The folks in the ‘SALES’ camp would say, you can’t spend what you don’t have – and you don’t have anything until you make a sale.
And, that sounds about right. Right?
Now, on the other hand, the people in the ‘PROFIT’ camp would argue just as strongly that you can’t spend sales, only profits!
Yeah, that makes sense too. So, which is it?
Ok, well, the answer is …, drum roll please – neither, as in neither is more important than the other and both, as in they are both very important.
Sorry.
Yes, like most of the answers to questions in the real world you and I live in, the answer isn’t always, in fact, hardly ever is – black or white.
The truth lies
somewhere in the murky middle.
But, if you look hard to find your answers in that murky middle, you’ll discover answers that are powerful.
And, those answers are the road map to solid growth in both sales and profits.
Let’s take a look at SALES first.
You know I preach to never stop marketing.
And I stand by that.
Having an on-going marketing plan in place is like the farmer, who always has a new field being planted to give him a regular harvest.
But, you may ask what’s so bad about an on again – off again marketing approach?
Well, at best, you’ll have accounts coming in now and then – basically ‘feast or famine’.
But, in the worst case, you could get caught ‘with your pants’ down, if you were to lose several accounts or one big one – leaving you scrambling with no more in the ‘pipeline’ to replace it.
Now what about PROFITS?
Well, making a profit is one of the things that literally makes you a business. Anything else may be a hobby, charity, or promising idea – but not a business!
At least, not one you’ll be running very long.
So, yes, we’re serious about making profits, and suggest you be serious about it as well.
And my biggest suggestion to getting and staying profitable is simply this – pay attention!
That’s right, there’s a lot of things you can do to run a profitable commercial or residential cleaning business, but it all starts with paying attention.
So, let’s get right down to it.
You pick up a new account and the budgeted hours you assign to it are – let’s say, 6 hrs. per night.
Well, if you start seeing 6 1/2 or 7 hours being spent each night in the building – there’s something wrong somewhere!
I don’t know what it is, but ‘there’s a fungus among us!’ and you better PAY ATTENTION and find out what it is, and correct it -because if you don’t well, you know, no one else will.
And, by the way, this ‘paying attention’ thing goes for more expenses than just payroll.
One last example, and I’ll get off my soap box.
There’s a dumpster in the parking lot of a medical building near our office.
And for months, it may be over a year by now, I have driven by and seen that thing filled to the brim, in fact often, overflowing with people’s garbage that I know did not come from that building.
Everyone in the world has been throwing there, pardon me, ‘crap’ into that dumpster, including nearby lawn care companies that fill it with their grass cuttings.
Why do I tell you this?
Because that building has been throwing hundreds, if not, thousands of dollars down the drain having to get that big dumpster emptied – simply because they did not pay attention to what was going on.
Well, finally, the other day, I saw they switched to a dumpster with a lockable lid.
All I could think was …. about time!
The secret wasn’t a secret at all – it just needed someone to pay attention.
So, which is more important – sales and profits?
Neither, you’re gonna need ’em both!
You Can Do This, You Really Can,
Dan
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