One of the fastest ways to increase your revenues, with profits of a hundred percent (or close), is also one of the easiest wins for your business.

Today, I’ll show you how I do this for my clients, based on 2 of my most recent examples.

An independent bookshop

My wife and I are passionate advocates of independent bookshops. These bookshops already offer a number of additional services, particularly events, such as author talks and book signings, etc.

They also have a 100% profit opportunity… that none of them take. They speak all day every day to people who still buy physical books. As you know, physical books need physical storage. Yes, bookshelves. In bookshops, I regularly hear fellow customers quip about how they’re running out of storage. Hold that image. Because it’s where I got my idea for this bookshop owner.

I suggested that the bookshop owner partnered with a trusted craftsperson who builds and fits bookcases. I then said that whenever she hears a customer quipping about a lack of shelf space, the customer is offered a helpful flyer, with details of the trusted craftsperson who will fit exactly what they need.

It’s a win, win, win.

• The customer gains extra space with their beautifully fitted bookcase.
• The bookshop owner has delighted a customer and received a referral fee.
• The craftsperson gains a new customer.

How often does that happen? Often enough for it to become a highly valuable income stream for the bookshop. An income stream that’s almost zero-effort and 100% profit.

A small, window cleaning company

I also helped the owner of a small window cleaning company. I asked him what additional products or services he provided to his customers. He said he didn’t provide any. Just window cleaning.

I recommended he partner with a trusted window replacement company. My idea was simple. When his window cleaners notice a damaged window or window surround, they simply mention it to the customer and offer them the business card of the trusted window company.

It’s another win, win, win.

• The homeowner gets the repair done before it becomes a bigger issue, as the window cleaner can see the exterior of the homeowner’s windows close-up and spot issues earlier.
• The window cleaning company has delighted a customer and receives a referral fee when the work is carried out.
• The window replacement company gets a new customer.

How often does that happen? The same as in the previous example. Often enough for it to become a highly valuable income stream for the window cleaning company. An income stream that’s almost zero-effort and 100% profit.

Finally

As you’ll have noticed, a massive benefit of this approach is that it scales beautifully. It requires few if any resources. It also works for everyone concerned. In fact, it has to work for everyone, or it won’t work for anyone.

Isn’t that wonderful… everyone’s happy. What a fantastic way to grow your business.

Here’s what we know for certain. There’s a huge difference between someone using a search engine to find your business by its name, and someone merely searching for a provider in your industry.

• If they’re searching for your business by its name, they’ll find you.
• If they’re searching for a provider in your industry, they’ll find countless pages of results. Even if they do manage to find the result for your business, unless you’re at the top of the results, or very close, the chances of them clicking through to your site is tiny. Because you’ll simply be competing with everyone else.

You could try to buy your way to the top of the search results, but it’s increasingly expensive, extremely risky and all the risk is on you.

Thankfully, there is a far better alternative for.

Searching for you by name

Here’s a vastly more effective marketing strategy. It’s the strategy I use myself, and it works in every industry regardless of the economy.

It’s simply this: You focus on making your business stand out from your competitors.
Note – This article gives you a proven way to stand out with 10 examples to get you started.

You do things worth talking about, which means your name and brand spreads from person to person. So, when someone needs whatever you provide, they go looking for you. You, the provider they’ve been hearing about, by name.

Your prospective clients or customers will use Google and other search engines, knowing who they want. No Google Ads, no auctions and no spiralling advertising costs.

By spending a little time and effort working on ways to differentiate your business from the pack, you can very significantly increase sales. Not only that, these sales will be more profitable as you’ll be able to eliminate your advertising spend.

Being there is important. This is especially the case:

• When people are expecting you.
• When people need you.
• When it’s easier for you not to be there.
• And when you’re willing to help out.

Talk is cheap. It’s what we do that matters. And by being there for another person, we demonstrate what they can expect from us in the future. That’s a powerful way to build great relationships, both personal and professional.

The good news: You’ve been delighting your customers or clients for years. You have built an excellent reputation. It’s only a matter of time before you’re presented with a spectacular opportunity. Maybe something life-changing.

The important news: It’s essential you get prepared for your big opportunity, in advance. Now is the time to get that preparation in place.

With all that in mind, here are some things I strongly recommend you get to work on. They’re in no particular order.

• Talk with your suppliers. Find out how quickly they can scale up if you have a sudden, vastly higher demand than usual for certain products.
• Be on the look out for people who you can put in place, in case you need additional team members at short notice.
• Make sure your company’s financial information is clear and detailed, should a serious party ask about acquiring your business. This will help you get the best possible price and show them you’re a professional. It also speeds the process up.
• Talk with your bank manager in anticipation of a future, major project. Make sure you have access to the cash flow required, for what can be a sudden, huge spike in your outgoings. It’s also a good idea in general to get to know your business banking manager, before you need anything from them.
• Get some media training. Learn how to speak on camera, how to talk with clarity and how to overcome any fears about there being a huge audience.
• And if you’re hoping to go ‘viral’ in a way that would put your website under extreme pressure, contact your web host. Ask about their ability to quickly scale your server up, to handle huge volumes of traffic. I’ve seen what happens when a server can’t cope, and masses of valuable sales and enquiries are lost.

Give yourself the gift of preparedness and be ready when your big opportunity comes along.

After all, you’ve literally earned it.

You don’t need to sell your services or products based on price. You don’t need to waste your time on fee-sensitive clients, either.

In today’s post, I explain why. I’ll also provide you with examples you can learn from, so you too no longer need to sell based on price.

Sort by price

One of the most common features on shopping sites, is the “sort by price” filter. It lets us see products in the category we’ve searched for, listed in price order.

The reason sort by price exists, is that the marketplace demands it. When presented with 5 or 50 options for a commodity product, the lowest price wins. It makes no sense to pay more for it than you need to.

Right?

Wrong!

Here’s an example that explains how you can charge significantly more for a commodity product.

Bob is passionate about helping people worldwide have access to clean drinking water. He then finds a water brand, which donates money from every bottle sold, to build wells in areas where there’s no clean water.

So, Bob is very happy to pay more for his bottled water from this well-building brand. Plus, because people like Bob know lots of other people like Bob, he tells his friends. They do the same.

Water gets sold.

Wells get built.

And people get to make a meaningful difference to the lives of those who need it.

What’s the lesson for your business?

Give them something else to care about

If you want potential clients or customers to stop caring about your prices or fees, give them something more important to care about.

The fastest, easiest way to achieve this is to do what that bottled water company does, and differentiate your story.

Here’s another example.

This time it’s based on a service rather than a product. It’s from the accountancy profession. Instead of competing against their equally qualified competitors for the same prospects, some accountants differentiate.

How?

They choose a sector they enjoy working in, such as design, and focus exclusively on working with design businesses. In doing so, they cease being seen as a commodity provider. The accountant becomes known as a specialist. Their marketing speaks directly to designers and the designers immediately take notice. ‘At last, an accountant who understands us’. Set apart from the pack, the accountant has the freedom to charge based on their uniqueness and the value their uniqueness brings to design businesses.

The good news?

If you’re thinking this approach couldn’t work for you or your industry, remind yourself that it works for a commodity as common and indistinguishable as water. Therefore, whatever type of business you are in, it absolutely can work for you.

The longest path in the world is the path of least resistance.

Anyone can join it.

There’s literally no barrier to entry.

However, there’s no winning line, either.