Building a profitable business does not always mean starting from scratch. Sharon, one of our clients (entrepreneur, author, and marketing expert), has successfully bought, scaled, and sold multiple businesses, even during tough economic times. Here are her proven strategies you can follow.
1. Cut the Fat, Keep the Muscle
The muscle is marketing. It drives sales and keeps cash flowing. Cutting marketing is like cutting strength. Growth gets harder, not easier.
The fat is overheads. Review your expenses and negotiate. Almost everything is negotiable: supplier terms, rent, phone bills, merchant fees. Even shaving a few percent can add up to thousands saved each year.
Action step
- List your top 10 overhead expenses.
- Call each supplier and negotiate for better terms, discounts, or bonuses.
2. Market to Your Existing Customers
It costs far less to sell to an existing customer than to attract a new one. Sharon found it was far more effective to market to people who had already bought from her.
If you cannot make a sale, at least collect the customer’s details: email, phone, or social handle. Over time, this database becomes one of your most valuable business assets.
Action step
- Review your current customer list.
- Create a simple campaign (email, SMS, or phone call) offering value or a promotion.
- Track the response and repeat what works.
3. Diversify Your Marketing Channels
Relying on one marketing method is risky. Laws change, markets shift, and trends fade. Sharon used multiple channels (from SEO and Google Ads to direct mail and events) to reduce risk and increase reach.
During the Global Financial Crisis, when others pulled back, she doubled down: negotiated cheaper advertising and showed customers how to use a government investment incentive. The result was a sharp sales lift in a short window.
Action step
- List all current marketing activities.
- Add at least one new channel to test (for example email newsletters, partnerships, or Google Ads).
- Monitor which channels deliver the highest ROI.
4. Know Your Numbers
There are two fast ways to go broke:
- Great marketing but bad maths: you sell a lot but lose money.
- Perfect systems but no marketing: you are ready, but no one buys.
You need both. Sharon tracked daily sales, average spend, gross profit, and outstanding accounts. Before every campaign, she calculated the break-even point.
Action step
- Calculate your break-even point (total costs ÷ gross margin).
- Track five daily or weekly indicators that show business health.
- Do not spend on marketing without calculating how many sales are needed to cover the cost.
5. Focus on Income-Producing Activities
Sharon’s biggest productivity lesson was simple: spend each day on tasks that put money in the bank.
She wrote her top three income-producing activities on a board in her office. When distracted, she pulled herself back with one question: “What am I doing today that brings in income?”
Action step
- Write down your top three money-making activities (for example sales calls, follow-ups, sending invoices).
- Do them before anything else each day.
6. The Real Secret to Success
It is not the best product, the best location, the biggest budget, or the highest qualifications that win. The winners are the ones who master marketing.
If you can market effectively (bring people in, keep them engaged, build relationships), you can grow a profitable business regardless of the economic climate.
Takeaway
- Cut costs smartly (fat, not muscle).
- Sell more to current customers.
- Use multiple marketing channels.
- Know your numbers consistently.
- Prioritise income-producing tasks.
- Be the best marketer in your industry.
