What If You Improved Your Business By 10%
Improving your business by even a small margin can have a significant impact on your overall success. In this article, we’ll explore what would happen if you improved your business by just 10%. We’ll look at how this improvement could affect your revenue, profitability, customer satisfaction, and more.
Additionally, we’ll discuss practical strategies that you can implement to achieve this 10% improvement and ensure that your business continues to grow and thrive in the long run. By the end of this article, you’ll have a better understanding of just how valuable a small improvement can be and what steps you can take to make it happen.
Making improvements as part of the business development process can significantly improve the profitability of a business. In this article we look at what would happen if you improved Your Business By 10%
Quality / Relevant Sales Leads
The starting point to business growth is the number of “quality / relevant sales leads ” that you can obtain. The next stage is how good you are at converting leads into paying customers. Now for some transactional businesses this may occur within minutes of contact, for other more consultative sales a lead may take years to convert.
Number of leads x Conversion Rate % = Number of Customers
So What If You Improved Your Business By 10%
Number of leads x Conversion Rate % = Number of Customers
Number of Customers x Number of Transactions = Total Sales
Total Sales x Average Sales Value = Revenue
Revenue x Margin = Profits
So lets look at an example company with the pre-improvement numbers
- Number of leads ( 100) x Conversion Rate (25%) = Number of Customers (25)
- Number of Customers (25) x Number of Transactions (2) = Total Sales (50)
- Total Sales (50) x Average Sales Value (2,000) = Revenue (100,000)
- Revenue (100,000) x Margin (25%) = Profits £25,000
What if we can make 10% improvements throughout the process
- Number of leads ( 100 becomes 110) x Conversion Rate (25% becomes 27.5%) = Number of Customers (25 becomes 30)
- Number of Customers (25 becomes 30) x Number of Transactions (2 becomes 2.2) = Total Sales (50 becomes 66)
- Total Sales (50 becomes 66) x Average Sales Value (2,000 becomes 2,200) = Revenue (100,000 becomes 145,200)
- Revenue (145,200) x Margin (25 becomes 27.5%) = Profits £39,930
Improving Your Business By 10%
There are several strategies you can implement to increase your business by 10%. Here are some practical steps you can take:
- Identify areas for improvement: Conduct a thorough analysis of your business operations to identify areas that need improvement. This could be in your marketing, sales, customer service, or operations. Look for areas where you can streamline processes, reduce costs, and increase efficiency.
- Focus on customer satisfaction: Happy customers are more likely to return and recommend your business to others. So, focus on improving customer satisfaction by providing excellent customer service, responding to feedback and complaints, and ensuring that your products or services meet their needs.
- Increase your marketing efforts: Invest in marketing to reach a wider audience and attract new customers. Consider using social media, email marketing, and other digital marketing channels to promote your business.
- Expand your product or service offerings: Consider adding new products or services to your offerings to appeal to a wider customer base. This could involve introducing new products, diversifying your services, or expanding your target market.
- Improve your online presence: In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is essential. Ensure that your website is user-friendly, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate. Invest in search engine optimization (SEO) to improve your online visibility and attract more traffic to your website.
- Invest in employee training and development: Your employees are the backbone of your business. Invest in their training and development to improve their skills and knowledge. This can lead to improved productivity, higher employee satisfaction, and better customer service.
- What can you do to increase the number of quality leads. Could it be that you simply need to be more proactive or do you need to try something new like adwords
- How can you you improve your conversion rate. Improved proposals, proactive follow up, incentive to encourage purchase
- What would facilitate additional sales to a customer, can you offer service, maintenance upgrades etc
- Would it be possible to increase the average sales value by adding high value low cost extras
- Can you decrease operational costs to allow for a margin improvement
With implementation of these strategies, you can increase your business by 10% and ensure that your business continues to grow and thrive in the long run
The word Ideas is a great acronym to help in product development
IDEAS is an acronym commonly used in product development to represent the stages involved in creating a new product. Here’s a breakdown of what each letter stands for:
- Identify: In this stage, you identify the problem or opportunity that your product will address. This involves understanding the needs of your target market and identifying gaps or areas for improvement in existing products or services.
- Define: Once you have identified the problem or opportunity, you need to define the product requirements. This involves outlining the features, functionality, and other specifications that your product must meet to address the identified problem or opportunity.
