7 Ways to Increase Cash in the Business – Without Spending to Do It

The math is simple. To have more money, you need to earn more or spend less.  This list is just to help you break down the cash analysis you need to do. It’s not all-inclusive, but it’s a start.

To earn more money without marketing:

1. Sell the clients you have more while you’re in front of them.

This can include adding a bottle of wine to the  customer dining in your restaurant, or adding a service contract to the end of a large sale. Do they know the extent of your product offering, and are you meeting all the customer needs that you can?  Make sure you ask if there is anything else you can do.

2. Sell the clients you have more often.

A dentist that sees patients every 6 months sells double the amount as the one that only sees patients annually. And they have better looking, happier clients due to their increased sales. Revisiting for the smaller sale wins for big for everyone.

3. Revisit and service your long, lost clients.

If they are your clients, and you don’t service them, you are waiting for someone else to come along and steal them (and likely sell them something bigger). If you know you aren’t going to serve them, visit them and refer them to someone who can better fit their needs, and get a referral bonus.

4. Ask for referrals.

I know, I know. You’ve never heard that before. Still, you should do it.  Even if you think you aren’t in a referral-driven business, try it out and see if you get any business that way. You refer restaurants to your friends, right? A restaurant owner can easily walk up to a patron’s table to greet them and ask them to send a friend, too.

PHOTO: Customers Spending Cash at a Small Business.

To spend less money and deliver the same quality:

1. Revisit purchasing practices and optimize the input spending.

Do you make sure you get the best prices on your cost of goods sold?

2. Look through each line of your Profit & Loss.

Find areas of excessive spending in the P&L and attack with a scalpel.

3. Look at the balance sheet spending of your company.

Then do as little spending as possible.

–by Barb Fisher, Owner and Business Management Consultant, Fisher Business Management