Making a good profit can be a hard thing to achieve, In fact, at times, any profit is hard to make, but so many business owners make this more difficult than it need be. There are so many ways to make more profit and one of those is to simply charge more for what you do. Again there are many reasons for charging more for your service but one of the best is just dressing up!
I will assume that you are very good at what you do and that you give an incredible service. But now I will give you two examples of how the same business might be sold. For each I will just concentrate on three areas, but I’m sure that you will get the picture.
Method one: The owner drives up in a dirty three-year old car, his business card is flimsy and has a number crossed out on it, and, to be honest, he looks like he has been away camping for the last few days.
Method two: The owner drives up in a beautifully clean three-year old car, his business card is branded and printed on a heavy board, and he looks as if he is going somewhere special.
Now remember they are providing exactly the same service. Which would you more likely give your business to? But, more importantly, most people would pay more money for the service provided by the second method.
There is another point to my example: you knew the service was the same in both cases, but what if you didn’t? Who would you have chosen to buy from?
‘Designer’ goods are all about dressing up: charging more and making more profit. Okay the quality of a £4 pair of jeans from the supermarket is not the same as that of a ‘designer’ pair, but a great deal of the price paid is for the ‘look’ and not totally the product.
So, if you want to increase your profits, why not just try ‘dressing up’ a little? Believe it or not – it does make a difference.
From the desk of David Wimblett 