Improve Business Performance with the Right Profit Lever

If you're trying to improve business performance, doing more probably feels like the only option. More hours. More offers. More hires. More leads. More pressure.

Think back to when you started your business. You probably didn’t think this is what having a business was like. You likely thought, like most people who start businesses, that you only needed to focus on seven things: higher profits, more transactions, higher conversions, higher average dollars per sale, better opportunities, more time with loved ones, and working less. And with an emphasis on reaching those last two as quickly as possible.

On the surface, these 7 areas make a lot of sense. They sound strategic and seem simple enough. However, as you now know, it doesn’t begin to describe the day-to-day reality.

You’re no longer the CEO. Now you’re stuck being the Chief Everything Officer.

And the more you try to “fix” things, the more complex, overwhelming, and chaotic it becomes.

This is where I meet many of my clients. They have a driving desire for a different life, and they know they need to improve their business’s performance to achieve it. They’re smart. They love the product/service they provide. But they’re stuck in the overwhelm of running a business and don’t see a clear path forward toward the life they really want.

What I tell them, as kindly as possible, is, if your business isn’t generating enough reliable revenue, you don’t have a business.

Improve Business Performance by Focusing on Revenue

So, to break through the chaos and improve business performance, you must focus on revenue. Revenue is what determines whether you have a business, and all that happens within the business itself must support revenue generation.

The simplest way to start thinking about this is to consider the 80/20 Rule. It says that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.

The result you want is more revenue. And the efforts are what you do in your business every day. So, it’s important to understand which 20% of what you’re doing is driving revenue and then do more of it.

What I’ve discovered is that the 20% comes down to 7 top-level things that I call the Pathway to Profit.

The Pathway to Profit

Once you see the 7 levers of The Pathway to Profit, they’re going to look at least somewhat familiar. And the solution to you not needing to continue doing more and more to improve business performance is hidden within one of these steps.

Here are the 7 profit levers to improve business performance:

1.     Leads

I’m not talking about a warm body or a list of leads that you purchased. I’m talking about the exact right person who really needs what you have to offer.

2.     Conversions

This is where the leads are curious to learn more about what you’re offering.

3.     Closing Rates

These are the actual sales you make out of the opportunities you have. This is where a lead becomes a client.

4.     Client Retention

Now that you have clients, you need to make sure that they’re happy with their purchase so they will stick around and make more purchases and tell their friends about your business.

5.     Average Dollars per Sale

Most business owners really don’t know how to price their offerings. They often guess and wind up undercharging. The key here is to make sure the average dollars per sale or average transaction price is fair to everyone involved for the value being exchanged.

6.     Frequency of Sales

Now that you have happy clients and you’re charging a fair price, you can start thinking about how else you might serve your ideal client. What other products or services do they need?

These first six steps are what I call bragging rights because this is how you get revenue into your business. And if you ever ask a business owner how they’re doing, they’ll tell you about the money coming in. They’ll proudly say something like, “I make $6 bajillion a year.” The part they’re leaving out is that they’re $7 bajillion in debt.

7.     Costs

You’ve got to have your costs under control because you can spend yourself right out of business.

This is how businesses really grow. Owners who pull the right lever instead of hustling harder are the ones who create the life they really want.

These even levers allow you to determine where the bottleneck is and then use real revenue strategies to improve your business’s performance. So much better than burning yourself out trying to implement a bunch of tactics that you fling at the wall like spaghetti to see what sticks.

Most business owners try to grow by doing more. I help them grow by doing less and doing it better.

If you want to double or triple your revenue with little to no additional spend on marketing or advertising, we should talk.

The first step is to book a 15-minute call to see if you’re a fit for my process.