If you want to make more money in 2012 you need a strategy that will get you there. This strategy starts with setting goals for improvement.

We've written extensively about goal-setting here.

But what about specifics, how can your business increase revenue by 20%, for example? Well, that's not easy, but there's really only a few ways this can happen. So, let's do this, let's discuss specific ways you could increase your company's or department's revenue by 20% in 2012. We'll discuss if each one is viable and will work in the short-term (because, you know, 2012 is here).

1) Improve Products or Services - This is great. But this can take a great deal of time and money. You may not have money and you certainly don't have time because, after all, 2012 is here.

2) Get a Better Location - This is great for businesses with a brick and mortar presence, but it's very expensive and takes a long time.

3) Improve Marketing - Now, this is really where you can start to make short-term and immediate improvements. You can improve your marketing productivity by 20%. You can do that. How? Well, you may need to spend more money to market your business. That's part of the solution. But spending 20% more money won't necessarily result in 20% more business. So, you should employ tools like call tracking to tell you which marketing methods are the most efficient and effective and which aren't. Remember, you need to improve results by 20%. You shouldn't just throw money at a problem.

4) Improve Sales Ability - What if every rep who answered the phone improved their ability to sell by 20%? What if they each closed 20% more sales? We find that slight improvements in basic sales skills can improve sales results by 20%, easily? You should employe a call recording and performance management solution immediately to ensure that this happens.

Here's my point: there are really only two ways to immediately change your sales numbers, improve your marketing results slightly and improve your sales performance slightly.

The tools to do this are right here.

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