You too can increase profits without necessarily increasing sales!

How?

NewsletterThe “Profits Leak Detective Newsletter” offers regular tips and strategies to help you identify and plug those leaking profits.

You may never have known you have them.

Subscribe to receive a FREE Case Study on the success of just one strategy.

 

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BONUS free report “7 Clues to a Profit Leak”, valued at $47.

How do you know that you should be looking for leaks?

Are there some clues or symptoms that are telltales saying that a
bit of drilling down into your business might pay some dividends?
Possible leaks could be anywhere.

This report provides 7 clues that should put you on alert for a profit leak.

Be alert - SUBSCRIBE NOW

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"Adam, over the past six years, I've had the pleasure of 'bumping into you' on at least three business and marketing related forums. Your contributionsto discussions have always been courteous, astute, incisive and practical,delivered with good humour, and based upon 'real-world' business experience. You are clearly an experienced business professional who actually knows what he is talking about. I wonder if your clients know what a gem they have in you? As one business professional to another, I salute you.

Good Wishes,
John Williamson - The Wealth Coach
www.thewealthcoach.com
www.retaildisplaysecrets.com

+++++++++++++++++++

I just LOVED "7 Clues to a Profits Leak".

Steven Walker - Profit Improvement Advisors
Calgary, Canada

+++++++++++++++++++

You will be proud how your protégés are proceeding!  We have expanded the business to Katherine and Alice (Tennant is also on the list). T he catering side of the business is far less stressful and is actually profitable, now that we only take the good jobs.  
We will never forget the assistance you gave us in re-inventing our business!

Karen Sheldon
Managing Director
Karen Sheldon Catering
Darwin, Australia

+++++++++++++++++++

The chap is Adam Gordon whom I have known for many years.   He is a former resident of Darwin having lived here for perhaps 25 years, is an excellent communicator and has a very good appreciation of small business, business plans and all that goes with it.  In fact Adam is regarded as a business guru.

Charles Wright, QS Services, Darwin, Australia

+++++++++++++++++++++

Thanks for the catch-up the other day. It's great to be working with a legend in the small business community.

AJ Kulatunga, BLKMGK ICT

Darwin, Australia

+++++++++++++++++++

The 7 Clues is a great.

What I like the most in the Seven Clues report is that it clearly explains that accounting is merely a subset of proper financial management and
that only the business owner can practise financial management. The accountant does the accounting, and in doing so supports the business owner's financial management. And the business owner uses the accountant's information, but relying on the accountant to do full-blown financial management is short-sighted.
The report nicely "grounds" an otherwise complex topic which many business owners are afraid of touching, so they often move ahead in blissful ignorance. The water hose and the soggy soil under the leak makes an excellent and easy-to-comprehend example, upon which the financial management concept is nicely built.

Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan, Organisational Provocateur Dynamic Innovations Squad
Personal and Firm-Wide Performance Improvement for Management Consulting Firms

Vancouver, BC Canada

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You have played a very important role in my development in business.

You were there with the right information at the right time, I thank you for that.
By adding the next level of systems, and marketing knowledge that you brought to the table we able to identify our objectives, acknowledge the gaps in our business and put in place the planning so as to achieve those objectives. Within 5 years we achieved 9 of our ten stated objectives.  In that same year we won the NT Telstra Small business of the year"

Greg Haigh
Director - Trade Group
Regional And Northern maintenance services
RANms

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Recent newsletters include:

