The New Year has Arrived—Now What?

               2015 has arrived, safe and sound!  Now What?  Is that not the question that you have every New Year?  In the business world, we always ask, “What are you going to do differently this year than last?”

                Now, does not seem like a tough question—however, it does require more brainpower than you might imagine.

                Interestingly, if you keep doing the same thing and expect different results, that rarely is the case.  If you want to achieve a different result, you have to use a different technique or approach.  Using the same approach or technique and expecting different, i.e., better results, is pure folly!

                We talked with a business owner the other day who said that he was going to increase his client contact by 33% this year.  He had lost several large contracts, through no fault of his own, but immediately realized that if he was to maintain the same margins that he had experienced previously, he was going to have to touch more individuals who were not yet his clients.

                If you sell a product or a service—are you content to continue with the same product, or do you wish to enlarge and enhance your product offerings?  We have another client who elected to increase his product offerings after a large number of his current clients requested new and different products.  He took a very conservative approach, bought enough product to fulfill demand, but not so much that if the products did not sell, he would have to “fire sale” them out 6 months later.  Here is what is interesting—in 3 weeks after he added the new product lines, he had sold out of the products and had to re-order—to be ready for the Christmas season!  Fortunately, he was able to obtain the new product, in the same quantities as he initially started with.  Interestingly, the same thing happened—he sold out in the next 3 weeks!  OK, now, he realized that his existing and new clients liked the products that he brought in, so on his second order, he ordered about 10% more than the initial order.  The holiday season allowed for ALL of the 3^rd order to sell as well!

                What the client did next was pure brainwork!!  He ordered 2/3 of his initial order, knowing that going into the spring time, the products would not be as popular or in demand as they were during the holiday season.

                The end result?  Shelves stocked with new product that has proven to be a good seller, not as much money invested in inventory going into the spring and the ability to bring in new spring merchandise that he previously did not have the space to sell!

                What are you going to do this New Year?  What changes are you going to make to increase your business sales, fulfill customer demand and increase your overall profitability?  If you don’t know, give us a call—we have ideas!