I was having a conversation with Jeanette, a dear friend of mine, earlier this week and I just loved something she said to one of her business partners. Her actual words were, “This is a business. We are in this to be able to pay ourselves. We need to be clear about how we are going to make this a real business. I don’t work for free.”

Her comment reminded me that all-too-often we may approach our businesses more like hobbies hoping we get paid, but not being certain. Jeanette was correct when she said that she did not have a viable business until she was able to pay herself a consistent salary from the business.

There is another way to know that we have built our businesses to be viable that is often over-looked as you are being stretched as the specialist who is still in the tactical side of your business – a business is supposed to be profitable.

Your business is profitable if it is bringing in enough revenue to pay the overhead expenses, payroll, taxes and giving, with income left over. While the percentage of profit you may have can differ, it is a critical measuring tool for the health of our businesses.

It is critical that we learn how to watch the numbers in order to keep increasing profitability.

How do we actually begin to shift our profitability without expanding staff and doing the same old “in-the-box” suggestions such as cutting expenses, increasing prices or selling to a more elite clientele?

While we will be sharing “7 Out-of-The-Box Ways to Increase Profit Now” in our upcoming national teleclass training, I want to share a powerful way that you can increase your profit and see immediate results – increase current customer connection.

Most small and micro businesses focus of getting or acquiring new clients and customers and often overlook the current customers that would add revenue to your company without having to find new clients.

There are several ways to increase the level of connection you have with your current customers and clients to shift your profitability:

1. Take some time to access your current client or customer list. Identify which customers or clients are making you the most money right now. These high-yield customers usually make up about 20% of your current customers.
2. Find ways to add value to the current customers such as additional programs or services of interest or additional accessories to the product they already have.
3. Take the time to reach out to them and find out how they are doing and share the benefits (not the features) of the additional program, service, accessory, etc. and how it will help them achieve their goals and objectives.

When your clients and customers feel well taken care of, they will become returning clients and customers. They will also refer other great customers to you. This is something that every business can do, but few do it well. This, alone, holds the power to drastically shift your profitability.

Continue doing this check on a quarterly basis and you should see your profit increase anywhere from 10% – 30% with only very minimal additional costs. Most of all, enjoy the process of becoming more profitable, which you are called to do as you and your business serve the Lord.

To learn 6 more out of the box ways to immediately increase your profit, join us for our upcoming national teleclass training.

[Ericka D James, The Results Accelerator, is a master trainer and business expansion expert who works with business owners, training them to step into their full power and value to build high-impact businesses as the Founder of The International Alliance of Christian Business Women (IACBW). She also oversees ministries that transform the world through the Kingdom Minister’s Association, a training and empowerment organization for ministers called beyond the walls of the church. Learn more about her life’s work at www.ErickaDJames.com and www. IACBW.com.]