Let's explore some short-course techniques you can employ instantly to jump-start your business, or at least to get more business flowing into your enterprise.

If you're in the retail trade, get your salespeople on the phone to all of your active customers or clients, and extend to them a purchase option. Ask the customers to commit to a minimum amount of product that they are willing to say that they will buy for the rest of this year.

If they agree, offer them two options. Number one, if they're large enough, they can prepay the whole year's purchase and receive a substantial discount. Number two, if they are not willing to prepay, urge them to give you a target figure they think they will hit. You can give them a discount up front that is only taken away from them if they don't hit the purchase goal!

In other words, let's say I believe I am going to buy 100 widgets from you, and last year I may only have bought two. By offering me a volume discount, I will be motivated to lock in a better price and guarantee you a minimum amount of purchases.

The moral: By making this offering in retailing, you almost always increase the revenue per customer, the purchase frequency per customer or client, and the profit per customer and per transaction.

If you're a wholesaler, do something similar. Offer your customers a sales-assistance program. If they will buy from you, promise them that you will reinvest a portion of their purchase in cooperative
marketing support.

You might give them sales assistance, you may give them sales letters you will pay to have mailed out. You might give them promotions you will create. You might give them sale incentives they can pass on to their customers.

The point is this: Asking a wholesaler to buy more of your products just to sit on their shelves does them no good. So say to a wholesaler, "I will create a strategy that will help you sell more goods. I will actually provide you with either the programming, the funding, the letters, the advertising copy, the sales scripts - whatever you need for your salespeople to do much more and make themselves and you a higher amount of money if you favor my business with the purchases."

Manufacturers are in position to go to a customer and suggest that if the customer will lock in an annual minimum-quantity order, the manufacturer will connect to an annual purchase rate. They can lock in purchases and thus are in a position that, if they buy enough goods, they'll lower their price and then can pass on some really profound savings to the customer.

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