When we meet new clients and agree to work together, the number one aim we have for them is that they achieve their monetary and non-monetary goals in life.You have probably heard us discuss some of the component parts to this, such as cash flow forecasting and smarter investing etc. However, one of the areas we cover is being smarter with the everyday issues, such as where do you keep your cash that is needed to cover everyday spending and direct debits etc.Most clients tend to have ordinary bank accounts that pay very little if any interest, and yet the level of cash kept in these accounts can be many thousands or even tens of thousands of pounds.So, what options do you have, and is this important anyway?Well, first of all, we understand that some clients have an emotional attachment to their bank. After all, they may have been with them since they were a student, and the local branch is fine for them.However, it could damage your wealth over time!You have two main options.Option 1 - Offset Flexible Mortgage With Current AccountMany of our clients have this type of mortgage. In recent years, the interest rates on these have […]
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Tags: cash flow forecasting, monetary goals, flexible mortgage, goals in life, emotional attachment
I0m all in favor of researching a niche and using what you find out to intelligently select a client niche. However, if you sell time-intensive services or complex, high-priced products, research could cause you to overlook a perfectly viable niche. A key point that might come up in your research is what the average member of the niche can afford or would pay. Ignore that average! Here are the numbers to think about instead, and why.
First, how many clients would you have per year if you were as busy as you wanted to be? In some industries, this number is extremely low. A direct-mail writer told me that her schedule is completely full with just six clients per year, since she gets repeat business from each, and each project might take a month or six weeks to complete. If we look at professions where clients tend to have weekly appointments for 45 minutes to an hour, like music instruction or psychotherapy, there might be no more than 35-40 clients a year when factoring in attrition.
According to Donald Mitchell, author of The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, the typical business-to-business company has only 30 clients. And according to Registered Rep, a magazine […]
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Tags: viable niche, direct mail, registered rep, donald mitchell, intensive services
Work smarter, not harder, by making small but significant shifts in the way you do business. Simple adjustments, clearheaded analysis and two minutes here and there may be all it takes to boost your bottom
line. Carefully consider these options, and you should be able to implement at least one or two of them right away.
1. Drop your least profitable offerings and concentrate on your most profitable ones. Note that I said “profitable” - not those bringing in the most or least money overall. You can sort your products and services by their profitability if you analyze your expenses according to which sources of revenue they support. “Most small business owners lose sight of precisely where they are making money and where they’re not,” says David Shepherd, author of the book, Your Business or Your Life. By getting rid of the offerings that require the highest percentage of costs in order to deliver them, you can see immediate improvement in profits, says Shepherd.
2. Send “difficult” clients or those you simply don’t like to your competitors. In a survey by David Maister, a consultant for top professional firms around the world, only 30-35 percent of respondents said they liked their clients; 50-60 […]
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Tags: david maister, small business owners, david shepherd, professional firms, respondents