Use your spare time to add value

Want a sure-fire way to increase revenue and income? Think about times you have a quiet period in the day or perhaps a day of the week where you consistently have a lighter work load.

Next, establish a few processes and procedures for staff or yourself to use these quiet moments more productively. Perhaps you could pick up the phone and start calling past customers.

First, decide what you want to achieve. You could add value with a personal hello from your business or try a special offer to bring in more repeat business. How about reviewing your database and calling customers to fill in any holes you have?

Write a script or two for yourself or other staff. Ask them to document the results. You will be surprised at the amount of business that is just waiting for you at the other end of the phone. Be sure to compliment or even reward staff for the new work you've asked them to do.

A simple idea, easy to implement and use if relevant, is to annually wish your customers a happy birthday or anniversary of a special occasion. You could also include a special offer. With the information in a database, or perhaps in an Excel spreadsheet with contact details, the quiet time can be used to sort the list and do a mail-out to those with birthdays.

Alternatively, you can create an annual recurring task in Outlook or Gmail (or To Do in Lotus) for customers you would like to send the birthday wish to. When they're due, a prompt pops up. Again the quiet time can be used to email, phone or create the letter to the celebrating customer.