1 SIMPLE WAY WE INCREASED REVENUE AND PROFIT BY 20% IN OUR BUSINESS
My partners and I have started, grown and managed 8 successful businesses between us. And we’ve consulted hundreds of other businesses in dozens of different industries and professions.
The one successful action described in this article generated millions in additional revenue in just one of our businesses! This is not a typo nor an exaggeration.
Many businesses can increase their revenues, cash flow and profit by 20-50% or even more by implementing this one simple thing.
This successful action applies equally well to (1) any small business, regardless of industry, and (2) especially all professional businesses such as
‣ Law Firms
‣ Medical Practices
‣ Architectural Firms
‣ Accounting Practices
‣ Dental Practices
‣ Insurance Agencies
‣ Optometry Practices
‣ Veterinary Practices
‣ Financial Planning/Investment Firms
‣ Any Type of Design Company
‣ Chiropractic Practices
‣ Nursing Agencies
‣ Any Type of Counseling Practices
‣ Any Other Professional Services Firms
What is this one amazingly successful element? It’s simply this:
How phone calls from new and existing customers or clients are handled
In particular, it is the skill (or lack of skill) of anyone who handles phone calls for the business, that has an enormous impact on a company’s revenues and profits.
Or, is there even a live person answering the phones at all?
I’m sure most people have called various businesses on occasion where the person answering the phone was either unskilled, didn’t know enough about the products or service the company provided, or had a negative attitude in some way.
I don’t know about you, but there have been several times in my life times when a business phone conversation was so bad or painful that I called another company.
And then there is the fact that many if not most professional or service businesses have automated phone systems, and don’t have anyone answering the phones. This costs a business thousands of dollars every month - more often, tens of thousands of dollars each and every month. More on this below.
We have found that the skills of the people handling incoming calls can earn even a small business $10,000-30,000 or more per month in extra revenue! And much, much more for larger businesses - 25% or more.
The reverse is also true. Untrained, un-knowledgeable, rude or negative people will cost a business, and cost larger businesses millions annually.
How much is a new client, customer or patient worth to your business? If you lose half of them on the phones, your revenues are far lower than they could and should be. You are leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table every month.
And, every existing client, patient or customer is a potential advertising source for your business. They could refer other people to your business - but they first have to be your clients.
So, for every new caller you lose on the phone, you lose (1) that person’s business and (2) any referred new people they would have sent if they were customers or clients with your business.
These losses add up to some considerable money.
We have proven this over and over, in multiple businesses and industries. The financial impact of phone skills (or lack of skills) on a business cannot be overstated. This is old school, but is every bit as true in today’s digital and social media age as it ever was.
Believe it or not, phone training is one of the most valuable revenue-producing actions anyone could take in a professional practice or small business. A business can increase profitability by 25% or more just by giving its people good training on how to handle phone calls - especially those calls from new, prospective customers, clients or patients.
Effective phone training is just as important as marketing. A business can spend thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions on marketing, only to have qualified new callers wasted when they call the business.
I have listened to over 1,000 phone conversations over the years, in my own businesses and those of clients. The average is that only 40-50% of new callers are scheduled to come to the business, or decide to do business with that company. Why? Simply because the person answering the phone didn’t handle the conversation properly.
I was shocked when I first realized how many clients we were losing every month on the phones. When I found out this was happening in our own business, I immediately began a campaign to train my people on how to communicate better on the phones, and how to best handle phone conversations.
First, I put together my own thoughts and training drills, just to get started. Then I invited my own staff to contribute to this, and they came up with a lot of great ideas.
After a few months, all of us together had developed a very effective phone training method. It was a group effort, and because the staff were invited to contribute, they were really into creating a great training program.
The result is that their phone scheduling rate went from 40-50% to 85-90%.
This generated millions in additional revenue in our business! This additional revenue came from phone training alone!
Half of our marketing dollars were wasted because our people didn’t know how to handle the phone conversations from new callers.
And these were good people! Most of them had been with us for 10, 15 years, and they had terrific qualities. They simply were never trained properly on the phones.
And of course, this was on me, this was my responsibility, this was my failure. I had no idea how untrained they were on the phones until I started listening to conversations. We had left millions of dollars on the table over the years because our people weren’t properly trained on the phones.
A potential new client, customer or patient calling your business has never experienced your business, has never met you or any of your people, and has no idea how good your business and services are. The ONLY connection a new caller has is a voice on the other end of the phone - a faceless voice.
And that “voice” better be very, very good with phone conversations with new callers.
After years of testing and refining our phone training in our own and clients’ businesses, we have developed a powerful phone training program that results in tens of thousands of dollars per month in additional revenues and profit. Using my training methods, client businesses of my consulting firm have had similar or greater success and financial rewards.
With good phone training, your business can add considerable money. And this is free money, because your people will convert more callers - people who are already calling you business. No additional marketing is needed.
Now, what if your business has an automated phone answering system? Then I would tell you that your business is losing lots of new customers, clients or patients, and therefore leaving lots of money on the table. I would strongly advise you to have live people answer your phones.
As a worst case, let’s say you can’t spare any of your existing people to answer the phones. If you hired and trained one good phone person, let’s say that costs your business $3,000-4,000 each month, give or take. I can promise you that such a person would generate 2-5 times his or her pay in extra revenue for your business - if they were properly trained.
If you have people already in your business who could be trained to answer the phones well, then you won’t have to hire anyone else.
There are two keys to this phone success:
Choosing the right person or people to answer the phones. Not everyone is equally suitable for phone conversations. So choose your best person or people, or hire someone who has all the necessary qualities.
Giving people the right phone training. There are various phone training companies out there. I know our training works great, because our training has made us millions of dollars over the years.
Here are the qualities of good phone people:
‣ True and sincere enthusiasm for the job and the business
‣ They are true PROFESSIONALS
‣ An attitude that "this is my business, too", but in a good way, in the sense that he/she wants to do whatever is possible to contribute to the growth and success of the business
‣ Intelligence, alertness and being "on the ball" at all times and in all situations
‣ Pride in and loyalty to the products and services the business provides
‣ A sincere and deep-rooted desire to help people
‣ An extroverted and friendly personality
‣ High integrity and character
Anyone who has these qualities can quickly learn to be a phone superstar.
So, have good people answer your phones. And give or get them good phone training. You will be amazed at the financial results.