Two Ways To Grow Your Revenue

That's it, just two.

They are consistent no matter your business type as long as you have a product or service for sale.

1. Develop new customers
2. Sell more to your existing customers.

I am not trying to oversimplify, just show how easy it is to set a revenue growth plan.

To develop new customers, you can advertise. Just make sure that you have a solid plan and remain consistent with your message and medium. To help with budgeting, determine a goal for new customers and quantiify what a new customer is worth over the next ten years.
Where will your new customers come from?
Will they change from their current provider for you? Why?
Ask for referrals from existing customers.

To sell more to existing customers (which is the easiest way to grow), ask for add on sales or services to grow your average ticket.
Educate customers on other products and services that you offer for later.
Have a plan to make sure you stay in touch with that customer during the product life cycle.
Offer a bounce back coupon or offer.
Give your happy customers a referral bonus if they bring you new customers.
A solid advertising plan will help to reinforce all of these things and will actually help you sell more to your existing customers.

Feel free to comment and share what you do in YOUR business.

The Mastermind Group

Do you have one? 

I was talking with another member of the Douglas County Connection (DCC) yesterday. DCC is a group of local business owners and managers that get together each week to share ideas. During our conversation, we got into a discussion about the book "Think And Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. I have written about the book previously, but this conversation was drawn to Chapter 10.

Power Of The Mastermind – Lessons From Chapter 10: THE DRIVING FORCE – The ninth step towards riches

Napoleon Hill states:”POWER is essential for success in the accumulation of money. PLANS are inert and useless, without sufficient POWER to translate them into ACTION.”

He goes on:”POWER may be defined as ‘organized and intelligently directed KNOWLEDGE.’”
And:”POWER IS REQUIRED FOR THE ACCUMULATION OF MONEY! POWER IS NECESSARY FOR THE RETENTION OF MONEY AFTER IT HAS BEEN ACCUMULATED!”
This power is created through the coordinated effort of a mastermind group, working toward a definite end, in a spirit of harmony.

An alike designed mastermind group allows its members to tap into the power of Infinite Intelligence.

There is power in associating and sharing with a group of like minded individuals. The DCC group is a perfect example of a Mastermind Group.

Who are you surrounding yourself with? Are they adding to your group? Mastermind groups must have active participants to be effective.

You don't have to have a single group of people and it doesn't have to be a formal organization. It is the people that you trust and surround yourself with.

With a solid Mastermind group, 1 plus 1 equals 3.

If you don't have your own group, get one and see how much more powerful you get!

Make Your Points

One at a time.

I edit ads for customers just about every day. The biggest flaw that I find is that most ads could and SHOULD be broken down into multiple commercials.

When creating an ad or campaign, make sure that each ad has a point. A single point. If you have multiple things to communicate, make them separate ads.

If you have a grocery store that has a pharmacy, florist and a great meat department that you want people to know about, then tell the story of each. Separately. They deserve that attention. Don't try to cram all three into one ad. You can't tell any of the stories effectively.

Look closely at your ads. Do they make one point well? If not, change it and prepare to be amazed at your return on investment. If the ads are persuasive. But that, my friends is for another day.

Are You Insane?

In this context, the definition of insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results.

Even successful organizations must take a step back when things aren't going as good as you would like. The business world is changing more rapidly than ever before. The needs of businesses and their consumers are changing. Are you keeping up?

You need to know what your customers want. It is probably not what you think they want. It is almost never what you want them to want! For that matter, what they need long term is very hard to see in the heat of the moment short term.

Begin with the end in mind and craft a strategy to get from where you are to where you are going. It is not always a straight line there.

No matter where you are today though, question everything and assess if it will move you toward your end goal.

Do something different today and stop the insanity!  

Radio Rising

93.1% of Americans 12+ listen to the radio.*


UP 1.9 million listeners from last year.*


Many thought that radio would never make it past the launch of that new invention. The television. Records, 8 Track tapes, cassettes came next. All had their place. Radio still thrived. Have you listened to an 8 track tape lately? Have you ever even SEEN one?



I remember when CDs were going to make radio obsolete. Does anyone buy CDs now? How about music channels on cable in the early 90s? That would surely be the end of radio. Satellite Radio, Ipods, Internet radio, Pandora. In the face of all of this, radio fell to reaching a mere 92% of 12+ Americans.


Now, it is growing again.


• The largest gains came in the 18-34 adult demo. The total number of 18-34s estimated to listen to radio on a weekly basis is 66.5 million, up 350,000 from a year ago. Percentage-wise, 93.6% of 18-34s listen to radio. The teen reach is also up, gaining about 158,000 to 22.8 million, for a reach of 92%.*


• In terms of basic qualitative, radio attracts nearly 96% of adults 18+ with a college education and a household income of $75,000-plus. It also reaches 96% of adults 25-54 with a household income of $50,000-plus.*

As long as radio continues to deliver local and relevent content to its' market, radio will continue to be an unstoppable force. (Insert Joplin example here)

Radio is the last free provider of local news, sports, weather, information and entertainment.

I haven't even gotten to the part about the ability of radio to drive the local economy by educating consumers on what there options are to spend their dollars on goods and services. But that is for another day.


I would say welcome back radio, but you never left.

*RADAR 109 Survey