I need to increase the profits in my business to allow me to invest in the growth of my business for the future. I've been in business for 11 years and I need some further guidance on this matter?
In my last article I wrote that the quickest way to impact your profits is to meet with an experienced business mentor, who has a track record of achieving great results (ideally in their own business), to quickly diagnose the quick wins that can be implemented straight away in your business. Considering that you've been in business for 11 years it's probably necessary to carry out a deeper assessment of your business so that you can identify the opportunities for increasing profits into the future.
Sometimes this means really going back to the basics of your business to make sure that your product and service offering is still something that the marketplace really wants and is prepared to pay for. The best way to do this is to talk to your clients/customers/patients and ask them for feedback on your product/service and ask them for their views on ways to improve your service. This is can be done face to face or by using carefully worded surveys (possibly online) and it's what Fergal Quinn did to great effect in Superquinn and it's still an effective and fast way to learn if you need to make changes to your offering.
It's also crucial to figure out the impact of technology on your business. The way that people now make purchasing decisions using the internet is having a major impact on some businesses and you need to embrace this in a positive way for your own business. When you consider the retail trade over the last decade and how the internet has changed how people shop (especially younger people). A courier company owner has recently told me that the volume of home delivery from internet shopping is massive and it's growing all of the time. Technology is also being used to automate businesses. Look how the banks now have their branches full of machines to streamline lodgements and to reduce staff costs. The speed of change seems to be speeding up with new technologies and new technology companies popping up all of the time.
It's important to make sure that you identify the opportunities for your own business. So the combination of making sure that your product/service offering is still relevant while considering the impact and use of technology in your business can help to identify any changes needed. To have a profitable business you need to make sure that the value that you bring is greater than the price you charge. The steps above will hopefully get you started on the right road.