Aimee Holland

— Aimee Holland formed Grow My Profit in 2011 to support local businesses in their development. The team has now grown to include fresh young talent and a qualified programmer so that they can offer both offline and online business solutions.

What’s the status quo in your business? What do you do every day on auto pilot and why do you do it that way? Organisational systems appear as the way things are done around here naturally in every business.

Smart systems are designed to make and save you money.

Think about the jobs you do regularly such as invoicing, contacting customers or administration. If it happens regularly and in a similar way then it’s a prime example of when a smart system can save you money and focus your team on making more.

Some of the world’s most successful companies pride themselves on their systems, Toyota and MacDonald’s to name just two. But you don’t have to be a global player to save money on running your business.

Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations talked of smart systems in the 1700’s. He may not have had the technological tools we have today but the principles remain the same.

Mapping can be a great way to understand your system. Draw out the things that happen and how they work together to see if you can create a process between them. Even better if you can then use technology to automate that process you can really start saving some money.

If you are a senior manager, think about asking one of your administrators to give you an induction to their role. Once you see repetition you can see savings too. Your administrator can then focus on more productive activities such as building customer relationships and your profits will grow.

Aimee Holland formed Grow My Profit in 2011 to support local businesses in their development. The team has now grown to include fresh young talent and a qualified programmer so that they can offer both offline and online business solutions.

— Aimee Holland formed Grow My Profit in 2011 to support local businesses in their development. The team has now grown to include fresh young talent and a qualified programmer so that they can offer both offline and online business solutions.

Whenever you take business advice or listen to highly successful business owners, they will tell you running a business is a marathon not a sprint. They are right of course, but let’s not miss out on those final few hundred metres of grand finale.

When all your hard work has paid off and you have customer ready to buy how do you make the most of that sale? The sprint to the finish can be carefully planned to set you head and shoulders above the rest.

Over a decade in direct sales has taught me that asking for the sale can be difficult. My clients often say they feel apprehensive about ‘closing the deal’. Talking price can be a major barrier but asking for an investment in something that is valuable is a different matter.

To make the sale easier be confident in your offer. Know what your competition is likely to be charging and the quality they can deliver. Having confidence in your product or service and its place in the market can help significantly.

Offer choices to your clients, this could be a simple option between two different colours or a range of packages. This sets the buyers mind thinking about purchase options not whether or not to buy at all.

Always offer complementary products or services to what the customer has chosen. If they purchase a jumper suggest a necklace that would set off the neckline. If they are buying a service from you make sure they are aware of other things your company offers.

Remember the golden rule is to serve not sell. You are there to help the customer make a choice about what is right for them. No-one likes the hard sell, but help someone on their journey and they will remember and respect you for it.

Aimee Holland formed Grow My Profit in 2011 to support local businesses in their development. The team has now grown to include fresh young talent and a qualified programmer so that they can offer both offline and online business solutions.

— Aimee Holland formed Grow My Profit in 2011 to support local businesses in their development. The team has now grown to include fresh young talent and a qualified programmer so that they can offer both offline and online business solutions.

The world is still full of money, you just need to make more of it yours.

It’s easy to feel gloomy about the months ahead when we hear that the UK economy is flat or that growth has contracted. As small business we would be forgiven for thinking it might all come crashing down.

But the world is still full of money. Understanding your market share and then growing it can ensure you continue to grow even if others around you don’t.

Market share is one of the most powerful indicators of how well your company is performing against your competition. Market share is calculated on how much of the market your product or service you serve. Because of this, even if the market shrinks or expands, you still know how successful you are in the grand scheme of things.

Knowing where you are in the market means you also know where your competitors are. Who are your closest competitors really? Are you leading the market and need to stay ahead? Is there someone out there doing it differently and gaining more market share than you?

If you sell products or services to any public funded organisations the details of spend over £25,000 are available freely from www.data.gov.uk. Suppliers are listed so you can calculate your market share. It will also tell you how well your competitors are doing in that market place.

Whomever you sell to, understanding who makes up that market and how many of them choose you is a recession busting way of growing your profits. Learning from your competitors may not seem natural to many businesses but it is a way to grow. By staying ahead of others in your market, you can protect your business so long as the market exists.

Aimee Holland formed Grow My Profit in 2011 to support local businesses in their development. The team has now grown to include fresh young talent and a qualified programmer so that they can offer both offline and online business solutions.