Offer an Additional Service

Offering an Additional service is a great way to increase revenue. This can be done as a different service or the same from the core competency of a company. For example a landscaping company offers a landscaping service to a customer finishing a yard. Following finishing the yard, the landscaping company can offer yard maintenance to the customer as an additional service. This company may even be able to offer snow clearing to the customer in winter as well. These additional services create work and revenue into the future.

Offer Community Specific Products

For example if you live in a small town, offer the towns sports teams on flags and banners. This can help generate high margins on a few products that are likely not offered by any other company in town. This works with sports, town pictures, town collectables, etc. Anything that foster a sense of community will work in this manner.

Have a Lead Loss Product

A lead loss product is a product that is prices below cost to get people into a store. This is a great idea for certain grocery stores and common product stores. This brings people into your store instead of the competition and will create traffic. the idea is that by bringing people in they will then buy other products making good markups out of convenience of being in the store. It does not work well with specialty product stores because people that want specialty products will get and need them either way.

Importance of a Logo

Logos must be simple, memorable, versatile and future oriented.

1. A simple logo is the best logo, something that focuses on the company values and uses company colours. Often the best logos are ones that do not take time to think about, you just know what they are and mean. And in being simple it translates to the next essential part of logos.. memorability.

2. In order for a logo to stick in a consumer or customers head it must be unique. Some techniques that are used include:

• Bold colours
• A unique letter
• Contrast of colours
• Is industry specific (eg. not a leaf when working in house building)

Making the logo memorable works into the next part.. versatility.

3. In todays world social media and advertising is a must. Any logo that is designed must be able to be used in more then one setting. For example, the logo that is placed on the website must also be able to be placed on company vehicles, which must be used on a advertisement, which is used on the mobile webpage, which is used to make the app. Keeping the logo universal is essential.

4. A logo must be able to be used into the future. Think ahead and the logo will be able to last time. For example, the logo chosen must encompass the goals of the company moving forward, if the company wants to move from landscaping to snow clearing in the winter chose a logo that will work for both. This is why a business plan is so essential, setting goals and knowing what the future may bring is used in every part of the business.


Logos are not aging, they allow for branding and help a company or service to be recognizable. Being recognizable can help advertisements to be more effective and overall help increase traffic and interest to a store or service.

Conduct a Survey

Conducting a Survey of potential customers is a great way to see if your Business idea or marketing idea will meet your goals and is feasible. The first step in conducting a survey is to narrow down the group or groups of people that you want to survey. The second is to come up with the survey technique. And then finally all that is left is to administer the survey and collect the results. One thing to watch is for survey bias, check questions to make sure the do not point to a specific answer. Also, in person surveys can sometimes can pressure making the respondent tell you what you want to hear. As long as you take the survey from enough people it will make the outliers noticeable and help generate an accurate and reliable result.

Research

It is essential to research the target market and customers of your company or service. This will help in deciding on the four P's of marketing and help to increase traffic and profit.


The Four P's of marketing make up what is called the marketing mix. The four P's are: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

Product: Product consists of the different aspects and qualities of a product or service such as:
-Quality
-Design
-Brand
-Packaging
-Features

Price: Includes not only the physical price but the credit terms, discounts, allowances and incentives used to help sell the service or product.

Place: Refers to the different market segments, target markets and market qualities that make up the area in which a product or service will be marketed and ultimately sold.

Promotion: Refers to promoting and advertising a product to the target customers. It includes the different channels, bundling, advertisements, promotions and pricing to attract customers and ultimately sell a product.

Knowing the customers better help you make decisions regarding these key areas.

Offering a Loyalty or Points Program

Offering a loyalty or points program helps to gain exclusive customers, develop an email list for quick advertising, help to maintain customers and increase sales. Many companies are beginning to offer a points program so to keep up with the competition it is vital to have a program that is sort of the same. Also offering greater discounts and incentives for loyal customers is a great way to increase sales.

Employee Training Programs and Refreshing

By constantly training employees and offering refreshing sessions it insures that everyone in a company is kept up to date with technology, services, products and selling techniques. this is essential to having a competitive advantage against competition. It is also important in having a high quality customer service in both the service and product industries.

Customer Comfort

Adding a comfort area to any store is a great way to increase business. Many people who do not wan to shop at a store will be able to relax and enjoy optional coffee or beverage that can be charged for through a vending or espresso machine. An example of this is having a spouse that doesn't want to go to a hardware store or grocery store. Having somewhere to sit will allow the spouse not inclined to shop to relax while the other does. Increasing traffic, profit and customer satisfaction along the way.

Have a Website

Having a website is one of the most important things for any company, especially service. It provide credibility to a company and allows potential customers to know the company values, see past work and products and make sure that the company can be trusted. A simple website can go along way in increasing revenue and boosting a business.

Go Green

Companies that are taking care of the environment is becoming more important to consumers. By making a difference in the world, word of mouth and advertising can be used to create a positive outlook for your company or service. This will give a competitive edge over the competition and will help to increase traffic and interest in the company.