  • How well do you know your market?
  • How turning away customers leads to profits
  • How to create Superior Value
  • How to win against your competition
  • Do you need to make changes to your business?
  • "Our customers are costing us too much!"
  • Why competition is good news
  • What makes a web site effective?
  • Most businesses have one, but...
  • How to improve your quotations
  • How to raise prices without losing sales
  • Is your business resilient?
  • How to develop a new product in your niche
  • How big is your profit gap?
  • How discounting destroyed value
  • Benchmarking for best practice
  • From all customers to some customers
  • How to take the guesswork out of growth
  • Should your USP be based on logic or emotion?
  • How to triple your quotation success rate
  • How to dramatically improve your quotations
  • How to make more effective decisions?
  • How to develop your USP
  • Do you want to make better planning choices?
  • Are youmaking these mistakes in planning?
  • How to use SWOT properly
  • Does your sales conversation balance the scales of justice?
  • The perils of profitless cash flow!
  • So what is more important, cash flow or profit?
  • Are you getting value from your pricing?
  • Do you report to yourself monthly?
  • Follow the money trail!
  • Performance also counts!
  • Get more bang for your buck!
  • Without measurement there can be no improvement!
  • Where would your business be without customers?
  • Using your monthly report to improve your profits
  • Just who is your customer?
  • And what do you know about your customer?
  • How branding can increase your profits!
  • Can branding make you more money?
  • How to balance the value equation
  • Tilting the balance in your favour
  • How to pin the tail on the donkey
  • Are you groping in the dark with your real cost of labour
  • Mastering core marketing principles
  • Building a 5P marketing plan
  • Profit leaking processes
  • Should you be trying to increase or decrease cash flow
  • At times it is folly to hasten
  • 5 steps to create your future
  • What will be the X-Factor in 2009
  • Lies, damn lies & statistics
  • How to use a squad profit leak detectives
  • Confidence leads to action
  • Increase sales - so easy to say
  • So you want to know how to increase sales
  • Is selling a necessary evil?
Special Report - Uncover the Profits Print E-mail

Attention: small business owners - do you want to improve your profitability

Free Special Report: from Australia's Profit Leak Detective

How to uncover the profits that lie hidden in your business

And have the income and freedom to live the life you desire.

20 year veteran of transforming small business profits reveals 27 practical steps you can take to uncover the profit leaks in your business and dramatically improve your profits.

Does lack of profitability in your business cause you to feel:

  • Angry that you are working so hard for so little return;
  • Helpless because you don't know where to start to fix the problem;
  • Frustrated because you know that you could do better in your business;
  • Discouraged because you seem to be going nowhere in your business, and your life;
  • Powerless because you can't see the way forward.

A little knowledge goes a long way in improving your business. In this report you will learn:
  • How profit leaks can drain hidden profits occur without you knowing;
  • How to make your marketing pump in profitable customers
  • Why understanding value is fundamental to setting your prices
  • How and what to measure in your business
  • How to fine tune your entire operation,

So that your business finally begins to generate the juicy profits you are owed,

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read on to discover the game changing details ...

ag dec 06-2 From the desk of Adam Gordon, The Profit Leaks Detective.

Dear Struggling Small Business Owner,

You're reading this special report for one reason: You now you're working far too hard for too little money.

Even though you're smart and competent... even though you know your trade better than just about anyone else in your market... even though you're pushing yourself HARD from "dawn to dusk" (six or even seven days a week) to plough through the ever expanding burdens and responsibilities demanded of you - even with all this, your business is taking WAY more from you than it's giving back!

How do I know?

Because I'm a small business owner myself, and I've been where you are.

And also because I've helped hundreds of other small business owners who began with big dreams, but through no fault of their own, found themselves trapped - prisoners of businesses that had deteriorated into nothing more than glorified jobs. Jobs that (when the horrendously long hours were factored in) paid incredibly poorly.

With no personal life to speak of, family life in disarray, working like dogs - slaves to employees and suppliers and governments demanding their "pound of flesh" - I often found these heroes of the economy pushing themselves to the breaking point.

In the cruellest of ironies, the very people who had bravely taken all of the risk and all of the sacrifice to bring the best products and services to their communities were being ground into the dirt.

Sometimes they were on the verge of being forced to give up on their dreams of financial independence... forced to give up on everything they'd worked so hard for... and dangerously close to the ego-crushing humiliation of having to go back to work for somebody else - THE ULTIMATE DEFEAT!

