10 Ways to Make More Money for Your Business

While a number of experts say the slow economy is starting to show some signs of life, many business owners are still struggling. They know that every little bit of business income they bring in can be the difference between turning a profit or turning another employee away. So we’ve put together a list of 10 ways you can make more money for your business in the upcoming year.

1. Sell services as packages. If your business involves selling your services, you might be able to make more if you packaged them like products. Experts say there’s actually an emotional comfort factor in buying a package. Purchasing something with a name attached to it makes it feel more substantial than arbitrarily buying someone’s hours. For example, if you’re a graphic designer who charges clients by the hour, you might consider charging one flat daily rate or creating an identity package for new businesses that includes a logo, business cards and a brochure for one set price. That way, clients know upfront what they’ll be paying and don’t have to worry about cost overruns.

2. Sell other people’s products or services. Put together your own affiliate program where you get other people to sell your products and services and vice-versa. Anytime someone makes a sale of your product or service, you would get a cut of the sale. In return, if you sold someone else’s product or service, they would get a cut of your sale. Both you and your affiliate businesses win.

3. Sell yourself. Whatever your field of business, you are most likely an expert in that field. Create your own seminar, class, workshop or consulting business and position yourself as an authority on the topic. Then, charge a small fee for participants or request an honorarium from the school. You’ll be making a little extra money but, more importantly, you’ll also be generating valuable leads for your business. Those that have seen you speak will trust you and view you as an authority in your field. So if they ever have a need for your product or service, you will likely be their first call.

4. Sell value-added products or services. Examine your products or services and brainstorm some ideas that your customers might be interested in. Have customers ever asked if you offered delivery or a demonstration class? If you’re a hardware store you could offer how-to classes for a small fee. How about a kitchen specialty store that offers gourmet cooking lessons? Or a craft store that offers a class on creating dried flower arrangements? These are all value-added products or services that your customers might be willing to pay extra for. You could even consider adding your own private label of merchandise rather than selling other companies products so you get 100% of every sale. Big-time retailers like Target^® and grocery chains have been using this practice for years.

5. Sell online with eBay. If you’ve never put the power of eBay and online auctions to work, you could be missing out on a goldmine - not to mention a great way to unload leftover stock that’s just sitting around taking up valuable retail space. If the whole process is too intimidating for you, there are businesses that will sell your merchandise on eBay for you for a percentage of your sale. If they’re items that you haven’t been able to unload yourself and they’re just collecting dust, it’s better to make something than nothing at all. If your business is highly specialized like collectibles or antiques, online auctions are great places to expose your business to customers from all over the world.

6. Sell or rent space. Do you really need all of your office or business space? Do you have an empty floor or corner you could lease or sublease to another business? Some small businesses only need a desk or two to operate. You could throw in some unused computer work stations, share reception space or secretarial services and make even more. If you have a large wall on the outside of your business, depending local laws, you could rent out the space as a billboard to other businesses.

7. Make your money make money. Do you have a small amount of reserve funds built-up for expansion or other future plans? If you know you won’t need it for awhile, make sure that money is properly invested rather than just sitting in your business checking account earning little or no interest. Check with a good financial advisor that can put your hard-earned dollars to work for you and at a level of risk you’re comfortable with.

8. Rent out some of your employees. If you have skilled, experienced employees but don’t have enough work to keep them busy all the time, you could sub-contract them out to another business. Obviously you’d want to make sure it was okay with the employee, but you could markup their services and keep them fully employed without having to cut anyone’s hours or pay. It could just be a win-win-win situation for everyone involved.

9. Pay-for-use items. Do you have a self-storage facility? Purchase a used beverage vending machine and watch the income come pouring in on hot weather weekends when people are moving. Own a rental property with several units? Put in some coin laundry machines and you could really clean up. Do you have younger customers that like to come in and hang out for awhile? Put in a few video arcade games and score some points for your business income.

10. Shift your sales focus. Remember the old 80/20 rule stating that 80 percent of your profit comes from 20 percent of your customers? There’s plenty of truth in that. Stop wasting so much time and valuable resources trying to win new customers and shift much of your focus to getting your current customers to simply buy more. Your current customers are converted prospects and are easier to sell to because they already know your company. If you could get every customer to boost their average sale by just 10% or more, your bottom line could greatly improve. Remember, at the end of the day, it’s total sales receipts that count and not whether the customers were new or repeat buyers.

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