by MHolland | Mar 7, 2025 | Business Tips, Cash Flow, Selling Tips
So, the U.S. just hit Canada with a fresh round of tariffs. Great. But instead of panicking, let us talk about opportunities—because there are ways to not just survive but thrive in this new reality.
Remember, the tariffs did not just affect you alone if you sell into the USA. It affects everyone else in your industry. By getting creative, taking massive action (in the right direction), you can grow your business inside this demanding situation.
Many businessowners will react with fear. Fear often leads to inaction. This is where you can take the lead and get proactive.
Oh, and remember this – the Canadian dollar is weak right now. This is bad news for vacations but fantastic for selling into the U.S. market. If you play your cards right, you could come out ahead. Here is how.
Turn the Weak Loonie into a Power Move
With the Canadian dollar low, your products just got cheaper for U.S. buyers. Even with tariffs, you might still be the best deal in town. Make sure your U.S. customers understand this advantage—lock in contracts while your pricing looks attractive.
Sell Beyond the U.S. (Yes, it is Possible!)
The U.S. is Canada’s biggest trade partner, but it is not the only game in town. Trade deals like CETA (Europe) and CPTPP (Asia-Pacific) give you tariff-free access to other markets. Time to explore who else wants what you are selling.
Get Smart About Supply Chains
If tariffs are making it painful to import materials from the U.S., look at domestic suppliers or other international partners. Some Canadian companies are already shifting supply chains to Europe and Asia to dodge extra costs.
Lock in Pricing Before It Gets Worse
If you are exporting to the U.S., now is a great time to negotiate longer-term contracts with customers. Tariffs can change, but locking in deals while the currency works in your favor can help hedge against future cost spikes.
Play the Government Support Card
There is a good chance the Canadian government will roll out tariff relief programs, tax breaks, or incentives to keep businesses competitive. Stay plugged into industry associations and government resources—you might be leaving money on the table otherwise.
Pass Tariff Costs Smartly
If you have to raise prices, do not just slap a tariff surcharge on your invoices. Look for ways to add value so customers do not just see an extra charge but a better overall offering. It is bundling services, improving delivery times, or locking in loyalty rewards.
Cut Costs, the Smart Way
Instead of slashing staff or quality, look at efficiency plays. Are there manual processes eating up time that you could automate? Could bulk ordering save costs? Small tweaks can protect your bottom line without killing morale or product quality.
Work the Trade Rules
Some tariffs have exemptions or workarounds. Depending on what you are selling, you might qualify for duty drawbacks, trade programs, or reclassifications that reduce the impact. A good trade lawyer or consultant can help you find loopholes you did not even know existed.
Bottom Line – Tariffs Are not the End of the World
Sure, tariffs make things harder. But with the right strategy, they do not have to crush your business. Play the weak Canadian dollar to your advantage, explore new markets, optimize costs, and keep an eye on government support.
Lastly, awesome service is, now, more than ever, a competitive advantage. Any business in a tough economy is going to suffer when they do not have awesome service.
Remember this, it is not just the quality of the product or service you sell – it is the process of delivering it that defines awesome service.
You do not, unfortunately, get to define awesome service – your customers do.
And one last-last thing! This is not Canada’s first tariff rodeo—we have survived before, and we will do it again. The smart businesses? They will come out stronger than ever.
Thanks for reading…
by MHolland | Feb 21, 2025 | Business Tips, Cash Flow, Selling Tips
What’s the 2nd Way to Grow Your Business?
Last week, we explored the 1st Way to Grow Your Business—increasing the number of ideal customers or clients. We discussed the power of profiling your best customers and developing relationships with companies in other industries that serve the same market. This strategy helps turn a cold marketplace into a referral-driven one.
Today, let’s dive into the 2nd Way to Grow Your Business, which is a game-changer if you already have an existing customer base.
Without further ado, the 2nd Way to Grow Your Business is… drum roll please…
Increase the Frequency of Customer Purchases
Once your business has been operating for a few years, you’ve likely built a solid list of past and current customers. Many businesses focus heavily on acquiring new customers while overlooking a massive opportunity—getting existing customers to buy more often.
Find Your Key Number
Before you can increase purchase frequency, you need to measure where you stand. The key metric here is the average number of times a customer buys from you.
To find your baseline:
- Determine your number of active customers.
- Calculate your total number of sales invoices over a specific period (e.g., annually).
- Divide total sales invoices by active customers to get the average number of transactions per customer.
Now, the goal is simple: increase that number.
This approach shifts your focus from constantly chasing new customers to delivering more value to those who already trust and like your business.
