Selling More!!

By now you should have an idea of whether or not you are on track to break your sales goals for the year. You did make sales goals right?

If you are having trouble getting started and are already seeing a decline in what you thought your sales were going to be, don’t worry. There is still time to blow your goals away.

How?

Follow these principles. They are simple, but they are worth their weight in gold. No, Oil.

Take care of your existing customers:

You can’t increase sales if you are losing them just as fast. Your competition has a “Hot Prospect” list that includes all of your current customers. Spend twice as much time taking care of your current customers as you did last year. Do this, and you won’t have to spend any time getting them back when they leave.

Sell more to your existing customers:

Your existing customers already know you and like you. They like buying from you. Determine if they might be able to buy more. Ask them if they are growing, expanding into other services, or opening new locations that would warrant new purchases from your company.

Make more friends:

People buy from friends. They buy from friends even when competition has better prices and service. Your job is to make more friends. You don’t have to use fancy closing techniques on your friends, you can just ask for what you want. Start developing new business friendships now. But go slowly. Friendships take time, but once a friendship is established your competition will be virtually eliminated.

Double your customers:

Make a list of your current customers. Go out and find one new customer just like each one on your current list and you can double you sales. In addition, spend twice as much time in front of people that can actually place an order with you. It’s simple idea, but requires LOTS of hard work to pull off. You can work hard right?

Join three new networking groups:

Most of you all belong to trade organizations where everyone from your industry meets. These are great places to network and start building new relationships. This year, cut your cold calling in half and join three new organizations. Join two new organizations within your industry and one new organization outside your industry. Joining organizations outside of your industry will allow you to meet a broader range of people and might inspire new business ideas.

Bring customers to your place of business:

Closing percentages double when you bring you prospect to your place of business. Have parties. Have tours. Give away free stuff. Make it cool! Make it FUN!! Bring every customer to your place of business and your sales will increase.

By following the principles above, it is possible to double or triple your company’s sales without reducing your profit margin. Start working on them today; and always keep track of your progress.

Good Luck!!

John

Is Someone Stealing From You?

By Sara E. Langford

What are you doing to protect your business from fraud?

Small businesses have always been more likely to fall victim to fraudulent activity than any other type of business. When taking into account the potential losses it is essential that your small business has a plan of action to prevent fraud.

There are several things you can do to prevent fraud in your company. Only a few are mentioned below, but feel free to contact me in person if you have any questions about the possibility of fraud in your workplace.

1) Owner involvement. Every owner should have knowledge about what is going on in their business. You can’t change what you do not know about. Owners should make it a habit to review every bank statement and reconciliation. They should familiarize themselves with routine bank transactions, and questions those that are unusual. “What did we purchase from John Doe Fabrication? I don’t know who that vendor is.”

2) Hire the right employees. Review your hiring practices and ensure that you are doing everything possible to verify the people you hire have no history of dishonest activity. Always conduct background checks, verify references and check on educational certifications. Most importantly though implement a drug testing policy. Drug addiction is a well known excuse for employee theft.

3) Conduct unplanned audits. You can conduct your own surprise audits by merely tracing a couple of transactions through their entire process to ensure they were recorded in the proper manner. For example, select a check from your bank statement, and trace it back to the invoice, the receiving document, and the purchase order. Examine each document for evidence that they were approved and processed according to your policies.

4) Allow anonymous comments. All you have to do is set up a comment box. This will create a way for employees to communicate with management without the fear of ramifications. A tip from an employee is the most common way fraud investigations begin.

5) Keep an eye out for anything unusual. Simply keep your eyes and ears open for anything out of the ordinary. An employee that never takes a vacation or insists on completing certain transactions all the time could be stealing from you. Question anything that seems out of the ordinary.

When implementing a fraud prevention plan, one of the most important aspects of your plan is to make it known that you have a plan. A lot of times just knowing that you are watching for fraud is deterrence in itself.

Fraudulent activities can happen in any business, regardless of how careful you are. By keeping yourself aware of the most common schemes you can reduce your susceptibility to fraud and protect your assets.

Sara E. Langford

Sara Langford has a Master of Science in Accountancy from Texas Tech University, and is currently working as a tax accountant for Carol A. Reinert P.C.

Her contact information is:

saralangford@yahoo.com
432-686-7877

Sthil HT 131 Pole Pruner

A step up from the PS780 I featured in a previous issue, this pole pruner takes all the labor out of pruning trees.

The telescopic shaft allows the reach of this unit to be extended up to 16'. The newly designed engine offers more torque and power than previous models, while keeping a high fuel efficiency.

Just remember to be careful if you don't have an easy way to dispose of tree limbs. This unit can prune limbs so quickly, you might have a weekends worth of clean-up work in five minutes.