No matter if you watch the TV show the Profit or not, it highlights business tycoon, Marcus Lemonis’ superpower of turning failing businesses around on the show. Here are the top business tips I’ve learned from watching this program.
Business Tip 1: Paring down what you offer
In one episode, Lemonis helps an Ice Cream Parlour. One strategy used to support this struggling restaurant was to trim down their menu. The reasoning behind this was it allows customers to make decisions quicker. Lemonis explained how once this was in place, the tables would turn faster, generating more revenue.
Think about what you offer. Is it easy for people to choose a service or product? Or do they get stuck in analysis paralysis? If you provide a service, sell a physical product or information product online, think about how to streamline your offer to increase online sales. Maybe you roll out one idea at a time or show fewer products on a page. Start with one idea and test it. The numbers will determine whether or not you stick with a strategy or try something else.
Business Tip 2: Tweaking your schedule can help
How many times do we have the best intentions of carrying out XYZ task but end up focusing on something else? Getting pulled in different directions can affect your bottom line. Lemonis profoundly understands the connection of time on task and the potential money generated from devoting the right amount of time to said task.
Whenever he takes a look at a business’ books, he starts to craft an action plan to make a business move forward financially. That often means identifying the business’ actual money makers and devoting the appropriate amount of time to focusing on those money makers.
While in some cases this might mean eliminating specific products or services, other times it’s just a change in schedule. His rule of thumb is to align your schedule in such a way that the percentage of time spent on XYZ tasks needs to align with the percentage of revenue made from doing those tasks.
Think about how you spend your time. Do you often spend too much time on something that doesn’t make you any money? You might have to fix your schedule to reflect what is most important to the lifeblood of your business.
Business Tip 3: Organization matters to your money
On other episodes, Lemonis focuses on the stores’ appearance and the use of space. There was one show where a store sold key lime pies. Eight percent of the business’ revenue was from pies, yet sixty percent of the store’s space was devoted to other key lime products that didn’t generate revenue. This had to change to improve the business drastically.
Another show featured a kitchen supply store overloaded with merchandise. Many of the items weren’t selling, yet the store owner was purchasing more of these non-sellers. Lemonis pointed this out and briefly discussed the importance of visual merchandising.
He had the store owners shut down for a week and declutter the store. They sorted merchandise by keeping similar items together to showcase them better. They also looked into potentially increasing revenue by offering aprons.
Whether you work in a brick and mortar setting or do business online, could you benefit from rethinking your layout? This might even include your workspace. Is your desk organized?
Are you able to find what you need fast? Are things set up in a way that allows you to work as quickly as possible? Look for snags that delay you throughout the day. Write them down and later try to strategize solutions so you can get things done faster.
The Bottom Line
Use these business tips to improve your business, and think about how to improve your situation based on the power of numbers. Think about how those numbers should dictate what you offer, how it impacts your schedule and how to tidy things up to bring more money your way.
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