The purpose of this report is to introduce you to 27 simple, low cost, marketing and management "tweaks" that will prevent you from ever suffering this fate.

These powerful transformational strategies are taken directly from my Picture the Profits e-manual - the ultimate small business owner's guide to financial security and independence.

They hold the key to building a thriving, highly lucrative small business and an enviable lifestyle - full of freedom and harmony and personal satisfaction.

With even a few of these game-changing strategies implemented in your business, you can stop worrying about where payroll is coming from each month. And you can start happily expanding your wealth and peace of mind with each passing day.

My name is Adam Gordon. For more than 20 years it's been my mission to help small business owners like yourself - the true backbone of the economy - to help small business owners build better businesses, profitable businesses, businesses that enabled them to have the time and wealth to enjoy a lifestyle they deserve.

Why do I do so? Because of the gut-wrenching experience I went through some 30 years ago. I was asked to step in and see if I could pull a four generations family company out of trouble. To cut a long story short, I couldn't, and I had to call in the administrators to wind up a 118 year old business my great-grandfather had started.

It was all very well for our bank to say "You did everything right, but you were two years too late." The qualifications I had, an MBA and senior management experience in industry were helpful, but they didn't provide the understanding of customers, of practical small business marketing that worked, of value not price, of the real KPIs needed to transform a small business from survival to success.

As they say, "if only I knew then what I know now.''

What that heart-breaking experience has given me is an understanding of the pressures that small business owners face when the cash is not there to pay the bills when they fall due, of the helplessness felt when you can't find a way out, and the frustration from knowing that you should be able to do better.

When I started to assist small business owners more than twenty years ago I was determined that I should do everything in my power to assist them avoid the pain, anger and frustration that I went through. I was determined to learn as much as possible about what does work for small business, and what does not.

I learnt how to give them the skills they needed were in ensure they were heading in the right direction, to market their products and services effectively to ensure they had the right customers, to develop the right systems and procedures to ensure their businesses run smoothly, and to measure the things which would tell them where the profits were hidden in their businesses.

The 27 Tips set out in my Picture the Profits e-manual - the ultimate small business owner's guide to financial security and independence are based on the lessons I have learnt whilst working with these small businesses. They are practical tips, because they are the ones that do work.

Let me give you a couple of case studies of how that has happened.

Case Study 1. Profit Leaking Production

Bill is a tradesman, a boiler maker, and a good one at that. So a few years ago he did what many people do who are good at their profession, went into business for himself.

And because he was good at what he did he grew from operating from the back of a truck, to leased premises and ultimately his own facilities. He started to employ staff as well, other tradesmen who also could do the job well.

His wife, Betty came in part time to help with the accounts, a pretty typical story.

Customers liked the work they did. They worked hard, and the business had a good name. The problem was that they weren't making any money. Suppliers were pressuring them and they had used up their overdraft. Things were tough, and getting a little tense.

Their accountant couldn't help them. He was just too busy doing compliance work for his clients. After all, when Bill asked for help in the past the accountant didn't have the time to be able to help him properly? In any case much of the assistance Bill needed called for skills outside those of accountants.

Could I help?

Help I could, and that meant finding the leak, or leaks which were draining the profits hidden in the business.

It didn't take much to find that overheads were not the problem. Like most small businesses Bill and Betty ran a pretty lean business. There was only one person other than Betty in the office, and she looked after the front counter. Everyone else is a direct employee, do the welding and fabricating on orders.

Getting sales was not a problem. There was plenty of work around. Word of mouth was pretty effective in promoting the business.

So it was worth looking at the actual jobs themselves and the margins being achieved.

My analysis found that many jobs made much more money than expected, but many also lost significant money. Further investigation showed that highly unprofitable jobs had certain characteristics. Not surprisingly highly profitable jobs were the mirror image of the unprofitable.

