How to Boost Profits Without Increasing Sales

Increasing sales volume is a significant profit driver for businesses, but it’s not the only way to earn more profit. Furthermore, increasing sales isn’t always a manageable strategy for small business owners and entrepreneurs who are just getting started, since it often requires a large inventory and hiring more staff. Let’s take a look at how you can boost your profits without selling more.


What is Profit Margin?


Your profit margin is the percentage of your turnover that you actually get to keep; it’s the margin by which your sales exceed your costs. So if you sell £1,000 and spend £600, your profit is £400, making your profit margin 40%. Bear in mind that average profit margins vary widely across industries and business models.


Low Profits


Low profits are bad news because they make it difficult to invest in growth and protect your company during difficult times. There are many factors that can cause low profits including:

• Low sales
• High operating costs
• Poor inventory management
• Low customer retention rate

Many business owners believe that selling more is the answer to the problem of low profits, but that’s not always true. There are several more efficient ways that can help you increase your profit margins and make more money without increasing your sales volume.


Negotiate with Suppliers


Negotiating with suppliers can help you to reduce your expenses and thus create bigger profit margins. Shop around and speak to your suppliers about the possibility of bulk discounts or early payment incentives.


Monitor Inventory


As mentioned, poor inventory management often plays a role in low profits. If you overstock a product that doesn’t sell fast, you may lose money over time due to depreciation, expiration and misplacement.


Increase Prices


Raising your prices is a straightforward way of increasing your profit margins. Underpricing your products in order to drive sales reduces your margins and makes it more difficult to cover your costs. Competing on price works well for big businesses because they can afford to focus on sales volume rather than high margins, but many small businesses will achieve greater success by focusing on quality, convenience and excellent service.


Eliminate unprofitable items


It’s important to understand the gross profit that you make from a particular product or service. If an item is making you very little in terms of profit then it may be worth getting rid of it so that you can replace it with something more profitable, or simply streamline your selection for simpler inventory management.

Of course, you must weigh up profitability against sales volume. If you sell a very large volume of a product with a fairly low margin, it still may be worth keeping it.


Get Rid of Slow-Selling Items


Conversely, products and services with a very high gross profit margin are only actually profitable if they sell. Otherwise, they’re simply bulking up your inventory and tying up your assets. Reducing your supplies is an effective way of keeping your operating costs low and maximising your margins.


Systemise


Systemising your business will help you operate at maximum efficiency and thus reduce your costs. This means putting clearly defined processes in place and using technology to automate many menial tasks to save time. Essentially, it means having your business run like a well-oiled machine rather than a slow, spluttering engine.


Summary


There are multiple ways to boost your profits without increasing sales, and many of these strategies may be better suited to the needs of a small business. Remember that it’s not about the money you make, it’s about the money you get to keep.

 

If you are in need of some analysis of what is going on in your business financially, drop us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In Blue 26  Facebook Logo Primary

Privacy Statement | Terms of Use | Contact Us

Atholl Accountancy Limited is a company registered in Scotland. Registered office: 19 Atholl Place, Stirling, FK9 1SS

Registered with the Information Commissioner as a data controller: ZB408846

A member of the firm of the Institute of Financial Accountants, Atholl Accountancy Limited is subject to the IFA Code of Ethics.

In accordance with the disclosure requirements of the Provision of Services Regulations 2009, our professional indemnity insurer is Direct Line Insurance of The Wharf, Neville Street, Leeds, LS1 4AZ. The territorial coverage is worldwide excluding professional business  carried out from an office in the United States of America or Canada and excludes any action for a claim brought in any court in the United States of America or Canada.

Search