Avoid This Costly Mistake That Drives Customers Crazy!
Big corporations often get this wrong, frustrating their most loyal customers. Think of major telecom companies (you know the ones—starting with “R,” “T,” and “B”).
They offer amazing incentives to new customers while ignoring longtime, loyal ones. If you ask for the same deal after 20 years of loyalty, they tell you, “Sorry, that’s for new customers only.”
Even worse, existing customers are often stuck in outdated, expensive plans. The only way to get a better deal? Threaten to leave. Suddenly, they pull out a “retention plan” to keep you—something they could’ve offered all along.
The irony? These companies pour money into acquiring price-sensitive new customers while neglecting their most loyal, high-value ones.
How to Get Customers to Buy More Often (Without Being Pushy)
Now that you know the strategy, let’s brainstorm creative ways to bring customers back more frequently—without being “salesy.”
Gather your team, grab a whiteboard, and jot down every idea. No filtering! A “bad” idea might spark a brilliant one.
Ask yourself these key questions:
✅ Does this save my customer time?
✅ Does this make their life easier?
✅ Does this save them money?
✅ Does this add value to their experience?
Some simple but effective ways to increase purchase frequency:
- Regular newsletters featuring new products/services (especially during slow seasons).
- Loyalty programs that reward repeat business.
- Incentives for off-peak times (e.g., a restaurant offering free desserts on slow Mondays).
- Special events (e.g., a motorcycle shop hosting a local band for a new model launch).
- Expanding your product/service line to offer more value.
- Educational content to inform customers about your offerings.
Real-Life Case Study: How a Business Revived Sales Overnight
A friend’s father was about to lose an anchor tenant in his commercial building. The company renting the space was struggling and considering shutting down.
I met with their executive team, including a group of seasoned venture capitalists who owned part of the business. You could feel the skepticism in the room when I said:
“There are only four ways to grow a business.”
I divided a whiteboard into four quadrants and wrote each growth strategy at the top. Then, I asked a simple question:
“How many customers have you served over the years?”
Their answer? 30,000–40,000 customers.
I followed up: “Do you have a database of them?”
“Yes, we do.”
Then came the question that changed everything:
“When was the last time you contacted these customers?”
The room fell silent. The Director of Sales started fidgeting—then actually got up, realizing where this was headed.
That same day, they mined their customer database and reached out to former high-value clients. Within hours, they secured some of the biggest orders in company history, including deals with U.S. customers.
They went from the brink of bankruptcy to record sales—just by reconnecting with past customers.
Final Thoughts
The easiest sales to make aren’t to strangers—they’re to people who already trust your business. By focusing on existing customers, you can increase revenue without spending a fortune on new customer acquisition.
Next time, we’ll dive into the 3rd Way to Grow Your Business. Stay tuned!
by MHolland | Feb 13, 2025 | Business Tips, Cash Flow, Selling Tips
Most businesses have a sweet spot – a hidden strategy that can really propel their growth and profitability.
To discover the hidden gold in your business it helps to use a particular lens or focus to reveal where it might be.
The tool that we use to help our clients find the gold that lies hidden from sight in their business is the 4 Ways to Grow your business.
You see, there are only 4 ways to grow a business – strategically speaking. You may come up with hundreds of ideas, yet each idea will fit inside one of the 4 boxes that exist for all businesses.
In this Blog I will share with you the 1st way to grow your business, and for the next 3 Blogs I will add one each week until I have covered all 4 in-depth.
What is the 1st Way to Grow Your Business?
The first way is the one most people spend all their time and money at. It is to Increase the Number of Your Customers/Clients.
Pretty obvious right. I help people qualify this by adding “of the type you want” to the end.
The first thing to do is to create a customer profile of the type you want. What are the characteristics that are important to you? Do demographics play a role? Income levels? Age? What do they do for a living?
Find out who your “A” clients are. One characteristic for our Controllership business is “positive, pleasing personality”. It is number 1 on our list.
That does not mean our clients need to be sugary, sweet individuals! In fact, some can be very abrupt at times. They just don’t blame others when things go wrong, and they treat our Team with polite professionalism. They listen to our advice and respect it.
There are about 8 more items on our client profile list.
What is your ideal, client profile?
One way to start this process is to break your existing customer base into groups.
Here are some ideas on how you can categorize them:
- Total value of sales/ customer
- How many years have they been a customer?
- Number of times they do business with you/year?
- How quickly they pay?
Let’s say you now have 4 groups of clients – A, B, C and D. And, let’s assume that “A” clients are your best ones, and “D” clients your worst. (And, by the way, when I say worst, I do not mean that the “D” clients are in any way bad people. It may simply mean they don’t buy much from you, demand the most attention, and pay the slowest!)