Bill didn't have to accept every job that came through the door. All he had to do was only accept jobs that had the right characteristics, or appropriately price those that didn't.

In Bill's case, plugging these profit leaks that were killing his business was a simple matter of following simple recommendations in my E-manual Picture the Profits:

  • Realistic pricing (Section 7)
  • Knowing his real costs (Section 9)
  • Understanding his business processes (Section 10) and
  • Measurement and management (Section 11)
And the result? Two years later sales were no higher than previously. The difference was that Bill and Betty's bank balance was a healthy black, not an unhealthy red. The profit improvement was over 150%. He and Betty were not stressed, anxious and frustrated. They had more freedom in their lives and were able make investments outside the business to secure their future.

They had uncovered the profits hidden in the business and plugged the profit leaks.

Case Study 2. Getting the business model right

When I first met Matilda her business was profitable. It just didn't make very much, certainly not as much as it should.

She'd talked to her accountant and thought she was already doing everything she could possibly do to minimise costs and make her operation as efficient as possible.

And her friends, good friends though they may be, didn't have skills in this area. She'd been in business for a long time, had a great deal of expertise in her technical skills and was well known for them.

Matilda was totally sceptical about what I could do for her. After all her business was different. It wasn't like my other clients. But the truth is the principles I apply from Picture the Profits work for any business.

Matilda ran an interesting business, except that it was really 2 businesses needing two different business models.

One model involved a specialist business calling for flair and creativity. Demand was irregular but the value-add was good, leading to premium pricing. It could be quite labour intensive, met through casual staff to ensure no on-going overhead.

Not so the other side the business. It involved multiple outlets with a production line approach to the product. The one advantage it had was a pretty consistent cash flow. This meant there was always cash coming through, an attractive asset.

But the lack of real profits was causing anger, frustration, and despair.

Help I could, but first I had to find if there were hidden profits and if so the leak, or leaks which were draining the profits from the business.

As in the previous case study, overheads were not the problem. They rarely are in small businesses. So I analysed the different businesses, looked at their customer profiles, and the sales, costs and gross margins of the different operations.

The customer profiles were almost diametrically opposed, demanding a different product and different marketing approach. I explain the difficulties of this in Sections 3 & 4 of Picture the Profits. But that wasn't the only problem.

The nature of the production line model and its customer base was such that a genuine premium price could not be charged (Section 7 - Pricing and Value). The price was never going to be sufficient to make the lines profitable. They all lost money.

It was as if the business was trying to head in two different directions at once. But it could only get ahead if it stuck to its knitting and concentrated on one model only (Section 3), and used its profits to cover the irregular cash flow, rather than rely on the loss making cash flow from the production line.

Matilda needed to look at some of the areas I explore in Picture the Profits:

  • Knowing her real costs and margins (Section 9)

  • Understanding her business processes (Section 10) and

  • Measurement and management (Section 11)

It took awhile but eventually the production line business was closed down or sold off bit by bit. And what a difference that made; instant profitability, management able to concentrate on managing the business and not filling in holes, a team without the stresses and strains that had been making life difficult. A business transformed.

In fact Matilda was able to undertake something she had been passionate about for a long time, but didn't have the freedom or resources to do.

There had always been profits in the business; they just had been disguised by the profit leaks in the production line side. Once that was uncovered for all to see, the decisions were obvious.

As she said in a recent email: "You will be proud how your proteges are proceeeding! We have expanded the business to ___________ and to ________ . ________ is also on the list. The main side of the business is far less stressful and is actually profitable. We will never forget the assistance you gave us in re-inventing our business."

From cash drains to profit machine

In Picture the Profits I show you just how to implement these strategies to uncover the hidden profits in you business and plug the leaks draining those profits away.

Make no mistake; both Bill and Matilda were very experienced, skilled people. Their businesses were very different, but applying just some of the tips recommended in Picture the Profits they were able to transform their businesses from cash drains to profit machines.

