Does your company earn just enough to cover operating costs? Then it's time to make some changes with the lessons that Bob Fifer, the Fortune 500 Corporate Financial Advisor, brings in the book "Double Your Profits".

There are many cases of entrepreneurs who don't think about the expenses of their company. This ends up reflecting on the profits, which are low.

But this reality can change, so keep reading this summary and see how to increase your sales, cut costs, and improve results!

About the book "Double Your Profits"

Written by Bob Fifer, the work "Double Your Profits: In Six Months or Less" is the bedside book of one of Brazil's greatest entrepreneurs, Ambev's founder Marcel Telles.

In this book, Bob Fifer discusses in 78 steps how to reduce costs, increase sales and improve results clearly, and objectively.

About the author Bob Fifer

Bob Fifer is the founder and chief executive of the management consulting firm Fifer Associates. He is also a partner of Kaiser Capital Fund, LP.

He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard College and a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.

He is a consultant to large, medium, and small businesses, including some of the most valuable in the world, according to the magazine Fortune 500 rating.

To whom is this book indicated?

The book "Double Your Profits" is indicated for business people, directors, entrepreneurs, and managers who care about the profitability of their business.

Main ideas of the book "Double Your Profits"

Here are some insights from Bob Fifer:

It is important that the company has a unique, clear, and predominant culture, disseminated to all hierarchical levels of the organization;
The objective that gives enthusiasm and leads employees to produce good results is one in which the company proposes to be the best at what it does;
For a company to be the best, it needs to create incentives for its employees to strive to innovate and always seek to improve processes and results;
Rewards are an excellent way to encourage good workers and should, therefore, be distributed according to their merit;
Profit is the main measure of the level of customer satisfaction and the efficiency with which a company is able to organize and operate to produce customer satisfaction.
Every cost is an obstacle to be overcome;
Business is done between emotional beings and this can be extremely lucrative for an organization.

In this summary, we will highlight the main points of "Double Your Profits". Let's go!

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Overview: Create the culture

The author Bob Fifer starts the book discussing the importance of creating a culture for the organization. Most companies define their mission in a broad and unclear way. As he affirms in the book "Double Your Profits", the mission of every company must be to become the best in what it produces, offers, or sells.

For Bob Fifer, the best way to give credibility to culture is through attitudes that yield good results. So, keep reading to see how costs, time, and product and service differentiation can help a company.

Strategic costs vs. non-strategic costs

One of the expressions of an organization's culture is the way it manages costs. According to the book "Double Your Profits: In Six Months or Less", the role of the manager is to make the company spend more than competitors on strategic costs and minimize non-strategic costs as much as possible. Explaining:

Strategic costs: this is what generates business and increases profits. Advertising, for example;
Non-strategic costs: costs that are necessary for the operation of the company, but which don't generate profits clearly and directly. These are administrative costs, such as office supplies and property rentals.

Time

It's critical that time management is explicit in the culture of an organization. The author Bob Fifer points out that more working hours don't necessarily mean higher productivity.

It's important to maintain a sense of urgency, setting short deadlines for important tasks, and increasing the use of strategic time while non-strategic time decreases. Conceptualizing:

Strategic time: it is defined as everything that is done and produces profits;
Non-strategic time: everything that is "work" and meets the requirements of some "process".

Differentiation of products and services

The author's main tip regarding product and service differentiation is to only offer customers the elements of differentiation they are willing to pay for.

The best for the customer, for you, and for your company's profits is to distinguish between the type of differentiation the customer pays for and those other things that are nice to have, but the customer doesn't pay for them, as he says in the book "Double Your Profits".

Overview: Reduce Costs

Bob Fifer teaches that a cost should only be maintained when we are sure that it is necessary. One way to check the need for a cost is to reduce it, even before asking questions to who will be affected by it.

He ensures that employees will adjust their routines and expectations to cut costs.

If there are complaints about the cut, wait a moment to adjust to the new routine. If the cost really proves to be necessary, make the act of spending a difficult process that must go through several procedures to be justified.

Don't be afraid of being a bad guy! Be firm and competent in what you do and they will respect you.

Examine even the small costs. All costs must be proven necessary. This includes people, office supplies, hardware and software, bonuses, and suppliers.

Suppliers

Strictly manage the prices paid to suppliers for goods and services.

Designate someone, other than the buyer, to cut costs and bargain with suppliers.

The buyers, having frequent contact with suppliers, develop friendly relationships, so we cannot expect them to negotiate the best possible value.

Decrease freezes and cuts. Send a note to all suppliers saying that times are bad and that, from now on, you will not accept price increases.

