Ramp-up Your Revenue

Let’s talk money. No, the world doesn’t revolve around it, but our businesses do.

As entrepreneurs, we are always looking for ways to ramp-up our revenue. For start-ups, first you have to make money to create financial stability, let alone be able to put it back in your pocket.

I know this is a long list, but read carefully. Grab a pen and paper because I’m about to give you 12 proven strategies that will help ramp up your revenue.

1. Look at where you are right now and compare it to where you want to go.

Don’t wait until you finish off the year to find out how well you did. You have to consistently keep measuring what matters all year long. If you wait until the end of the year to check in with your financial status, you have no idea how to plan and adjust your strategy to meet goals. Take a look at your current reality – are you on track to meet your year end goals? Are you missing something? When you identify what’s missing, you can start thinking about how to fix that, and follow through.

2. Stop waiting and start working.

Don’t be the person who sits back and waits. Stop waiting around, hoping and praying that the phone will ring, or that someone will visit your website. By waiting instead of working on your business, you are leaving your success up to someone else. Start considering yourself as a revenue generator. Successful entrepreneurs are not waiters. They’re hard workers, they are strategizers,  they’re hustlers. If you’re in a funk right now and you’re waiting, you need to hear the other 10 things on this list.

3. Review your calendar and your marketing plan.

Take a minute and list what you have going on between now and the end of the year. Do you have any programs being rolled out? Do you have a marketing strategy behind the content that you’re going to share? Do you have things planned in your calendar that align with helping achieve your revenue goals? You can’t make things happen, if you don’t have a plan. Figure out what you can do from a marketing perspective to increase your visibility so you can generate new selling opportunities.

4. Reach out to some of your previous clients.

Now, don’t reach out to your clients and say, “Hey, Sheryl, would you like to buy something from me today?”

Your previous clients are your greatest source of repeat business and referral business. You want to maintain an active relationship with those people. Go look through your client list. Are there people you haven’t connected with in a while? There is value in re-connecting with people who have done business with you previously. Too many business owners are only looking for new customer.  When you nurture and really care about the relationships with existing clients, business becomes a lot easier.

5. Create amazing content to increase visibility.

Everyone should be creating content: retailers, cleaning services, business coaches, restaurant owners, yes, everyone! Content is how you establish credibility and increase your visibility and awareness in your market. Don’t create soft, wishy-washy content. Take time and really think about the content that will best reflect your business.

Are you creating that kind of content or are you treating it like another annoying task on your to-do list? Ask yourself, “If you were a prospect reading your client, would you want to hire yourself?”

6. Up your social game.

Go do a social audit as soon as you’re done reading this. Go scroll through your feed and take a look. Are you guilty of sunsets, food, and pet pics? When was the last time you posted something about your business? Do a Facebook Live, use Instagram stories, try out all of the new things that social media has to offer.

Try doing these things if you need to up your social game:

-Change your profile picture

-Change your cover photo

-Create an editorial plan

-Create some new graphic and some new content

Get out there in social media and start engaging with other people. The great thing about engagement is that people who aren’t in your circle will see you. Social media is a huge driver for business, people are always checking you out online.

7. Increase your prices.

You want to make more money? Increase your prices by 10% to 20%. You don’t need permission to increase your prices, you are the owner of your business and you have the right to increase your prices any time you want. Now, I’m not saying you should go back to all your existing clients tell them they need to pay you more all of a sudden, but you have the ability to increase your prices for all new business right now.

It’s something that we often don’t do because we get scared. We think if we increase our prices, people aren’t going to buy. You need to be more confident. If you want to increase your sales between now and the end for the year, then you need to look at your pricing strategies and figure out if it’s right for the kind of growth you want to achieve.

8. Run a promotion.

Experiment with promotions and see what happens. Again, you own your business. You’re allowed to use promotions as a tool to drive traffic and increase sales. It could be:

-Buy one, get one 1/2 off

-Spend x amount of money, and get y

-Buy a coaching program and get a ticket to this event for free

Make a list of five different promotions that you could run between now and the end of the year. You may not run all of them, but what if you run one and do a really good job? Change it up and try something new.

9. Alter your mindset.

You’re probably reading this and already thinking, “oh, I can’t do that. That doesn’t apply to my business.” Change your mindset to: how can I? How can I increase my prices? How can I attract more inbound leads? When you change your thoughts from “I can’t” to “how can I,” all of the sudden ideas come to life and all of the possibilities start to appear.

Grab a pen and write a list of the ideas that come to you. Just write: “How can I do this?” You will be amazed at the ideas that come alive when you take an opportunity to think creatively about how you can make changes.

10. Come to Money, Mindset and Marketing.

I’m hosting an event in Ottawa on October 22nd. The event is Money, Mindset and Marketing and this year’s theme is all about applying what you learn. We’ll be doing exercises all day long.

Imagine this: you’re sitting at a table with six to eight people you don’t know and you’re asked to spend ten minutes writing ways that you could increase sales. Now, you need to spend the another 10 minutes sharing with the people at your table. You’re going to hear their ideas and they’re going to hear your ideas. All of the sudden, you’ve got 10 times the amount of ways to increase sales, and the ideas just keep flowing the more you talk. This is what this event is all about. If you can’t come to my event, find a way to attend an event like it!

When you are a business owner, you shouldn’t isolate yourself. Engage with other people, other business owners, individuals who have the same goals and objectives as you. It will help fuel your creativity and inspire you to take more action.

11. Learn something new.

When you know more, you can do more. It could be reading a book, joining an online program, attending an event, or listening to an audio program. Challenge yourself to constantly learn new skills that can help you in your business. You are making a long-term investment in yourself. I sit and I read every single morning, because I know how much I benefit from nourishing my mind.

Get comfortable being uncomfortable in a new learning environment. Experience something that you’re not good at, because you’re going to get better at that thing and that’s going to help you in your business.

12. Create a stop-doing list.

This is so powerful. What are the things that you’re doing in your business right now that you shouldn’t be doing? Only do the work that really matters in your business, because you can hire someone to help you with some of the tactical stuff. When you have someone to help, it gives you time to do the things that are crucial to building your business. Things like nurturing the relationships with your existing clients and people who have done business with you before. Spend time prospecting. If you’re getting caught up in busyness, and you’re not doing enough business, chances are you’re doing tasks that are below your pay grade as CEO and owner of your company. Hire help! Figure out what do you need to stop doing and delegate those things to someone else. You’re the revenue generator that moves your business forward.

You are the money maker, you are the person who has control over your businesses success. I just gave you 12 things that you can do right now to start generating revenue for your business. Are you going to take action?

I want to hear from you, leave me a comment and let me know your revenue generating strategies and tips.