Your markets may differ, the skills required may differ but the fundamentals of successful small businesses remain the same, no matter what the experience and expertise of the owners.

It's not your fault!

You've probably never had the opportunity to acquire the information you need to gain these skills.

When you were setting out to get your trade or technical skills you can't have been expected to know the other skills you may need. I bet running your own business was the last thing on your mind, and the last thing the instructors who taught you those skills would have even talked about.

That's Ok and quite understandable. Now you do have the chance to take that next step and go well beyond what those instructors were thinking and teaching.

You have spent many years building on those skills that let you set up this business. And that didn't give you the time to acquire the skills that are needed to take it to the next step. They are not beyond you.

This is not teaching you your business. It's about your profits, not your trade.

You have a choice

You can take a few moments to read every word of this important profit improvement e-manual, follow its advice, and experience a different world. Imagine running a highly profitable business, one in which you have the profits to give you choices; choices about time, choices about leisure, choices about the future.

Or see yourself in five years time still stuck on an endless treadmill, trapped in your business, struggling with cash, struggling with time, and without the freedom to live the life you desire.

Yes, you CAN dramatically increase your profits. Profit transforming tips you will find in Picture the Profits include:

  • Why profit leaks are important and where you might look for them; hint: they can occur virtually anywhere in your business .......(page 1)

  • Which is more important; profits or cash flow? Discover the temptations and perils of profitless cash flow? ..........(page 3)

  • Why it is folly to hasten ...(page 6)

o The five key areas to work on to uncover the profits in your business ...... (page 6)

o Five steps to create your future ............(page 9)

  • Why it all starts with your customer? ....(page 13)

o Why 'everybody' is not your customer (page 13)

o How you can identify who your key customers are .....(page 15)

o How developing a customer profile will radically change your marketing .... (page 15)

  • Why if you are not marketing, you are not a business ......(page 18)

o and what to do about it,

o How to build a 5P marketing plan .....(page 22)

  • Understand the role of branding in your business..(page 27)

o Why strong brands make buying decisions easier for the customer. ..(page 27)

o The mistakes most small businesses make with their brand ..(page 30)

o And what to do about it ....(page 32)

  • Pricing is one of the most important strategic decisions you make as a small business owner and manager ....(page 36)

o It is also one of the least understood. 8 different common pricing strategies ...........(page 37)

o And the alternative you should follow. .....(page 40)

  • Pricing is a complex issue, but so is value .....(page 44)

o How the customer perceives value needs to be understood if you are to balance the value equation ....(page 45)

o And tilt it in your favour ............(page 49)

  • The second biggest mistake most small businesses make. ......(page 53)

o Hint: it involves their real costs and where they're allocated (page 54)

o How to fix a little light on your real cost of labour ...(page 56)

  • ...Understand why your business processes can leak profits ...(page 62)

o Can you identify your hidden profits from the list and the processes behind them? (page 63)

o And the information you need to improve market related processes ...(page 66)

  • And the biggest profit killing mistake almost every small business owner makes in their business, ... (page 70)

o and how to change that ...(page 72)

o How to follow the money trail ...(page 74)

o And measure what is even more important than money....(page 81)

  • How does your performance compare to others in your industry? Just how good are the others? .....(page 88)

Claim your copy of Picture the Profits NOW

Normally Picture the Profits costs just A$54 but for now I'm releasing it at A$27, a puny dollar a tip to get you on your way to a better business.

If you're making $50,000 in profits now, a measly 10% increase (and my clients above did much, much better than that) puts an additional $5,000 in your pocket over the next year. If you're netting $75,000 now, you're going to be $7,500 richer by this time next year. If you're netting $100,000, that's...

Picture DOUBLING your profits. You KNOW where and how to fix the problems.

How will it be not to feel frustrated each day, discouraged because you seem to be going nowhere with your business, and your life.

Imagine what it means to you as your business becomes a pleasure and not a burden.

