LACK OF BUSINESS ISN'T ALWAYS THE PROBLEM Written by C.J.Hayden
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LOW PROFITS - If you are spending more than 30% of your gross profit on overhead and marketing, work on improving your profits. Look for ways to cut expenses by reducing your overhead, or focusing on your most profitable line of business. In addition, if more than 15% of your gross profit is spent on marketing alone (assuming you are not a start-up business), consider cutting back on advertising or mailings, and using more referral-based marketing strategies. Seek out customers who will give you repeat business or long-term contracts. TOO FEW CUSTOMERS - Low revenue combined with not enough billable work to keep you busy means you really don't have enough customers. If you don't have a marketing plan, it's time to create one. Focus your plan on most attractive service you have to offer and most lucrative market, rather than diffusing your energy by marketing several different service lines to more than one type of customer. If you already have a marketing plan, but it's not paying off, you may need to break into a new market, look for a more appealing way to package your services, or form an alliance with someone who can send a steady stream of business your way. TOO LITTLE TIME - It's possible that you simply don't have enough time to earn more money. When you are consistently spending over 25 hours per week serving clients, with more potential customers in pipeline than you can realistically serve, it's time to hire an employee or bring in a junior partner. If you're not ready to take that step, think about subcontracting work to a trusted associate, and keeping a percentage of their billings. In reading suggestions above, you may have discovered that you don't have enough information to diagnose your earnings problem. There are six statistics every service business owner should know: revenue, expenses, profit margin, number of customers, average sale amount, and billable time. If you don't have answers, start tracking these measurements today.
C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Since 1992, C.J. has been teaching business owners and salespeople to make more money with less effort. She is a Master Certified Coach and leads workshops internationally. Read more of her articles at www.getclientsnow.com
| | The Markets During Kennedy's AssassinationWritten by John Finger
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Stocks traded quietly in early hours of November 22. Then, when first reports of shooting came to exchange just after 1:30 eastern time, stocks started selling off, as they often do during major world crises. Less than one-half hour later, when Kennedy’s death was confirmed, sell-off accelerated. By end of day, Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.89% of its value. As calamitous as assassination was, its effects did not linger in stock market. By end of 1963, stocks had recovered all of their November losses. Six months after assassination, Dow Jones index was 12.04% higher. One year after event, index was up 21.58%. The world event with most impact on stocks was terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. When stocks resumed trading on following Monday, index lost 7.12% of its value.You can pass this newsletter around to others as long as you keep website links. Have a happy Thanksgiving. http://www.moneymanagementfirm.com
John Finger has been investing and trading for more than 20 years. He runs a subscription-based website and offers both free and paid eBooks, as well as a free newsletter, Money Matters, at his website, www.moneymanagementfirm.com.
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