Do you have talented, marketable people working for you? Then maybe you could sub-contract them to other businesses. For instance, if you have exceptional managers, you could hire them out to other enterprises to run exercises in team-building and management skills.

5)   Add value-added services or products

A carpet cleaner selling bottles of spot remover. A store selling kitchenware offering cooking lessons. These are all examples of adding value-added products that customers and clients might be willing to pay money for.

Can you think of any other ideas that would help small businesses make more money without spending it?

In response to Rachel's Post...

Watch this video…

Do you think an experiment like this could happen in the US?

When I read this question “Do you think an experiment like this could happen in the US, I just laugh. I think that the commercial was hilarious and really made me want to watch. But as Americans I don’t believe all people would think this was funny. I think something would happen and there was probably be a law suit some where down the road. Or better yet someone would of probably started shooting back at the other people. But it’s definitely a great way to catch someone’s attention. Some people might take it the same way as the others in the commercial but everyone’s so different it’s hard to describe everyone as a whole.

In response to Nichole' s post

How different do you think buying a new car compared to a used car is? Would you rather buy a used or new car? Why?

I think that buying a new car would be a better than an old car. A few reasons why I believe that a new car is better then an old car is that you don’t have to repair it as often, now as much money goes into a new car and a nice car is less likely to break down. I am actually looking into buying a car and I am looking fir a brand new car. I would rather pay more for a nice car then a car I know I am going to have to eventually fix.  But one considers a new car read the following

• Monthly repairs for the typical American car on the road (approximately seven years old) run about 5 percent of a family’s budget.
• A new car takes about 15 percent of the family’s budget. Compare 5 percent per month for maintenance on an older car to about 15 percent to buy a new car – no contest.
• It’s common to justify a new car because of better gas mileage than an existing car. But some new cars would have to be driven for 20 years or more to reap mileage savings equal to the car’s cost.
• Unless your car is worn out (200,000 miles or more), it’s often less costly to repair the existing car than to replace it with a newer model.
• Low-cost financing tempts many to buy a new car. But nothing is free. The dealer may offer a low-interest loan, but the vehicle probably will cost more.

Should a car be financed?
Buying a car by financing has become the norm in today’s society. However, the best way to finance a car is not to finance it at all! 

• For most people, it’s best to save money and pay cash for a car. Auto financing is poor stewardship, even when below-market factory financing is offered at “too good to be true” rates.
• If you must finance the purchase of car, there are some basic guidelines that should be followed.
• If possible, arrange a loan through a bank or other financial institution, because this allows you to negotiate with the dealer on a cash basis.
• Don’t trade in an old car. Sell it. If a car dealer can sell a trade-in and make a profit, so can you.
• If your car isn’t paid off, keep it until it is. Otherwise, the current car debt is simply refinanced into the new car loan.
• If financing is necessary to buy a car, begin immediately to save in order to buy your next car with cash.

During the average family’s lifetime, more money is spent for automobiles than homes. Therefore, when considering the purchase of another car, remember that the least expensive car is usually the car you are currently driving. However, cars do wear out, and if another car is necessary, the best option is to buy a good used car, preferably at a price that can be paid in cash.

Promoting your business...

A daycare is the ideal job I would like to accomplish, as I get older. Owning a daycare is what I have always dreamed of! As parents look for daycare you want your name to stand out. You can help make this happen by promoting your business even when you don’t have a vacancy, so, when you do have space, you already well known and highly-regarded.

These tips will help you remember that your child minded and also helping out the benefits of your business.

Regularly update your families information service (FIS), details make sure that you complete any forms sent to you by your FIS, and aim to answer every question. If something changes about your service, for example, you gain a qualification; remember to tell your FIS.

Talk to others about what works for them, your FIS, childcare support workers, and other childcares will be able to let you know what type of advertising is successful in your area and how they fill vacancies. Find out what parents want. Talk to the people above, and the parents you know, about what families would like from their ideal childcare service. Ask the parents you already work with how they found you and what attracted them.

