HOW TO FAST-TRACK A SLOW BUSINESS AND EXPLODE YOUR PROFIT INSTANTLY

Things were happening so fast, but in the opposite direction of the required and expected result Kunle and Kate had hoped and planned for.
They had both agreed that Kate resigned her job and start business after her first pregnancy which resulted in a set of two beautiful twins. Kunle became assistant branch manager in the bank where he worked two months after the delivery, and was given another letter five months later only that the content is different from the one he collected five months ago. This one says “Your services are no longer required”

It’s a time of bank reform in Nigeria and banks are laying people off in batches like packs of biscuit. Both of them put their savings into business while Kunle kept searching for job here and there. No job was forthcoming and the business was not really booming as they had anticipated.
Though they agreed to hold on concerning child bearing but their twins were going strong and demands on raising children also increasing. Their business also was becoming slower and slower than usual. Kate was beginning to worry that things would get even slower in the months ahead when Kunle came up with a terrific idea for building a second income from the Internet.  So he attended some seminars on how to build a successful income from the internet, and in few weeks they have started this other source of income from the internet with their stunning looking website up and running. Months later, the web site and advertising have only brought in a few sales. Then the fear came back again; all their time, money, and enthusiasm were wasted.
I hear similar experiences from dozens of people each week. Some of them are start-ups, others are mature business owners who just got stuck in the middle of the road without knowing what to or what not to do again.
Bellow are some simple ways to give your business new life.

1.    GIVE YOURSELF A BIG SECOND CHANCE
Most business ideas flop on the first try while some still endure to the second, third or the forth try depending on who you are. The first key to success in business is, knowing how to give yourself a BIG second chance. Sometimes you will need to try a third or fourth time before your new product or service brings home the bacon. You must have heard about a salesman that was sent by a shoe company to Africa, he came back and said there was no market there because the people he saw didn’t wear shoes; another was sent who said everyone here needs shoe. I’m not talking about the salesmen, I’m focusing on the company, if they had given up on the first attempt, another company would have taken over the market from them. You need to give yourself kudos for even venturing into a business that failed. Remember we are yet to hear about any inventor who got it right in the first attempt. Give your business a big second chance, because by so ding you are giving the business itself a new chance. The children's story of the "little engine that could" might as well be a $1,000 business seminar.

2. GIVE YOUR BUSINESS A TIGHTER FOCUS.
No matter how gigantic a sewing machine is, the point of its needle will still be tiny. Why? Because of accuracy and effectiveness. Many businesses are too broad, trying to interest too many different kinds of prospects. Being too general will leave you lost in a crowd. We have more stores than at any time in history. Retailers are finding their markets split into tiny fragments as shoppers have a bewildering choice of places to spend their money. Meanwhile the Internet is exploding; you will see a website about books while another one focuses on greeting cards alone.
Money spent on the internet yearly is in the volume of more than 500Billion dollars yearly and all that money is divided among some 800 million web sites.  How do you compete when there are so many others? Tighten your business focus to include a narrow, very well defined audience. The man who sells John Denver memorabilia from the 1970s has a very specific, almost peculiar business. But he is selling his product like crazy on the Internet. He is filling a niche that deeply interests a particular group of people.
Use your education as an example, the higher you go, the more specialized you are. Mathematics was one of your subjects in the secondary school; it became a major course when you enter the university, to do your masters you need to pick one branch of mathematics which you will still have to narrow down when going for your PhD. They call it “SPECIALIZATION”. It will keep you on top any day.

3. REDEFINE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE (PROSPECTS)
Take a closer look at where you are putting your advertising dollars. It is tempting to place all your cash into big media that reach a lot of people, but are all those people your best prospects?
Marketing is generally more effective when it can be closely targeted to a well defined audience. If your audience is made up of lots of your best customers; you get sales, but if it’s not, then sorry you are just enriching advert agents and media houses to the detriment of your young or old business. Consider advertising in trade publications, email newsletters, and neighborhood papers. Postcards and handbills are cheap and prospects read them without having to open an envelope.

4. MAKE YOUR PRICES MORE COMPETITIVE.
For the past few years consumers have told us they want quality and service with price being much less important. The tightening of the economy has changed that. Now consumers are ranking price as one of the most important reasons they buy from one business and not from another, which is true as everybody wants value for his or her money.
Think of ways you can tighten your belt or redefine your product or service to offer it at a lower cost. Maybe you can limit your service to fewer, but still important features. Perhaps your prices are already lower than competitors. You just need to emphasize your lower prices more in your marketing. Lower prices are suddenly an important way to get people to buy.

5. CHOOSE THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE THAT SELLS BEST FOR YOU
Choose the product or service that sells best for you, and then expand it. Go wide and deep on that one product or service. Offer more versions of the same product or service. If the green one is selling well, come out with a red one and a blue one to offer alongside your start performer. Don’t focus on a product because that is what you want, it is not about what you want, its about what your customers want and how you can meet their need.
There is a lady I knew some time ago, she was selling clothing materials in her street but wasn’t making sales and everybody that bought was buying on credit, some not to pay again and some to fight with her when she asked for her money. The street was a busy street but there was nobody selling food items there, everybody has to go to another street or the market. My sister knew that the people in the area would appreciate food items but she said she doesn’t like selling foods items. She later closed down her shop because the people living in the area were low earners; people that would first of all think about what to eat before they talk about their appearance.

6. SELL RELATED SERVICES OR PRODUCTS
Look for more related products or services you can offer. A graduate once started washing clothes for people to make ends meet; he soon noticed that the same people are too busy to iron the clothes by themselves, so he added iron at an extra charge. He gathered money; open a shop where people started bringing their clothes instead of him going from house to house again. I write press releases for people. I have also found out that the same people want me to write articles for them. That is a related service I can offer along with the popular press release and copy writing service. It’s a good business for a vulcanizer to sell tires. An auto repair workshop can also open auto steam-wash nearby, or sell engine oil alongside.
A bread seller can sell butter alongside.
A computer engineer can sell computer alongside.
A website designer can go into webhosting alongside.
A painter can sell paint.
A lawyer can go into estate management.
A doctor can open a pharmaceutical store.
A cloth seller can sell shoes and jewelries as well.
Just look at what you are doing and you will see that there are a lot of other services you can render alongside that will boost what you are doing and also put extra income into your pocket.

7. SHARPEN YOUR MARKETING MATERIALS
 Sharpen your marketing materials, just a glance from your prospects should glue them to it and arouse suspense that will make them read it through. With all that competition in the business world, you profit when your marketing and advertising stands out and hits home with consumers. Give all your marketing pieces a headline. Busy prospects need a way to quickly find out "what's in this for me" before they will take the time to read your sales letter, brochure, classified ad, or web site.
Relate the features of your product or service to the benefits the buyer will get. Your "Widget 900" has a clever lever. Tell prospects how that lever will save them time, money, and make their day more enjoyable. It is the benefits that your buyers really care about.

8. EXPAND YOUR PROMOTIONAL EFFORT
It takes a LOT of advertising, marketing, and promotion to get into the heads of your busy prospects. People are constantly bombarded with ads and commercials. You need to hit your best prospects over and over again before your message sinks in.
Look for several ways you can CONSISTENTLY market your business. Find affordable methods that reach your best customers and use those methods over and over again. When marketing doesn't work, it is almost always because the business ran out of money and gave up too soon.

The best way to clobber competition and build your business into a cash cow is to give your business a tight focus, make prices more competitive, expand what works, improve marketing materials, and promote big and consistently.