Once you have your 4 groups, you can now dive deeper into your “A” and “B” clients to determine what are the characteristics of this group.
And, then the key question to ask here is this:
Who – as in what other industry – is servicing this group?
Here is an example of what I am getting at. Let’s say you are a law firm and you have classified your clients into 4 groups, and you discover that all of the clients in group A go to large accounting firms for their corporate and personal accounting and tax work.
This is critically important information…. which I will come back to later in this Blog…
How Most Businesses Get More Customers
To get more customers, most businesses use traditional methods like advertising on the radio, TV, newspapers. They also do direct mail, direct phone calls, social media and Google ad words.
The two things all these methods have in common is they are expensive, and they are targeting new business in the cold market place.
And cold it is indeed as anyone knows who goes after new business in the cold marketplace. They don’t know you and you don’t know them. It’s like going to bars to meet your significant other. Possible, yet difficult!
There are much better ways to increase your customer base than just targeting the cold marketplace.
I will focus in on two very powerful ones now….
What is Way Better than the Cold Marketplace?
Asking for referrals or giving incentives to your existing client base is a great way to expand your chances of getting more customers of the type you want.
So, if you have done your homework by segmenting your customer base into A, B, C and D customers, the next step is to ask those A and B clients for referrals.
Here, the old adage is true – birds of a feather flock together – by asking for referrals from your existing customer base, two good things happen.
The first is this – referrals are not from the cold marketplace. This means that the person coming to you has been recommended by a friend they know and trust. You will have their trust likely passed on to you. Or, at least enough trust, to either listen to what you have to say, or, better yet, trust you enough to try your products or services right away.
The second good thing that happens is that it is an inexpensive way to market your products/services.
Now, that said, there is one limitation. And that is this – it can often be a slower way to grow, as your clients or customers just may not take the time – even with incentives – to nudge customers your way.
Which leads me to, another, surprisingly less utilized way to increase the number of customers of the type you want….
The Single Best – and Least Expensive Way – to Increase Your Number of Customers
Earlier in this Blog I talked about asking yourself this vitally important question – “who is serving my customers in another, perhaps somewhat related industry?”
An example for our Outsourced monthly Controllership business are banks. Banks serve our clientele. As do larger accounting firms who do not do what we do.
Here are some simple examples to get your ideas flowing:
- Massage therapist – hotels and bed and breakfasts
- Real estate brokerage – developers
- Greenhouse grower – landscapers
- Home Health Care services – doctors, nurses, hospitals
I think you get the idea here.
Once you have identified the industries, then what you do is develop relationships with people in that industry. Inside of those relationships you educate them as to the benefits for their customers from doing business with you. Most people love referring when it makes them look good in their customers’ eyes to help them in areas where they don’t compete.
Most of our clientele was built around referrals from banks and credit unions because they see the need for and the value of our service often before anyone else does.
So, what I recommend you do is start a list of all the businesses that serve your best customers and start building lasting relationships with them.
Oh, and the way to build trust with those other businesses – those referrers – is to make sure you cross-refer back to them!
All the best, and thanks for reading…
by MHolland | Feb 7, 2025 | Business Tips, Cash Flow, Systems
Inflation and rising costs can seriously erode your businesses profits…
Now the very real threat of a 25% tariff on all goods exported to the USA will squeeze profits for businesses selling across the border.
For family-owned businesses, where relationships and long-term stability matter, the challenge is even greater. A misstep in pricing can erode trust, while failing to adjust can eat away at profits.
The good news?
Smart pricing strategies can help you stay ahead. Here is how you can outmaneuver inflation and tariffs while keeping your business healthy and competitive.
Understand Your Cost Structure in Detail
Before making any pricing decisions, get a granular understanding of your costs. This means knowing not just your direct costs (materials, labor) but also overhead (rent, utilities, software subscriptions).
- Action step: Review your cost structure monthly to spot trends and pinpoint where inflation is hitting hardest. This is one step we do monthly with our clients in our Controller’s meeting.
Use Strategic Price Increases
Instead of across-the-board price hikes, implement targeted increases that align with value perception.
- Increase prices on high-demand, low-elasticity products/services—those your customers cannot easily replace.
- Offer tiered pricing—keep an entry-level option affordable while adjusting premium offerings to reflect value.
- Gradual vs. one-time hikes—small, incremental increases over time can be more palatable than a single large jump.
Improve Pricing Psychology
Consumers do not always respond rationally to price changes. Leverage pricing psychology to maintain sales.
