ImagesMagUK_December_2021

64 images OCTOBER 2021 www.images-magazine.com BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Raise your prices Feeling the pinch as your suppliers increase their prices? Marshall Atkinson says it’s time to pass on some of those costs to your customers, and he has some advice to help ease the process I f you haven’t already, the time is now to raise your prices. If you raised your prices at the beginning of the year, maybe it’s time to do it again. Yeah, I know. Customers won’t like it. I get that. However, let’s take a closer look at what’s going on everywhere around you. Then you’ll understand why I’m advocating this to you. Everything is more expensive I’m quite positive I don’t have to tell you this. Your supplies, inventory, freight, fees – everything you use to run your shop – has had some sort of increase either last year, this year, or both. Are you keeping up? I speak with quite a lot of shop owners every week, either through planned coaching calls, inquiries into what I do, or at industry events. Practically everyone has told me that this year has been record-setting for them for sales. Shops are so busy that they almost can’t keep up. They are flooded with work. Yet, my next question always stumps them. I’ll say something like, “That’s great! That’s awesome. Good for you. Are you seeing record profit margins too to go with that sales number?” The funny thing is, very few know that number. Profit is the missing part of that analysis [for help with measuring profit, read my article, How to find more profit, in the October 2021 issue of Images ]. What good is a million dollars of sales if it costs you $999,999 to get the work out? It is the bottom line that is important here. How closely are you monitoring the money that is going out? Do yourself a favour and start building a dashboard so you can get a better overall picture of your shop’s profitability. Are you busy being busy? As my friend Mark Coudray says all the time, “Are you busy being busy, or are you busy being profitable?” We all know that all orders are not alike. Some are full of profit, others not so much. Right now, DECEMBER 2021