Sometimes the concept of FREE really hits home and pulls your customers in like a close shave on a Saturday night. A couple of months back we featured a post about Gillette’s (NYSE: PG) strategy of giving away razors “for free,” winning lifetime repeat customers and making tons and tons of money on selling the [...]

To expand your business and create new sales revenue that sticks like grease in a clogged drain, build a brand with a unique name that rings your customers’ doorbell and your cash register.
The other day, my kitchen sink drain got clogged up–too much cooking grease and oil. Excuse the graphics, but the sink was full of [...]

One of the best ways to expand your business and boost your revenues is to reward loyal customers for buying from you. This in turn further increases customer loyalty, purchase frequency and upsells. Give your loyal customers more and more gifts and bonuses based on their spending levels—how much they buy from you. This strategy leverages [...]

This useful rule of thumb can help you gauge profitability of your business, the quality of  sales revenue and the ratio of sales revenue to costs.
>> Sales Revenue equals 3 times Costs OR
>> Sales Revenue equals 6 times Costs
>> Or some other multiplier that works for your business.
The concept is that in order to turn a [...]

One of my favorite new revenue generators is the PIN message feature on my Blackberry Curve (all Blackberrys should have this feature). PIN stands for Personal Identification Number and each Blackberry has its own unique PIN. You can send PIN messages to your colleagues and the transmission is lightning fast.

You can use the PIN function [...]

Customer service and the user experience is often driven by the little customer interactions. . . Last Thursday, I called one of my favorite restaurants to make a reservation for dinner Friday. The hostess explained, “We don’t accept reservations for  parties of less than 8 or 10 people before the actual day you want to [...]

One terrific way to generate new sales is to Remind Your Customers about the Special Benefits and the Little Extras you offer - Regularly and Continually.
 
Last week I was training a group on sales techniques in Tysons Corner, Virginia and I stayed at the Hilton hotel.
 
When I checked in I made sure that they had [...]

One of the best ways to make more money and increase your bottom line is to charge your clients for expenses (expense reimbursement). FedEx and UPS charge a fuel surcharge to defray their extra fuel costs. Service firms including accounting firms, law firms and consulting firms charge their clients for expenses (expense reimbursement) for decades.
While [...]

Romance and Valentine’s Day can be a wonderful way to show your customers that you appreciate them and their business. While Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, any holiday can be an ideal time to thank your customers.
1. Give an extra little surprise with their purchase (bonus with purchase). Of course chocolate can be [...]

Running a small business/growth business has its personnel challenges and employee challenges (as I’m sure you can appreciate), often in ways that are more magnified and intense than in a larger company where Bad Hiring Decisions are typically less costly and disruptive.
Last week, we posted about our client, Company A, who had extended an offer to a [...]