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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.

Income must be greater than outgo!

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

FIND OUT WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS WANT - To begin, find out what products or services your clients desire and then provide that. One simple way to find out what your clients desire is to go through receipts from your past sales, and find out what service or product is the best seller. Ask the customers 1) why they bought the service or product, and 2) how they expected the product or service to benefit them. Now use the answer they gave in your advertising campaign to promote that service or product.

ADVERTISE TO YOUR TARGET MARKET - Promoting something in a way that will be responded to by your customers is an art. Advertising does not necessarily mean offering a reduced price. It's much more important to find out why a customer needs or wants what you have to offer, and exactly what they will base their buying decision on. Fast delivery and dependable service may be more important than price.

Find effective, inexpensive ways to promote. Collect business cards from potential customers, and mail them a personal letter to let them know how your products and services can be of benefit to them. It is one of the most personal, least expensive promotional activities you can do. A series of postcards mailed every 30 days to potential and current customers can also be an effective way to promote.

Another great method to get new customers is to ask your satisfied customers for referrals. You can make it enjoyable for your clients to refer new business by coming up with a referral game they can play, where they get something in return for a certain number of referrals who buy. Allow your clients help you out. They honestly do want you to do well in your business.

SELL AND DELIVER - Selling is less difficult when you are honestly interested in your clients and want to help them. ASK your customers what they want. Then it becomes easier to sell them your products or services. Here's an example, a family of 4 who wants a van to cart the kids and their equipment around to sports activities is going to walk off in disgust if the salesperson is showing them 2-door sports models, despite the fact that the sports car is a good deal.

After you've sold the product, fast, courteous, professional delivery is a key to guarantee customer satisfaction. This is especially important if you are in a service business. Taking care to deliver exactly what you promised, when you promised it. can mean repeat purchases and referrals of new customers.

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY - For every dollar you agree to spend in your business, work out how that expenditure is going to bring $5 or more in income back into your business. Carve out a percentage of the income every week to fund an advertising budget and then figure out the most effective ways to reach your customers within the budget. It is no laughing matter when the income you worked hard to earn gets wasted on purchases that do not give you a profitable return on your investment.

REPEAT SUCCESSFUL PROMOTIONAL ACTIONS - Look back at when your sales were highest. Figure out what successful promotions you were doing at the time that may have dropped out and do those actions again.

There is a revolutionary new money management software tool available to help you focus your creative thinking power, time and energy on planning how to get the income up. 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 business 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