How To Turn A Profit By Refining Your Sales Processes

Post written by

Jason Criddle

International Best-Selling AuthorPartner at Jason Criddle and Associates CEO and Managing Partner at SmartrHoldings

I have seen a lot of business plans, and two weeks is about how far away any small business or startup is from making income and potentially turning a profit -- so long as they aren't in a crazy amount of debt and have something to sell. This idea is based on my experience showing entrepreneurs how to get out of the red and start creating income to build their businesses now, not later. The key ingredient is sales, and in order to make those sales, you need to concentrate on three crucial factors:

• Building infrastructure necessary for the amount of income you wish to obtain

• Doing something to set yourself apart from your competition

• Only applying money toward processes that bring in more money

Let's begin by breaking down the first factor. Remember, this is no guarantee for success, but following these steps can get any business owner closer to making money, regardless of what they are selling.

Build the infrastructure necessary for the amount of income you wish to obtain.

Everyone wants to be a millionaire, all while not having the infrastructure in place to obtain it. What do I mean by that? You can wish for a million dollars all day long, but working a 40-hour-per-week job won't get you there. Chances are your side hustle won't get you there, either. What you need are assets -- many streams of income bringing in money from various places.

As an entrepreneur or small business owner, you should have written a book by now -- or maybe even a few. This will help you lay the foundation to being an expert in your field and will give you lifelong assets in the form of books, publications or education materials that you have readily available for people to buy or read. The point is not to become a New York Times bestseller; the point is to get your thoughts in writing and have them available for your potential customers to buy. The more assets you have, the better. Now you can work on your side hustle and your main gig with a couple of assets in your back pocket that can make money. You won't lose anything but the time it took to create the content.

Another important element of infrastructure to have in place is a simple e-commerce solution for people to buy what you have for sale. There is nothing worse than having a cool video, pitch or commercial about your product and not having an app or website in place for a customer to buy whatever product or service you were advertising. If you have to be present for every sale, you are severely limiting your income potential.

Set yourself apart from your competition.

Writing a book falls into this category, but writing books doesn't make you an expert if you aren't leveraging something unique to you. Regardless of your field of expertise, you need to be amazing at it, as well as have a niche that makes people remember your brand.

Doctor's offices are all set up the same way. Coffee shops typically look the same. When I look on a search engine for an air conditioning unit, all I see are company names that have nothing to do with the value being offered to clients. So, what can your brand do differently?

Turn your office and waiting room into an interactive playground for kids and adults alike. Offer interactive toys, videos and games that people can use to educate themselves about your brand or business while they wait. Redesign your coffee shop with a quiet area for people to nap on their lunch breaks, hold classes to teach people how to roast their own brews or let people sit down and craft their own mugs -- and offer free refills in exchange for putting your stamp on it. As an air conditioning professional, make educational videos readily available on your website. What are some common problems people have so they can fix it themselves at home? This may seem counterproductive, or like it would take income out of your pocket, but the value you bring to a customer watching a single video could turn into family and friend referrals.

When those people do see your videos, take a mug-making course or play in your cool waiting room, make sure that further educational materials and products, such as a book, are available to buy.

Find out where your money is coming from and repeat that process every day.

It's important to identify the streams where you are winning new clients and focus your time and resources into optimizing these processes. If your current strategy isn't bringing in enough clients, it may be time for a refocus. After all, you won't turn a profit if you waste your resources on processes that aren't providing return on investment.

I once worked with a chiropractor who drove around in his car, giving massages at stores, apartment complexes and gyms. After a year of doing this, he had won zero new clients. However, when he first started his business, he made referral partners out of two massage therapists who sent him a total of 21 regular customers. I helped him to focus on this process instead -- making more referral partners. After pulling the numbers from hundreds of massage therapists within a 20-mile range, he ended up with over 160 new referral partners and thousands of new clients, which enabled him to open more offices around the country.

If you can apply these basic factors to your business and concentrate on sales, you are only days away from making money. You just have to believe in yourself and sell, sell, sell.
