In previous articles we’ve talked about upselling and ancillary products as a way to help you increase your business. Here are a few additional ways to earn more money in your business.
If you are a seasoned entrepreneur, these might be smart ideas for you to consider. If you are a new business owner, these might not be right for you right now, but keep them in mind for the near future and intentionally plan to implement them over time.
1. Be a Consultant. If you have enjoyed your time developing your business and want to share that with other people, consider consulting. Consulting has a fairly high ratio of income to expense. That means there is not a cost for inventory (your “product” is already stored in your head!) so the only thing you really spend is your time. If you have a tightly defined niche, you might consider marketing your consulting services to them and in your workshop or seminar setting, mention your website and the product or service you sell. Or, you might consider being a general business development consultant if you have some expertise in this area, although be prepared to turn away competing business.
2. Train others. There are a variety of ways that you can train others. If you have a certification in a field that requires it, consider studying to become a trainer yourself. Your own business could increase because you’re a trainer, but you’ll also have a list of sub-contractors (your protégés) in case your business becomes so big that you cannot manage it yourself. If your field of business will benefit from trained people, but does not require certification, consider creating a training class and offer it through www.universalclass.com.
3. Sell information. This is a huge area of opportunity for you, but it all depends on the product or service you already sell. You can create an e-book (or a series of e-books!) to help you educate your customers. This might be a collection of resources or a “how to make money with our product” e-book. If it’s a shorter e-book you may want to give it away for free, but if it’s an e-book that can provide real value and offers substantial information, you may want to sell it.
4. Sell a System. This is one of the most under-utilized methods of building your business, but it is a very clever idea. If you go to www.carpet-cleaning-equipment.net, you’ll end up at the site of a company that makes and sells cleaning equipment ; essentially, it’s a site that sells vacuum cleaners. That’s not a big deal and it’s probably fairly difficult to excite people about the idea of buying a vacuum cleaner at all. But on the left hand side of the page is a link to “start your own business.” This simple idea launches Rotovac into the stratosphere of vacuum sales. Why? Because they don’t sell franchises or some multi-level-marketing scheme. Instead, they simply market their vacuum cleaner to entrepreneurs, along with some basic business-building and marketing literature. It’s the same vacuum cleaner, but the packaging is different. This turns their equipment from just any vacuum into a money-making business (and they advertise online with “business opportunity” keywords!). It’s a very clever idea to sell more vacuums.
