Who doesn’t like to find something valuable that was always there? We love stories of someone who buys a house and finds a bag of money under a stairwell, or discovers a lottery ticket they had discarded that was a winner. I even get excited by finding $10 in a jacket I put in the closet last Spring!
Business data is often filled with buried treasures like this! Inside your data lurks information about your customers, your products and services, and your processes. Often with just a little bit of work, lost revenues can be found, and glaring inefficiencies can be corrected, resulting in higher profits. Sometimes, we even see the “treasure” as an obstacle that needs to be overcome, instead of the opportunity that it is.
For example, I was once asked to create a financial report that would “age” receivables, because the client’s accounting system did not readily do this. Ageing receivables is fairly common practice, so you may be asking (as I did) WHY the very complete system they used did not do this natively? You see, they were in education, and the “receivables” were unpaid tuition bills- some going back years. Instead of recognizing the inefficiency this created for cash flow, they saw the inability to report it correctly as the central issue. After additional conversations, they client ultimately outsourced their “payment plan” process to a third party, who could handle the accounting as well as provide greater incentive for the students to pay in a more timely manner. This combined with tightening their own policies regarding ongoing enrollment with outstanding balances increased cash flow and reduced delinquency.
Sometimes, the “treasure” comes from looking at the data in new ways. Another client had recently automated their service department- a major undertaking. In the process of initially loading data into the system, one of the staff noticed that warranty information was being included in customer records. Previously, this had been filed separately from customer data. Warranty repairs represent a potential source of additional revenue, as well as allow the client to have access to their customers’ physical location to identify additional work. The firm was able to take this information and the automated system we had built and use them to identify and contact customers whose warranties would be expiring in a few months. The firm could schedule inspections and additional work- all without cost to their customer, and get paid by the manufacturer for doing so. Who doesn’t like free money?
These opportunities probably exist in your business as well. Finding them is often easier with having another set of eyes look at the information and ask the questions that naturally come.
We specialize in finding hidden revenue opportunities in your business. Let’s talk.