- Explore: In this stage, you explore various solutions to meet the product requirements defined in the previous stage. This involves brainstorming, researching, and evaluating different options to determine the most feasible and effective solution.
- Create: Once you have identified the best solution, you can start creating the product. This involves designing, prototyping, and testing the product to ensure that it meets the defined requirements and is ready for launch.
- Assess: In the final stage, you assess the product’s performance in the market. This involves gathering feedback from customers and evaluating sales data to determine whether the product is meeting expectations and achieving its goals.
By following the IDEAS framework, you can ensure that your product development process is systematic and thorough, from identifying the problem to launching and assessing the product’s performance in the market.
An alternative IDEAS framework
- Inspiration
- Design
- Evolution
- Adding Value
- Success
Inspiration – what can inspire you to create a product / service
- Are there some customer misconceptions
- Is there currently a limited market penetration
- Are there opportunities to own / become the voice of the issue
- Do they do things differently outside of the UK
- Are there unrelated experts or specialists who have ideas that could be combined
- If we listen to customers / users what will they say
- etc
Design – how can it be improved / enhanced
- How can it be packaged
- How do other industries or sectors do things
- What opportunities to do things differently
- How should it be positioned kitsch and cute or stylish and sophisticated
Evolution – what’s the development
- Can the way the product is taken to market be changed
- How will the range develop
- What is it that customers don’t like that can be modified over time
- Is there a need for taster sessions or trial packs to encourage take up
Adding value
- What activities are low cost but high perceived value
- How can the proposition be made more attractive
- What can be done to reduce the risk to the customer to try
- Can educating the customer help illustrate the added value
Success – what does it look like
- What are the numbers / measures / KPI’s that we should evaluate
- What are our objectives / targets
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Case Study of IDEAS based on ICHIBAN development of Sushi and how they gained 42% UK Market Share
The IDEAS approach as applied by Karen Green Commercial Director of Ichiban, as they looked to grow and develop the sale of Sushi in the UK
Inspiration
- The Ichiban team and main customers buyers went on a fact finding trip to Japan
- Spoke to experts within the sector
- Gained feedback from the American market (classically ahead of the UK market)
- Conducted customer research on likes / dislikes and importantly listened to customers
Design
- The Japanese approach to sushi segmented / gifted
- Looking at exclusive quality chocolates these were delicate products that didn’t move in the pack
- Used the packaging design team for well know market leading chocolate company
- Developed a unique “Pagoda” shaped package
Evolution
- Took a fusion of flavours e.g. Chicken Tikka sushi (see Asian Style Chicken & Duck)
- Instead of the black stuff often associated with Sushi developed coloured flavoured wraps
- Developed taster packs as a mechanism to develop trials / new customers
Added Value
- Bamboo equivalent packaging with grass – that met UK requirements
- Created the ultimate fish sushi pack
Success
- Gained 42% of market share
- Increased market penetration to 10% ( a massive increase when it is considered that Poultry 75% and Toilet Rolls 98%)
- Winner of industry awards
- Whilst you are doing a great job and offering a great service your business is not in issue
Using IDEAS To Generate New Products
For more information on marketing and sales developments click here. To talk to an innovation expert click here
Summary – What If You Improved Your Business By 10%
improving your business by even a small margin can have a significant impact on your overall success. A 10% improvement in areas such as revenue, profitability, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency can lead to long-term growth and sustainability. To achieve this improvement, businesses should focus on areas such as customer satisfaction, marketing efforts, product or service offerings, online presence, and employee training and development.
Here are some key summary points to take away from this article:
- A 10% improvement in your business can have a significant impact on your overall success.
- To achieve this improvement, businesses should identify areas for improvement, focus on customer satisfaction, increase marketing efforts, expand product or service offerings, improve online presence, and invest in employee training and development.
- The IDEAS framework can be used to guide product development, from identifying the problem to launching and assessing the product’s performance in the market.
By implementing these strategies and continually striving for improvement, businesses can ensure that they remain competitive and successful in the long run
If you would like to know more about “Growing Your Business” contact Andrew Goode MBA, MSc, FCIM Click here to arrange a call
Other articles linked with marketing metrics that may provide additional insight. Marketing metrics and analytics, marketing ROI Planning , marketing revenue analytics and Marketing Measurement Metrics and Website Design
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