Building Business Revenue

Many businesses have been so focused on getting by, that they find themselves making decisions, and changing directions like water seeking the path of least resistance when running downhill.  Whether that is your intention or not, take the approach of successful businesses world-wide – be proactive. Taking control of your company’s future is a requirement to succeed.

As your business begins its annual climb up the revenue mountain there are four steps that are essential to achieving profitable revenue growth. 

During difficult economic times the trend for most companies is to cut costs vs. become more innovative.  Hiring new people is far from top of mind when the future predicts marginal growth.  The goal is to weather the storm, protect the assets, keep the risks low and stay alert for new revenue opportunities.

Long time independent newspaper The Seattle Times has lost my vote because I don’t know whether I can trust them anymore.  They crossed the line last week and I moved from proud print subscriber to a non-subscriber overnight.  They stopped living their brand while searching for new revenue streams.  When they did that they lost my trust. 

Last week two preeminent northwest companies made portions of their long view public. Both Amazon and Filson are achieving their goals and securing their futures by purchasing real estate for their businesses.

Profits increase when you have engaged, passionate people on your team – the right people in the right seats on the bus.  Having the wrong people in those seats will get in the way of making sales, improving gross profits and increasing the overall net profit of your organization.

Managing leads to convert them into more sales takes good timing and persistence.  This infographic presents four best practices to follow to close more sales. 

Without a Sales Qualification Matrix the world of B2B Sales is twice as hard as it needs to be.  To get your team performing with a higher closing rate, they need to start with better opportunities. 

Last night Tom Skerritt spoke at The Executive Network of Seattle.  He told us inspiring stories of his commitment to improving the lives of up and coming generations by providing them the basic communication tools and language skills that our faster-than-the-speed-of-a-tweet society is overlooking.  Here’s one story that struck me as a good lesson for today’s leaders, as well as tomorrow’s.