SHOW ME THE MONEY!
That’s the refrain of all businesses sooner or later.
The fact is that you can’t have a business or non-profit without some type of revenue generation strategy.
In fact, if you look to some of the tightening of the venture capital markets in Silicon Valley, much of the change in environment can be linked directly to businesses that were good ideas but which had absolutely no idea how they were going to bring in any amount of sustainable revenue.
To help you start thinking about how to keep yourself from falling into the same trap, here are some ideas that I think you should focus on to help boost your sales and revenue.
1. Growth:
This goes without saying, but how much do you need to grow? Are you hitting your growth numbers? Or, are you stumbling, bumbling along?
And, what would these growth numbers look like?
2. Stagnation:
Has your revenue stream grown tired or stagnant?
Is this a permanent thing?
Is it a structural issue?
3. Understanding what success really is:
Are you measuring the right things?
How much money does your business need to bring in?
What are your meaningful metrics?
4. Aligning your different pieces:
Is marketing on the same page with sales?
Does your product deliver the promise of your sales and marketing?
What’s your strategy and does it fit everything else you are doing?
5. Silo free environment:
The right hand and left hand must talk.
You can’t have marketing thinking long term and sales thinking short term.
6. Choosing the right market:
Are you in the right market?
Does this market appreciate you?
Can you make money?
7. Customers:
Who is your customer?
Are they willing to buy and pay for what you are selling at a price point that enables you to maximize your money?
8. Creating value:
Just because you have an idea doesn’t mean it is a business.
Just because its a good idea doesn’t mean it will be a profitable business.
9. What’s your business model?
Simply put, does your business and pricing model fit the market? Are you going to be able to make money?
10. Are you even in the right market?
Sometimes an idea is great, but it isn’t right for the market.
Or, you have an idea that evolves and turns into something else.
Or, you have something that will hit multiple markets.
The key is that you make sure you look at the market and figure out if you are in the right spot or not.