Ten Ways To Profit In An Uncertain EconomyWritten by Catherine Franz
1. Sell more back end products to your existing customer base. You already created rapport, trust and proved your credibility to them.2. Make it a practice to up sell to new and existing customers. After they decide to buy one product, offer them another product. 3. Cross promote your products and services with other businesses that aren't competition. You will reach a wider audience at a less cost. 4. Create joint venture deals with other businesses. You can expand your product line and target other profitable markets at a lower cost. 5. Start an affiliate program for your business. You will be able to spend less profits on risk advertising and spend more money on guaranteed sales.
| | Developing Realistic Financial AssumptionsWritten by Dave Lavinsky
Many investors skip straight to financial section of business plan. It is critical that assumptions and projections in this section be realistic. Plans that show penetration, operating margin and revenues per employee figures that are poorly reasoned, internally inconsistent or simply unrealistic greatly damage credibility of entire business plan. In contrast, sober, well-reasoned financial assumptions and projections communicate operational maturity and credibility.For instance, if company is categorized as a networking infrastructure firm, and business plan projects 80% operating margins, investors will raise a red flag. This is because investors can readily access operating margins of publicly-traded networking infrastructure firms and find that none have operating margins this high. As much as possible, financial assumptions should be based on actual results from your firm or other firms. As example above indicates, it is fairly easy to look at a public company’s operating
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