Nothing Happens Until You Make A Sale

One of Nine Principles That Will Make Your Business More Profitable

Under the Universal Business Model (UBM), there are three business functions that must work well together in order to increase profit: accounting, marketing, and production. Any of these business functions that acts independently of the other two can doom a company.

The function we would like to focus on today is marketing; marketing is the function of business that brings customers to your door, and culminates in some sort of sale. And when marketing works well with production and accounting, profits increase.

As a business owner, you must assess the accounting to see which services are making you the most money. With a tax practice, you must clearly define specific services you offer: tax planning, business taxes, personal taxes, consultations, etc. And once you determine which services are most profitable, you should focus some energy on better marketing those services. If the marketing’s done right, you will produce more of those profitable services and make your business more lucrative.

If you don’t have a marketing plan, and a way to put it into effect, don’t go into business! That seems logical. Doesn’t everyone have a marketing plan? The reality is that thousands of businesses are started everyday by people who simply cross their fingers, hoping that customers find them, either randomly, or perhaps by Divine means.

Great customers do not just appear; they are made! Look at it this way: You have an amazing service that people are willing to pay for, and it has a great profit margin. Would you stop telling people about it? Marketing informs customers about your services, and brings them through the door.

One principle can make your business more profitable: nothing happens until you make a sale! This concept is critical to the success of any business. What do you have to sell? How does that product or service meet your customers’ needs? How do you get customers to your door so you can show them your product or service? If you do not have a method to sell, then there is no need to have a business. Everything starts with the sale. Summarized below are the key concepts that support this first principle:

• Every asset should be engaged in making sales. Whether you’re a business of one person or several, everyone in the company must have a marketing mindset! Every employee should be involved in the sales process in some way. If he or she is not involved on the front line with customers themselves, then he or she should be supporting someone who is (and that includes you, the business owner!).

• Sales training is essential! Take the time to assess what’s working, and what’s not. Consider changes in your sales techniques to enhance everyone’s skills. And if you have them, invite your employees to hear their input, and remind them that sales make the business flourish. The goal is to increase sales every day.

• Every customer is a new customer. What works with one customer may not work with the next. Great sales people identify the needs and point of view of each new customer before they give the customers their own point of view. Then they meet the customers’ needs with the products and services they are selling. These skills can be learned and transferred to others. That is the reason you should meet with all the members of your team, regardless of how small or large it is.

Everything you do in business is related to marketing. Accounting should play an integral part of the marketing effort. How can an accounting system help in marketing? Your accounting system should collect critical information for you. Your accounting system should provide the answers to the following questions which will support sales growth:

• What services do your clients pay for? Where are they coming from? How much did each customer pay for the services you provide? How did they pay—cash or credit?

• What services or product lines are selling the most? What services have the greatest gross profit margin? How are these services selling, compared to other services?

• What is the cost of sales? Which assets are being used to create sales? (Remember, all assets in the business should be used in some way to promote sales.)

• What information from each sale needs to be collected to help in making future sales, and in responding to the customer’s specific needs?

“Nothing Happens until You Make a Sale ” is just one of nine principles that will make your business more profitable. Allen Bostrom, president of Universal Accounting Center , has written the book In the Black: 9 Principles to Make Your Business Profitable to help small business owners like you succeed. If this one principle has helped you, order the book to read 8 more tried and true principles that you can apply immediately! For less than $20, you can take the necessary steps to build a more lucrative business today.

Marketing is Not an Intrusion; it’s an Opportunity to Provide Additional Benefits

Look for opportunities to help your clients and marketing opportunities will present themselves every day.