Finding Hidden Profits in Your Business

By Merra Lee Moffitt

Taking a systematic approach, every business owner can find avenues to greater profits from their business right now. It takes time, commitment and dedication, but the results will yield benefits year after year.

1. Are you getting more customers? Okay, so this is obvious and every business owner spends hours prospecting, marketing and proposing every week finding new customers. Enough said; just don’t stop there.

2. Would your customers buy more if offered? Offer up-sell items. What else might they want next? Have you asked lately? Make sure you have a process for asking as well as offering.

3. Could you raise prices? Not an easy task, admittedly. Handling existing customers smoothly is a customer satisfaction skill every successful business person masters. Charging less than your competition? Now might be time to start tweaking prices.

4. Charging for every hour you deliver? Although many service workers charge by the hour, you may be consistently missing time if your tracking process is inadequate. Are you catching work done at odd hours, odd locations or on the fly?


5. Estimating costs correctly? Do you regularly check job estimates against actual costs?

6. What about customer change requests? You can expect customers to pay for mid-project requested changes provided you had an accurate, detailed job description initially. Then an adequate change order process can smoothly handle changes as an up-sell opportunity.

7. Getting paid fast and often enough? Waiting till Friday to invoice may cause you a week’s delay getting paid. Cash flow is the life blood of business. For long projects, identify sufficient progress points so you can invoice often.

8. Where can you cut your expenses? Everyone can cut something somewhere. Bargain shop your basic expenses. Periodically get new quotes. Occasionally look over every expense transaction with a fine-tooth comb.

9. Regularly conducting job debriefing audits? Regularly review 3 of your most profitable jobs/products and 3 of your least profitable. What went right that you could do more often? What went wrong that needs changing?

10. Keeping up on tax deductions? Probably not. Unless you love tax intricacies, get help. There are 144 tax breaks for business owners. How many apply to you?

Picking even one of these profit producers to apply will improve your business. Do all twelve and I’ll buy you lunch so you can tell me about your results!

As a SCORE Counselor, profitability consultant, and Financial Advisor with Waddell & Reed, Merra Lee Moffitt keeps her eye on the pulse of Small Business. Having created and built her own 40-person company, she KNOWS how to solve small business problems. Merra Lee can be reached at 610-488-7353. © Copyright 2004 Merra Lee Moffitt.