- Charm pricing: A price of $97 often feels significantly lower than $100.
- Anchoring: Show higher-priced options first to make standard offerings seem like a great deal.
- Bundle services/products: Customers are less sensitive to price changes when items are bundled together.
Lock in Long-Term Contracts with Suppliers
Negotiate multi-year agreements with key suppliers to lock in better rates and protect against sudden cost spikes. Consider bulk purchasing or forming partnerships with other businesses for greater buying power.
A well-known cliché – lean and mean – applies now to overhead. Look at all your fixed costs and ask – do I need this now? If yes, can I get it for less with another supplier, and not lose the quality I need?
- Action step: Review all supplier contracts and identify opportunities for renegotiation.
Introduce Value-Added Services Instead of Discounting
Discounting can erode margins and set customer expectations for lower prices. Instead, add value in ways that do not significantly increase costs.
- Offer free training, extended warranties, or enhanced customer support.
- Provide loyalty rewards or exclusive first access to new products.
Improve Operational Efficiency
Cutting waste and optimizing internal processes can free up resources to absorb cost increases without passing them all to customers.
- Automate repetitive tasks with technology (e.g., like we do with Plooto for payments, ApprovalMax for approvals).
- Streamline supply chain and inventory management.
- Reduce overhead costs by outsourcing non-core functions.
Implement Dynamic Pricing
Big retailers and airlines use dynamic pricing to adjust rates based on demand and market conditions. Family-owned businesses can take a similar approach by adjusting prices for peak seasons or high-demand products.
- Example: A flower grower might increase prices before Valentine’s Day but offer discounts post-holiday.
- Action step: Monitor demand patterns and consider flexible pricing models.
Educate Customers on Pricing Changes
Transparency builds trust. If you need to raise prices, explain why. Customers are more understanding when they know the reason behind increases—especially if you highlight the continued value you provide.
- Use newsletters, social media, or personal conversations to communicate pricing changes effectively.
- Reinforce the benefits of your product/service—superior quality, reliability, or unique expertise.
In Closing
Inflation, tariffs, and rising costs are a challenge, but they do not have to derail your business. By strategically adjusting prices, optimizing efficiency, and focusing on value, you can protect your margins and maintain customer loyalty.
Thank you for reading…
by MHolland | Jan 24, 2025 | Business Tips, Cash Flow, Selling Tips, Systems
Every business faces the delicate task of raising prices…
Whether it is due to rising costs, inflation, or a desire to increase margins, increasing prices can feel risky. Who wants to lose customers?
The truth is, when done thoughtfully, a price adjustment (great word, adjustment, isn’t it?) does not have to send your customers running. It can even strengthen your relationship with them. Here are ten steps on how to raise prices while keeping your customers loyal and your business thriving.
Step 1 – Understand Your Value
Before making any changes, take a step back and assess the value your business delivers.
What makes your product or service unique?
Why do customers choose you over competitors?
If you are confident in the value you provide, it will be easier to communicate why the price change is justified. Use metrics like customer satisfaction scores, testimonials, and retention rates to solidify your confidence.
Step 2 – Evaluate Market Conditions
Research competitors and industry trends.
Are others in your market raising prices? What are the current customer expectations?
Understanding the market context will help you set a price that is competitive yet profitable. Tools like cost benchmarking and competitor analysis can provide useful insights.
Step 3 – Segment Your Customers
Not all customers are the same. Segment them based on factors like purchasing frequency, loyalty, and price sensitivity.
By understanding which groups are more likely to accept a price increase, you can tailor your approach and messaging to reduce pushback.
Step 4 – Communicate Clearly and Transparently
When it is time to announce the change, clarity is key. Be upfront about why you are raising prices. For example:
- “We are committed to maintaining the quality you expect, and this adjustment allows us to keep delivering exceptional value.”
- “Due to rising costs in materials and operations, we’ve made the difficult decision to adjust our pricing to ensure sustainability.”
Express gratitude for their loyalty and frame the change as part of your commitment to long-term excellence.
Step 5 – Add Value Alongside the Price Increase
Customers are more likely to accept a price change if they perceive added value. Here are some ways to do this:
- Enhance your product or service offerings with additional features or benefits.
- Offer loyalty rewards, exclusive discounts, or upgraded support.
- Bundle services or products to create more value for the price.
Step 6 – Offer Advance Notice
Whenever possible, provide customers with enough time to adjust to the change. A 30-day notice is widespread practice. This demonstrates respect for your customers and gives them time to budget for the new pricing.