Sign up for vacancy schemes find out if any vacancy schemes are running in your area. Many schools and children’s center’s now offer vacancy-matching schemes.

Get involved in local projects, try contacting your local authority, children's centre, or child minding development worker to see if there are any projects you could get involved in, for instance, offering respite care. As well as helping to fill places, these projects give you experience in different types of work, which can lead to future interest in your service.

Join a child minding network, you’ll have the support of a coordinator when you have vacancies to fill and may get the chance to become quality assured or accredited to offer early years education — another string to your bow! You can find out whether there is a network in your area by contacting local authority early years team.

Turn your successes into news stories, if you have some good news, share it! Contact your local paper, radio station or child-minding newsletter, or produce your own newsletter for the families you work with. Always display best practice - wherever you are, make sure that people remember you for the quality of care you give the children.

Join a group or network; Joining a child minding network or group is one of the best things you can do to promote registered child minding and your own business. By working together you can reach a much wider audience. You can work together to fill vacancies by letting one another know when you have vacancies to fill or know of families looking for childcare. Many networks and groups have a vacancy coordinator whose contact details are put on publicity materials and held by the FIS.

Hit the headlines, it’s easier to get publicity as part of a group, so organize lots of events and invite the papers along, or send them photos afterwards.

Promotional materials, Produce leaflets, posters, and a website holding your group’s details. This can be cost effective and some places will only display general group adverts. You could even invest in a radio advert.

Attend events, Arrange stands at school events or shopping centers, or give a talk at a Sure Start centre. Some groups arrange drop-ins where parents looking for childcare meet child minders.

Reach employers, Make a list of employers in your area then share them out and contact their personnel departments to find out if your group could have its vacancy coordinators details put up in the staff room or in the office newsletter.

Get yourself heard, Nominate group members to attend local authority meetings, take part in early years forums and respond to any consultations to make sure child minding is on people’s minds.  

How would you promote your daycare? What would you do to help your business survive.

How to design a successful promotional strategy...

Like any marketing strategy, using custom items as a promotional giveaway will not always guarantee success to your campaign. All marketing strategies, from the simple distribution of promotional items to a nationwide tri-media campaign, are just tools that can help you reach your goals. Their overall effectiveness is largely dependant on how these ‘tools” are in relation to your target objectives.

Again, like any marketing strategy, there is no exact formula that you can follow in order to be successful. Every marketing guru will have his or her own “proven” approach in maximizing the ROI of your marketing budget, but in truth, there is no clear and exact path that will be applicable to all. The reason for this is that each industry and each company in that industry will require a different set of strategies to fit their own strengths, culture, and values. Though, what is possible is to have a set of strategies that can serve as a skeletal framework for your own customized approach. This set of strategies, for certain, will not cover all the aspects that can help you achieve a successful marketing campaign. But what these strategies can only do is to provide you the guidelines that you should expand on to fit your own business.

And as for the promotional product strategy, below is the framework that your program should have:

1)     Do an extensive research on your target market. It's never about you, and it's always about them. Doing a thorough market research is something that should be present not just in the promotional items strategy, but in ALL marketing strategy. This step is the very foundation of your campaign, and failing to do this effectively will always lead to disastrous results.

2)     Evaluate and pick the best event where you can meet your target market. After your thorough market research, you should already have enough info to develop a segment for your target market based on their geographic, demographic, and psychographic classifications. And from this target segment, you should then find and utilize the best event that your segment is most likely be attending or joining.

3)     Choose and design the perfect promotional items to fit your market, event, and brand. Again, based on the segment you are targeting, you should then choose the appropriate promotional product that your target market will appreciate. Design also plays a big factor in the success of your campaign. Examples of design issues to focus on are saliency of logo to t-shirt colors and the clarity of message on printed items.

4)     Plan a distribution program for your promotional items during the event which should answer the following questions: 1) How can your target market find or get attracted to your location (booth) during the event? 2) How can you effectively distribute your corporate giveaway? 3)How can you deliver your message (sales pitch) or gather information from your target market (contact details) during the distribution process?

