The healthiest bottom line possible is what every company is constantly striving for. Your team has no doubt brainstormed many effective conventional ideas to boost short-term profits — but a good, unexpected approach can often expand your earning capacity in fresh, long-term ways as well, as proven by research.
Put these outside-the-box strategies into practice to garner excellent results:
Focus more on the competition's strengths.
Many successful managers will tell you that it's important for your staff members to keep their blinders on — and yes, it's key to keep your mind on the work you do without getting distracted by a competing company's moves. Yet an intriguing study from the University of British Columbia, Princeton University and Aix-Marseille University found that it can be profitable to more emphatically stress to your employees how an intense rival company is achieving its goals.
The study found that employees who were made aware of the fact that the competition could potentially encroach on their organization's profits forged a stronger level of trust among their teams, which helped them work together to produce higher-quality results.
Avoid making your employees paranoid, of course; a well-placed, realistic reminder about your competition's current wins will be enough to get everyone's attention, especially before a key project that can bring your company excellent revenue.
Go green the easiest way possible.
Researchers from George Mason University found manufacturing facilities that made a simple switch from solvent-based paint to a water-based formula for their products instantly offset regulation costs by reducing their toxic waste output.
Re-evaluate your company's production policies in a similar way — you'll also increase profits if your environmentally aware corporate buyers and consumers know you've made the switch.
Go back to your (grass)roots.
In today's digitally-driven world, your customers will appreciate good old-fashioned human connection more than you might realize. Call clients instead of emailing them; make the trek across town whenever you can to meet your suppliers face-to-face.
This kind of grassroots approach to doing business is warm and personable, and will make people want what you have to offer.
Let your most experienced managers work more on instinct.
A University of Cambridge-led study of financial traders found that the more seasoned professionals in this group made the most money when they followed their gut regarding a potential deal.
It's not a fluke; the study found that these traders had already absorbed so much overall data subconsciously, their hunches were almost always correct. Trust your managers to make spontaneous calls based on the cumulative wisdom they've garnered, and your profits will flourish.
Reboot a past failure.
Did a product you launched do poorly? Don't wipe it from your company's history — revisit it.
Break down what elements of the idea were promising — then be completely honest with yourself, and admit where the execution went wrong. See what you might be able to salvage that could work when applied to a product you have in development.
In hindsight, that misguided idea could end up adding to your coffers — use your creativity, and make it happen!