Step 7 – Pilot the Change
If you are unsure how customers will react, consider testing the price increase with a smaller segment before rolling it out to everyone. This can help you gauge the response and refine your strategy as needed.
Step 8 – Train Your Team
Your employees are the face of your business, and they need to be prepared to address questions or concerns from customers. Equip them with the right messaging and tools to explain the value of the price change with confidence and empathy.
Step 9 – Monitor Customer Feedback
After implementing the new pricing, keep a close eye on customer reactions. Monitor sales data, feedback forms, and social media comments. If there’s significant pushback, consider offering temporary incentives or reevaluating certain aspects of the change.
Step 10 – Celebrate Your Wins
If your price increase is successful, take the time to celebrate! Share the results with your team and reinforce the importance of delivering consistent value to your customers. Positive outcomes can boost morale and set the stage for future growth.
In Closing
Raising prices does not have to mean losing customers. By understanding your value, communicating effectively, and delivering exceptional service, you can maintain trust and loyalty while improving your bottom line. Price increases are an opportunity to reaffirm the strength of your brand and ensure the long-term success of your business. So, take the leap confidently—your customers may even thank you for it!
Thank you for reading…
by MHolland | Jan 17, 2025 | Business Tips, Cash Flow, Systems
The Ming Vase – A Symbol of Rarity and Value
Imagine I give each of you, as a business owner, a priceless, one-of-a-kind, Ming Vase…
At first, you are speechless. You marvel at its rarity, its delicacy, its beauty.
You treat it carefully, tenderly. You show it off to your friends and family.
It becomes the centrepiece in your living room.
Gradual Neglect – Losing Sight of What Matters
Then, gradually, imperceptibly, over time something happens.
You notice it less and less.
You no longer see its rarity and pricelessness.
You find a new home for it – your daughter’s bedroom. She uses it as an umbrella stand.
It never gets cleaned. If you look closely, it has a small cobweb or two,
The Ming Vase – The Symbol of Your Business
So, what is my point?
This Ming Vase is a symbol of your culture.
Your business was never just a means to make money. It was a creation, a culture, that you built from nothing, and returns you money. It also returns you gratitude, love, respect, joy, purpose, and fulfillment.
Are You Treating Your Culture Like a Priceless Treasure?
Do you treat the culture in your business like a precious Ming Vase? If not, why not?
And here is the thing, a culture is as difficult to form, shape and build as a Ming Vase. And equally as delicate.
A takes a lot of work to build it. And nothing to destroy it.
How Cultures Break – Neglect and Compromise
We know how to break a Ming Vase. Stop caring for it. Drop it.
What about a culture?
The building block of culture is relationship. And how does relationship get built?
Words. The creative word.
The Power of Creative Words
Creative words communicate more than the time of your next meeting. Creative words edify, lift up, empower, inspire, and motivate.
Over time these powerful words build your business culture. They are the oil of relationships – with your customers, your Team, your suppliers – everyone.
And, as I have repeated many times, how you do one thing is how you do everything. You cannot build a culture saying kind words to your customers and then yelling at your Team. That does not work.
The Strength and Fragility of Culture
Over time your culture will be as strong as tensile steel and as delicate as a Ming Vase. It has both qualities. How so?
It has the strength of tensile steel over time because your words, and the words of your Team will become second nature. People stepping into the culture will act out the values of the culture. The culture becomes who they are, what they say, the actions they take. It becomes, as the cliché says, like water to a duck.
On the flip side, this precious culture can be destroyed with a few misplaced words, actions, or worse…
Compromise – The Silent Destroyer
Over time, you stopped seeing the preciousness of your culture (like the example above). You let spider webs creep in. You compromised the culture.
You took shortcuts. (It takes longer to write texts and emails using softeners to maintain your culture). Over time, you, and your Team stopped taking the time to write in this creative way. You saw that your customers, suppliers, and the general business community did not care about culture like you do.
So, you compromised, and over time a degradation seeped in.
And, one day you woke up and realized that your business was ordinary, like everyone else’s. It was no longer a thing of rarity, of preciousness. It was cracked…
Rebuilding a Broken Culture
What to do?
Simple.
Start again. Go back to the beginning and start using words wisely. Speak and write and think with softeners. (“I wonder if you would be so kind to…” … “Thank you for sending me those documents so quickly” ….” Kindly find attached your reports for the month”).
You can rebuild your culture and shape it according to your values.
And, remember this, it takes ongoing care, and awareness to keep your culture going.
Oh, and lastly, what does this have to do with creating a successful, profitable business?
Everything. Everything. Because you are not creating a money-making machine (that is the result). You are creating a magnificent life!
Thank you for reading….
