If you're running a business, a recurring concern for you may be coming up with ways to increase your revenue. There are 4 key ways to do this in any business:

• Raise your prices

• Increase your transaction size

• Increase the frequency with which your customers purchase

• Increase your number of customers

Let's take a moment to dive into each of these a bit...

Raise your prices

A former business partner of mine told me something profound nearly 30 years ago which has stuck with me all of these years - "Greg, what happens when you raise your prices?" he asked. I replied with my gut instinct which was "We'll probably lose some customers." He countered with a truth that I still live by - "When you raise your prices, you make more money."

I tried to find fault in what he espoused to me that day, but, wisely executed, an increase in revenue will invariably lead to more revenue - and occasionally, it servers to weed out customers who are often a drain on profitability...win-win!

Increase your transaction size

Increasing the size of your transactions is a tactic often referred to as upselling. In a service based business, this is often as simple as educating your customers about additional service offerings - sometimes those add-on services just sell themselves.

Increase the frequency with which your customers purchase

This one is often a matter of follow-up and can be aided by the use of technology. Think about every time you give your phone number to earn some sort of reward at your favorite coffee shop. Oftentimes, that phone number is linked to your customer profile, which the savvy shop owner can then use to target-market specials directed specifically to you and trying to entice you to visit their shop even just once more this month.

Increase your number of customers

This one kind of goes without saying....more eyes on the screen, more feet on the doormat, more butts in the chair - how you refer to it in your business may vary from the next business, but at the end of the day, it's all about creating new customers. Referral requests also fall into this category!

Sales and marketing efforts ultimately all boil down to one of these goals. Which technique(s) are you implementing right now in your business?