5)     Create a system to organize all gathered info. This step is often overlooked since most believe that the success of the promotional item campaign is only measured by the success of the event itself. But in truth, this step will separate the weak from the strong marketing strategy. A solid system in organizing your gathered info will often determine the ROI of your efforts.

6)      Design a lead follow-up program from the gathered information. In other words, call and follow-up on your gathered leads.

In response to Nichole's Post

What are some important ways non-profit companies should do to receive more money for marketing?

            There are many different way to raise money for you company I have listed a few ideas below:

      Fundraisers

o   How organization raises money is limitless. You can do everything from sending out letters requesting donations and telling people about your cause to holding a car wash on a hot summer afternoon. When looking at fundraisers consider the demographic and community you will be targeting. If you are approaching a community that has a strong school presence, you dont want to have competing fundraisers of cookie dough, gift wrap or chocolates. Find a way to make your fundraisers stand out from what the “normal” things are.

o   Create an annual event such as a dance or auction that invites people in for an evening wrapping station to ease the stress of people who cant get it all done for the holidays. Providing a service or entertaining donors always contributes to success.

       Be part of the community

o   A successful non-profit organization cannot isolate itself within the community. You can’t be threatened by the competing dollars, so network with other organization leaders, community leaders and the public at large. In doing so, you understand what is working for others and what isn’t. You also develop relationships with people who may be able to provide you a larger platform or endorse your endeavors. Successful leaders of non-profit organizations understand that their role is as much political as it is philanthropic and that you need to maintain this balance of finesse to help your organization succeed.

      Team up

o   While everyone is looking for the donation dollars, there are many symbiotic relationships that can exist between non-profit organizations. School groups can team up with youth sports teams or civic service groups. A clinic that provides education and birth control means for teenagers can create a partnership with AIDS awareness groups. Parent clubs and organizations can work with local churches or autism groups, finding ways to fill more than one need. When you are able to work together, you are able to combine resources to make larger events that attract more people, get more publicity and press, and earn more for everyone.

Would you rather open a non-profit organization or a profittied organization? Why are some of the positives and negatives of each organization?

Pricing Issues in International Marketing

Price can be defined in the ratio terms, giving the equation:

                             resources given up
price  =     ———————————————               
                                 goods received

With this equation there are several ways that the price can be changed:

·      “Sticker” price changes- the most obvious way to change the price is the price tag. You receive the same thing, but for a different amount of money.

·      Change quantity. Consumers respond negatively to an increased sticker price, and change in quantity are sometimes noticed less.

·      Change quality. Another way candy manufacturers have effectively increased prices is through a reduction in quality.

·      Change terms. In the old days, most software manufacturers provided free support for their programs. Nowadays, you either have to call a 900 number or have a credit care handy to get help from software makers. Another way to change terms is to do away with favorable financing terms.

Consumers often develop internal reference prices or expectations about what something should cost, based mostly on their experience. Retailers very often promote soft drinks, since consumers tend to have a good idea of process and these products are quite visible. The trick, is to be more expensive on products where price expectations are muddier.

Marketers often try to influence people’s price perceptions through the use of external reference prices. For example

• Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). This is often pure fiction. The suggested retail prices in certain categories are deliberately set so high that even full service retailers can sell at a "discount." Thus, although the consumer may contrast the offering price against the MSRP, this latter figure is quite misleading.
• "SALE! Now $2.99; Regular Price $5.00." For this strategy to be used legally in most countries, the claim must be true (consistency of enforcement in some countries is, of course, another matter). However, certain products are put on sale so frequently that the "regular" price is meaningless. In the early 1990s, Sears was reported to sell some 55% of its merchandise on sale.
• "WAS $10.00, now $6.99."
• "Sold elsewhere for $150.00; our price: $99.99."

Can you think of another way marketers can change the prices without the consumer knowing? Do you think this is ethical or unethical?