Biz Builder: The Producers

Best of times or worst of times, the easiest way to boost profits is to cut costs. Why? You keep more on every dollar. To do it, says Neil Ducoff, founder of Strategies and author of No-Compromise Leadership, “First and foremost, stop running personal expenses through the business.” Then, renegotiate everything with your vendors, from the landlord to the cleaning crew.

Got costs in line? Evaluate productivity rates. If you’re not running at least 75 percent or better in terms of productivity (hours available versus hours sold), take a serious look at staff scheduling and make certain it dovetails with client demand.

“If that doesn’t get productivity rates up, then you have to reduce the hours,” says Ducoff. “Take a team approach and use employees with unproductive hours to assist team members who are busy.”

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