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If you feel like all your money is falling into a black hole just to pay bills, and you keep asking yourself, 'Where did all the money go?' here is a principle of managing money you need to know.

You must make more money than you spend!

How do you do that? With a tactic called INCOME PLANNING. I've listed 5 things you can do to make more money in your business.

IDENTIFY WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS WANT - To begin, find out what services or products your customers want to buy and then provide that. A simple method to find out what your customers will buy is to look over receipts from your past sales, and find out what product or service is selling the best. Question your customers about 1) why they purchased that item or service, and 2) what benefit they expected to get from the purchase Now repeat what they said in your advertising to promote that product or service.

ADVERTISE TO YOUR TARGET MARKET - There is an art to promoting something so that it will be responded to by your customers. Promotion does not have to include offering a discount. It's much more important to find out why a customer needs or wants your service or product, and exactly what criteria they will use to make a buying decision. Fast delivery and dependable service may be more important than price.

Find cost effective methods to promote. Collect business cards from potential customers, and send them a personal letter telling them how your services and products can be of benefit to them. It is one of the least expensive, most personal promotional activities you can use. A series of postcards mailed every 30 days to current and potential clients can also be very effective.

A second good method to get new clients is to request referrals from your satisfied customers. You can make it enjoyable for your customers to participate in referring new customers by coming up with a referral game they can participate in, where they get something in return for a certain number of referrals who buy. Allow your customers help you out. They really do want you to do well in your business.

SELL AND DELIVER - Selling is easier when you are honestly interested in your customers and want to help them. ASK your customers what they need. That makes it easier to sell them your products or services. Here's an example, a young single person who wants a 2-door convertible sports car is going to walk off in disgust if the salesman insists on showing them 4-door sedans, even if it's the deal of the century.

Once you've made the sale, courteous, professional, fast delivery is a key to guarantee customer satisfaction. If you are in a service business, this is doubly important. Delivering what you promised, when you promised it, can ensure repeat business and referrals of new customers.

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY - For every dollar you agree to spend in your company, figure out how that expenditure is going to bring $5 or more in income back into your company. Carve out a percentage of the income every week to pay for a promotional budget and then work out the most cost effective ways to reach your target market within the budget. It is extremely disheartening when your hard-earned income gets wasted on expenditures that do not give you a profitable return on your investment.

REPEAT SUCCESSFUL PROMOTIONAL ACTIONS - Take a look back in the past to when you were last making the most sales. Work out what your successful promotional actions were at the time and put those actions back in.

There is a revolutionary new money management software tool available to help you use your time, energy, and creative thinking power on planning how to increase the income. That action gets the CASH FLOWing into the business. It helps you manage your money so you can put your attention back on servicing your customers and you'll find you are enjoying your business more.

Sandra Simmons, President of Money Management Solutions, has years of experience helping company owners manage their income to reach their financial goals. To find out about the Money Management Software she created, watch the FREE 5-minute demo video on her website at www.moneymgmtsolutions.com