Businessmen used to follow the adage, “You need to spend money to make money,” but now that times are getting hard, ask yourself the following every time you consider taking on an expense:■ Does it add value to the business?
■ If I hire this person, will my sales increase?
■ If I buy this piece of equipment, will it increase productivity?
Your answers to these will start you on the road to lower overhead costs.
Other ways you can avoid wasteful spending:
■ Keep an eye on your cash. This includes proper bookkeeping and constantly updating your cash flow statement and projection. Doing this may not necessarily prevent poor choices on how your money is spent, but at least you are planning for expenditures.
■ Lease instead of buy; if it’s really unavoidable, buy used equipment. However, be mindful of potential maintenance and/or upgrade costs.
■ Extend terms with suppliers to negotiate better rates.
Now, regarding your question about how to attract more customers, here are some low-cost ways to promote your business:
■ Go online. Social networking sites like Multiply (www.multiply.com) and Facebook (www.facebook.com), as well as blog sites like Blogger (www.blogger.com) and Wordpress (www.wordpress.com), are so user-friendly that you do not need knowledge in HTML to make your own webpage. These websites allow you to upload photos and videos with ease. You can even post announcements about your business.
■ Use buddy promotion. If you send out brochures, you could include a leaflet and/or business card of another business, which had agreed to do the same for you. This gives you the chance to reach a whole new pool of potential customers. Just make sure your products and services complement each other.
■ Give out discounts to those who pay in full or in advance. This will also help improve your cash flow.
Good luck with your business , and do update us from time to time on how you are doing.
0 comments:
Post a Comment