And imagine what those additional funds could mean to your life?

The Extras

# 1 Recorded Seminar: 8 Tools to Increase Sales

This seminar was originally given to public small business workshop and has been re-recorded.

Format: Video, plus e-book (pdf), plus MP3 to listen to in the car or out exercising

#2 Special Report - Small Change, Big Result - How to Improve your Quotations & Proposal Success Rate

This report complements the 8 Tips to Increase Sales. Many businesses do not set prices at the retail level. Instead they respond to requests for quotations or proposals. Usually it is not done it well.

In fact presenting proposals and quotations properly offers them the opportunity to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

In doing so they can increase their success rate and grow their sales and profits without creating more leads.

You know the value of your average sale. What would be the impact on your bottom line if you could increase your quotation success rate from 30% to 40%?

This report provides expert guidance on how to do so. Even just one more sale will more than repay this investment.

Format: pdf document plus MP3 to listen to in the car or out exercising

Just to make it even easier, there's of course our guarantee.

Here's what we can do for you.

Our Two Boomerangs Guarantee

Now why do you need two boomerangs for your guarantee? It's simple really.

First boomerang - if you find you haven't uncovered hidden profits in your business in 90 days (after all you need time to check the results out) then all you have to do is heft an email in your hand, and send it. Not physically, because it is an online product. Just like a boomerang, wing back to us an email to let us know it is not working for you. You may dance on the e-book or report, throw a party around it or even use it at a corroboree. That's all right, as long as you give it a good throw by email so it returns to us. And then:

Second boomerang - we get your email, and our arm goes back, and.... Throw...whoosh, whoosh, whirl, whirl back come your funds. In full, right into your bank.

It's simple really. One good boomerang returns another. What could be fairer than that!

All we ask is that you make a genuine effort to make the tips work.

The Picture the Profits - 27 Practical Tips Special Offer

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The Picture the Profits - 27 Practical Tips
Format: E-Book (Worth A$54.00)
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8 Tools to Increase Sales
Format: Seminar video + pdf + MP3
(Worth A$37.00)
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Special Report Small Change -
Big Result - How to Increase your
Proposal and Quotation Success Rate. Format: pdf + MP3
(Worth A$75.00)
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Go ahead, TRY IT NOW, and then decide!

Risk-Free Trial Request

YES ADAM, please rush me Picture the Profit - 27 Practical Tips for only A$35.

I understand that if I don't uncover hidden profits in my business within 90 days I may claim a full refund.

This special price will only last for a short time.

I get 27 practical proven tips to transform the profits of my business plus 8 Tools to Increase Sales.

Or, better still, the Premium Plus offer worth an additional A$166 for only A$57.00

Start your trial now.

You've brought a great deal of expertise to your business

But more is needed

Improved profits don't come from doing the same thing you've always done. It's unfortunate but a great trade or technical skill doesn't always lead to good profits, profits that you deserve.

There are hidden profits in your business just waiting to be uncovered. And that means doing something about your marketing, making sure you are heading in the right direction, putting in place sound systems and procedures, measurement and management.

You have a choice: you can do nothing, change nothing, and the future will look no different than today.

Or you can start to make some changes, changes which will dramatically increase your profits and lead to a world where you have choices. Choices about what you do, choices about where you go, choices about the future.

You can make that choice right now, by trying Picture the Profits - 27 Practical Tips.

Simply try it now, test a few tips, and measure the results.

signature4_2s


Adam Gordon

The Profits Leak Detective

P.S. One thing I've found in my twenty plus years of assisting small businesses improve their profitability, and that is, left to themselves, most small businesses make a de facto choice. They do nothing, because that is the easiest thing to do. But YOU can be different.

P.P.S. You risk nothing by making the choice to do something. If, after 90 days of making a genuine effort Picture the Profits is not working for you then all you have to do is let me know. You'll get a refund, and you get to keep the products. That's not a bad option, is it? Try it now.