Running Events

Running free events add to store and service traffic dramatically. By offering a free learning session, it will bring people in contact with the services and products that your company offers and will in turn increase revenue. Even learning services can be charged for. If the service offered is respected in the community for expert advise, charging for a learning service can be the way to generate extra income all on its own.

Employee Lunch Service

Many employees spend time every day leaving to get food at lunch. By offering a service that has food delivered to onsite productivity is saved from employees that might be a couple minutes late from lunch. An example of this is landscaping employees. If they leave for lunch they have to drive, pick up food eat and drive back. If food is ordered, Only eating and resting in the appropriate lunch time is needed. During lunch/ break work can be discussed about the next projects, saving time that would otherwise be spend after they returned from leaving the job site.

Vending Machines

Vending machines are a way to create weekend or full time revenue. To maximize the revenue potential it is vital to have a machine route that is quick and easy to service. Long service routes lower the profits and add to the time needed to run this low cost startup idea. When picking locations, common sense says to put the machines in the highest traffic areas. In addition to this thought, think about having loyal customers (eg. Employees), having in areas where snacks and drinks are needed (eg. Workout areas) and areas where people don't usually bring their own snacks. Be diligent in looking into the costs of having your machine in certain locations (eg. Renting spot, electricity, etc.). Combining all these feature can help in the success of this low cost startup idea.

Candy Machine

Children love to find the candy machine in a store. Adding a candy machine will generate revenue one purchase at a time. They cost so little to maintain if there is a area to place one it doesn't make sense not to have the passive income.

Add an Up-sell

Before purchasing any product adding an up-sell to a product or service is a great way to increase profit. For example when at the checkout counter asking if the customer would like to add gum for a price is a way, or at the gas station asking if you would like to add a car wash to the bill, or add dessert to a dinner, or add maintenance to a landscaping job. Any appropriate up-sell will help to increase to revenue of a company.

Study Employee Trends

Companies lose tons of money every single day to loss of productivity and employee slacking. Never will it be stopped; however, minimizing it will help to lower costs and increase profit margins. One tip is to have enough work for workers planned at the beginning of the day, and telling employees the list at the beginning of the day as well. By doing this the time between jobs usually spent finding out what to do next is eliminated.

Social Media

Using applications such as Facebook and Twitter can boost your knowledge of the world around you as well as where the world is moving into the future. For example following certain business people can let us know which way the market is moving, what the trends are, which industries are moving forward and much more. Surrounding yourself in knowledge and getting the mind in the right train of thought is key to coming up with good ideas and knowing competition. Just reading our posts daily will help get your mind in that rhythm... I have a issue with that... Now how can it be fixed. Any not using social media is not utilizing the maximum exposer of their service or business, by adding a Facebook page more people will be exposed to the product therefore increasing traffic and interest to the business.

Participate in Community

When a company participates in the community the goodwill that surrounds the company will foster more word of mouth and traffic to a business. Something as simple as a landscaping company offering its services to the community flower beds for free in return for putting a small lawn sign up will go along way in attracting customers.

Collecting Bottles

It is amazing the amount of bottles and empty cans that make there way to the trash every year.  In a small or large store collecting bottles in specific containers will allow for extra revenue generation after returning for profit or as many companies do it will allow for a donation to be made to a charity. Either way it provides extra benefits to companies in collecting bottles and returning to the bottle depot or recycling.

Expresso Machine

An Expresso machine can be use in two situations. One, as a free service to increase traffic to a small business or service. It can be advertised as free coffee and other beverages to customers that are using your service. Second, as a way to generate extra revenue. A coffee machine can be added to any high traffic area or employee area. Maintenance is medium to low depending on different machines, so low costs make for high margins.

Public Washrooms

Public washrooms can e a large benefit to a company. Even though to cost to maintain the costs will translate to more traffic in a store and additional profits. One tip is to have the washrooms at the front of the store. People will know about the the washrooms and stop by when needed. Providing a vending machine beside a washroom is a way to generate even more income through the increased traffic.

Offer Free Popcorn

Offering free popcorn helps any service or product company to increase traffic into a certain area and into the store. Offering popcorn is cheap and simple and is not the same as offering a lead loss product as it provides a benefit to customers and employees that people notice. Word of mouth will spread the service and get people into the store.

Re-evaluate Prices

Prices constantly change in the markets today. Constant refreshing of prices is vital to keep up with competition and maintain customer loyalty. This works both ways whether it be increase or decrease prices. Knowing the target segments and characteristics is essential in doing this. In addition, constant feedback is crucial in making sure pricing changes and decisions are correct.

Keeping Store Clean

Keeping a store clean and tidy can do more then just be visual.

-It can attract customers that like a clean environment.

-It can put your business a little bit ahead of the competition.

-It can sell products that would not otherwise be noticed

-It shows your company cares

Overall keeping clean can increase traffic and revenues over time.