Using Business Assets Systematically
One of dozens of strategies listed and linked to here:
How to Make More Money
From Your Business
By Steve Gillman
You can make more profit by boosting revenue, and you can
also do it by reducing your expenses. Using business assets in
new or better ways will help with the former, but can also help
with the latter if you think creatively. Let's look at a simple
plan for brainstorming new ways of using business assets...
Start with a notebook and a pen. Write down everything your
business has; and I mean everything. Include employees (by name),
filing cabinets, real estate, bank accounts, mops and brooms--everything.
You should have filled several pages with your list.
Now look at each item on the list and assume there is some
way to use it to make more revenue, to cut costs, or at least
some way it can suggest how to do either of these. It is important
that you make the assumption that you'll find something useful
doing this exercise. It sets up the right frame of mind for creative
brainstorming.
Work with each item for a few minutes or until you have some
new ideas. For example, suppose you own a restaurant. You look
at the list and see "phone book." Yes, you have a phone
book, but how can that be used to boost revenue or cut costs.
If you assume there is an answer and start thinking about it
you will almost certainly have a few ideas. Whether they are
worth implementing or not can be decided later. For now, just
write them down.
In the minute it took to write that last paragraph two thoughts
came to mind with regards to a phone book. If I owned a restaurant
and was looking at empty seats, I might tell employees that they
can invite all of their friends to come and enjoy a meal at 20%
off. Tipped employees in particular should like the idea of having
more customers, so get them on that phone! Margins are generally
high enough in a restaurant that the 20% discount will still
leave a decent profit.
The other thought that came to mind is to open that phone
book and start calling around to see if anything you currently
spend money on can be had for less. It's s simple idea, but a
few minutes work might net a few hundred dollars of savings,
and that goes straight to the bottom line.
If you actually do this exercise you'll be surprised at how
many ideas you have, and some of them are likely to be profitable
ones. There are direct ways of using business assets in new ways,
like when a bakery owner rents out under-utilized space to an
ice cream vendor, or a grocery store owner finds a more efficient
way to use a cooler in order to eliminate the cost of a second
one. But even if you do not find the direct solutions like these,
almost anything on your list can trigger creative ways to make
or save money. Give it a try.
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