Improve your bottom line

In this economy, here's the burning question:
How many ways can I improve my bottom line?
Here are five strategies to get you thinking:
1. Cut each frill that doesn't add client value.
That's right. If it doesn't add value, it must go.
Every dime saved goes straight to the bottom line.
2. Add value without giving away the store.
Here's where we must be innovative.
Anyone can add value with enough money,
The trick is to add value without adding cost.
3. Find new offerings to sell to current clients.
Your clients should be the easiest to sell to.
They already trust and have confidence in you.
What else can you offer to improve their lives?
4. Find new clients to help improve their lives.
This is the most expensive but is necessary.
We lose 15% of our clients every year. Count on it.
They die, move away or decide to buy elsewhere.
5. Widen our profit margins incrementally.
I know it's tough but we need to raise prices.
It may be tiny in this economy but do it.
Inflationary creep will kill your margins.
We will be talking about these strategies Tuesday.
Business at Lunch at the Lexington Chamber.
11:30 - 12:30 and you get lunch, too.
Call 359-6113 to reserve your seat.
Can't make it but want to read my notes?
Email me at JerryBellune@yahoo.com
Got a bottom line idea for the rest of us?
Please click on Post a Comment below.

Dare to discipline yourself

Robert B. Parker, one of my favorites, died recently.
Mr. Parker wrote more than 50 novels in 30+ years.
That's some productivity. That takes discipline.
You could read a Parker novel in an afternoon.
He wrote quick reads, even if you move your lips.
They were the perfect beach books for his fans.
He wrote about things that caught his passion.
He wrote about cops and criminals of today,
He wrote about gunmen of the Old West.
He wrote about baseball and baseball players.
His long-running hero had one name, Spenser.
Robert Urich portrayed Spenser on TV.
Parker took chances as a male novelist.
He created a female private eye, Sunny Randall.
His wife Joan helped him think like a female.
What I liked best about Parker was his work ethic.
He looked at writing books as his business.
He urged a roomful of librarians to buy his books.
"I'm too old to get a real job," he told them.
He actually had a real job. One he created.
He wrote five days a week, 10 pages a day.
He wrote from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day.
If you think that's easy, try it yourself.
He occasionally took a day off but not often.
He didn't work the conventional way.
He didn't outline. He didn't plot. He just wrote.
He said he just started with an idea.
Then the characters took over and told the story.
He said writer's "block" was a myth.
"That's just another word for lazy," he said.
My advice to you: Don't join the lazy crowd.
Do you practice rocket science or brain surgery?
Teach school or run your own business?
Do it every day, at least 8 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Then enjoy the weekends with loved ones.
It's amazing what you can accomplish.
For help reaching peak performance, go to:
http://www.JerryBellune.com/success-strategies.htm
To leave an idea, click on Post a Comment below.