This is a continuing article of a series on Key Revenue and Profit Drivers. This article covers how to increase the frequency of sales. This metric helps to describe how you can improve your profit margins

1. Can You Negotiate A Better Deal With The Supplier?

Many businesses use the same supplier year after year never bothering to review their pricing and make sure that it is in line with the market realities. Also, if your business has grown, your supplier is also getting more business from you and may be willing to provide you a discount. You just need to ask.

2. Can You Buy In Bulk?

Buying in bulk is typically cheaper. Make sure your purchases are aligned with your sales so you don’t end up with “dead” inventory.

3. Drop-Ship or Use Just-In-Time?

Having to manage an inventory adds a significant cost to running a business. Having your supplier drop-ship the goods directly to the customer can eliminate the need for stocking the products yourself. Just-in-time deliveries reduce the inventory and its associated expenses.

4. Can You Re-Package Or Re-Create Your Product?

Just packaging an item differently can add value to the product and at the same time reduce your cost. Sometimes by offering a smaller quantity of the same item you can open yourself to a totally new category of customers (e.g., healthy-choice menus for a restaurant).

5. Specialize

Not only can you get paid more as a specialist, you can dramatically improve the efficiencies of your business if you focus on a specific type of customers or specific types of products and services. You won’t need to “re-invent the wheel” every time you get a new customer, won’t need to buy new equipment or learn through trial and error, and your costs will go down.

6. Systemize Your Operations And Procedures

If you have certain operations or procedures that happen over and over in your business, installing standardized systems and processes that are completely foolproof and that will work even if you remove yourself from your business and have someone else run it can make your business infinitely more efficient and will save you time and money.

Next week I will  review some ideas on how to increase the average revenue dollars per sale.

This is a continuing article of a series on  Key Revenue and Profit Drivers. This article covers how to increase the frequency and conversion of presentations to sales for your business.

Buyer skepticism is at an all-time high. You have to use all possible tools to improve your credibility and remove the risk from your customers to do business with you. The following are just some of the ideas to consider.

· Offer A Guarantee “If you can’t guarantee what you’re selling, stop selling it.” Don’t be concerned about the cost of offering a guarantee. You probably already offer a guarantee… you just don’t state it. The increased sales you get because you offer a guarantee will offset any returns you may have.

· Try-It-Before-You-Buy Offers (Sampling) Let’s assume that there are prospects who want and need what you’re offering. How can they be sure that your product or service as really as good as you say it is? The only way for them to them to know it is to start using it.

· Using Scripts Your entire staff should be trained to use specific scripts when they greet customers calling your number or entering the store. They should be scripted, but not ‘canned”. build in a reasonable and unrehearsed cadence and pace to your “conversation”. I would emphasize that it should be a conversation and not a “soliloquy”.

· Free Offers It costs 6 to 8 times more to sell a new prospect, and it’s 16 times easier to sell someone who already knows you and is working with you. Free offers help break the ice and make it risk-free for new prospects to become your customers.

· Sequential Mailings 50% of salespeople give up after just one contact, 80% after the third, and 90% after the fourth contact with a prospective customer. If you go past 8 contacts, you’re probably the only person to go that far. Focus on nurturing your prospects and building relationships while they get to know you. When they are ready to buy, you have a 90% chance of being called.

· Testimonials One of the best ways to melt the ice with the prospective clients is to provide testimonials from your happy customers who are already doing business with you. Anything that comes from a third party is a lot more credible. Still, a lot of businesses do a lousy job collecting the testimonials from their clientèle.

· Awards And Citations Did you product receive any awards that you can mention? Was it mentioned in an article? Just like with testimonials, what others say about you is many times more effective than what you say about yourself.

The opportunity to be hired as next top performer in a company is simple, if you follow a few consistent and disciplined approaches. This is not to imply that it is easy, but it is simple, if you keep in mind and follow a few key components during the interview process. The process is easy to implement and easy to follow. Your interview must be consistent with the stated objectives of the organization, so you should do your homework prior to the personal interview. A few questions to consider when researching the company and its culture:

1. How often has the organization met their objectives in the past 30, 60, 90, 180 360 day time frame?
2. Do you know the qualities that distinguish the companies top performers today?
3. What are the most important performance metrics/objectives of the position for which you are interviewing?
4. How can you be sure you are the best choice among several qualified candidates?
5. How can you demonstrate that you, accelerate productivity for the organizations benefit, as a quick start?
6. How many references and testimonial letters are you bringing to the interview?
7. What can you say, bring or do , to demonstrate that you are a consistent contributor who represents a low risk hiring decision for the company?

Here are 3 considerations when interviewing:1. Bring a Positive, Hireable Attitude to the Interview.

What I mean here is to bring the best of who you are to the interview. your values, skill sets, track record, social skills, communication skills, etc.There are as many as 2800 assessment tools available for use, and many are available to you through the Internet at minimal costs or fee’s. Without an objective, third party assessment tool, you may tend to think you know your strengths, and not be as accurate as you could be. As a candidate you may lose valuable time and energy, because you approached the job interview incorrectly and without sufficient insights into yourself. In the interview you want to communicate that you are teachable, coachable and a quick study. That you bring an appropriate attitude the workplace, and a beginners mind to learning.

2. Always Test for Your Aptitude to Do The Job.

This is accomplished through a variety of tools available that measure your strengths. These include reading speed and accuracy, reading comprehension, arithmetic and arithmetic reasoning skills. You should also measure your preferences for job content and the things that you naturally gravitate towards, and are good to great at doing. There are many tools available, and searchable through Google. Three such assessment tools are Myers Briggs, DISC and the Kolbe A assessment.

3. Always Evaluate  and Bring to the Interview Your Energy Level, Enthusiasm, Resiliency and Commitment.

Make certain to verify and confirm your job history, and performance contributions in all previous assignments. You should develop a series of “bullet proof” interview responses to questions that are asked consistently of all candidates. These questions will be job related, and enable you to share your  key thinking as a candidate. Please remember that it is the attitude and aptitude, communication skills and the ability to think on your “feet” that will separate the great from the good candidates.

In summary rehearse and practice your very best “YOU”, so that you can create separation and distance from you and the other candidates in the process of securing your next, best career opportunity.