Every price increase that you accept without resorting to a price quote is lost money. In the book "Double Your Profits: In Six Months or Less", the author advises to promote a rigorous competition.

Convince the supplier's vendors that selling depends on a price reduction and the price will be reduced.

Products and services

Eliminate excess paper spending by reducing reports, statistics, and copies of letters. Focus your priority on information and numbers that really help you make decisions.

Reduce spending on acquiring new software and hardware unnecessarily and ask scientists to rate the R&D projects they work on. This will make them clarify the project and reflect on it in commercial terms.

Employees

Don't be afraid of firing employees who perform below the standard you want to keep in your company. In this way, low-level employees will redouble their efforts. Meanwhile, seniors will be encouraged to realize that poor performance does not go unpunished.

Establish generous and well-balanced wages. Compare the compensation offered by other companies to the same positions and be more generous than them.

Any reward or bonus that becomes automatic ceases to have motivational value and becomes an instrument of mismanagement.

Bonds cost nothing and have the same motivating effect as a pay raise. Distribute them if you are hesitant to give a pay raise.

The author Bob Fifer presents in the book "Double Your Profits" ways for you to motivate your employees:

Make your company the best and most profitable in the business;
Clearly communicate what performance and behavior you want;
Distribute rewards according to what has been reported;
Make rewards vary greatly from one individual to another based on differences in performance;
Pay them well, whenever they deserve it;
Train employees not only explicitly but also by exposing them by example to the kind of management and life lessons you have to offer.

Overview: Increase Sales

The sales process is your best way to show the customer what your company is capable of.

Selling is a matter of attracting consumers. Always make the customer tell you the real reason why they want to buy the product or service you are offering to improve your sales.

The author Bob Fifer gives a step by step on how to close a sale:

Show that you are competent;
Demonstrate empathy toward the customer;
Show yourself totally loyal;
Play hard to get;
Use the sense of duty to transform the personal interest you show by the customer into a personal obligation of the customer to you.

Invest in your sales team

Bob Fifer recommends in the book "Double Your Profits" to have enough salespeople and make sure they spend time with customers, not administrative tasks.

To keep them solely in charge of sales, allow lower-wage clerks to do the administrative work for your salespeople.

Establish a variation in compensation according to the profits made by each salesperson.

When hiring, choose salespeople who know how to sell and how to generate profits.

Overview: Some Personal Advice

In this last part of the book "Double Your Profits", the author Bob Fifer advises about life outside of work, which, according to him, has a direct impact on your performance as a good manager.

He affirms that successful entrepreneurs are persistent and adopt an optimistic attitude towards the challenges. They are also firm in their convictions and allow nothing or anyone to stop them from achieving their goals.

Besides, it's important that you enjoy the work you perform and set boundaries on hours and place of work.

Work hard and have fun! Take pleasure in doing what you do and enjoy the eternal journey of improvement.

What do other authors say about it?

In the book "Traction", the author Gino Wickman explores how successful entrepreneurs have an attractive and well-defined vision for their business. Also, they know how to communicate this message to employees. From this, a guideline is created to be followed by everyone within the organization, always used to develop solutions and guide strategic actions.

When it comes to layoffs, Ben Horowitz, author of "The Hard Things about Hard Things" suggests that if you need to cut staff, start layoffs as soon as possible after deciding to do so, as news of layoffs can cause additional and even bigger problems.

Another tip is to have managers deliver the news to their own people, never outsource it to Human Resources.

Finally, in "Developing the Leader Within You 2.0", John Maxwell addresses the importance of leaders demonstrating that they care about their team and developing new leaders among them. Also, he works with the idea that 80% of your efforts should be channeled into 20% of your most important priorities to reach your goals.

Okay, but how can I apply this to my life?

After reading this summary, you will surely be more excited to increase your company's profits and you will find it is simpler than you thought.

Here are some things we learned from the author Bob Fifer:

Create an organizational culture where your company's mission is to be the best at what it does;
Be persistent and do what you can to achieve your company's mission;
Thoroughly examine your organization's costs and don't be afraid to cut the most out of non-strategic costs;
Reduce time, space, paper usage and make it widely incorporated into the culture of your business;
Motivate your employees, including financially;
Give your customers the best selling experience possible.

Remember that doubling profits doesn't require high technology, it's simply a matter of resolution.

Did you like this summary of the book "Double Your Profits"?

Are you ready to be a successful entrepreneur by adopting the tips shared by Bob Fifer? Don't forget to leave your feedback in the comments!

Also, if you were interested in the book, you can buy it by clicking on the image:

Double Your Profits - Bob Fifer

Do you want to increase your business profits by spending less? In this summary, you will learn how to double profitability and be a successful manager.