While watching golf on TV the other day I was inspired by the name on the hat that Phil Michelson wore. I Googled them and found out they were business consultants. Their expertise was consulting with medium to large companies to evaluate their business practices and to locate bottom line methods to increase profit. I thought how in the world did I miss this for my little annuity business.

I hired a business consultant to look at all aspects of my business and help me make better business decisions so I can be just like GM, Boeing and United Airlines. The overall cost was a little more than $5,000 and I spent about 2 days answering questions and filling out questionnaires. All the information was entered into their computer and it must have cranked on it for at least a day. The report was mind-blowing; things I had never even considered were introduced to me.
They had evaluated all my expenses and the bottom line were these ideas.

Send E cards and save on postage.
Buy all my stationary in bulk based on a 12 month need.
Use only ATMs that have no fees.
Cancel magazine subscriptions and use the internet for my news.
Cancel my whole life insurance policy and replace it with term.
Make my 2 employees coshare their health insurance cost.
Cut back on Starbucks and make coffee at the office, quit going out to the coffee shop.
Buy copy paper in bulk one pallet at a time and make the stationary company store it for me until I need it

I read all 99 of their suggestions and thought... not no, but Hell No!

Who wants to live like that? Who wants to be that extreme. What should I do if I want to have a better bottom line? It was very easy, see only 10 more people in a year and this will result in 1 more annuity sales. Based on my average care size of $77,000 this would provide an additional $10,000 to my bottom line. Only 10 more new seens a year! How simple is that?

Here is my plan for expense reduction.DONT!!! Life is way to short for this type of bottom line drive.

When your whole focus is on reduction and not sales you become very negative and not proactive. We are annuity salesmen and we need to be active and proactive.

One terrific tax benefit I did receive from my consultant, I got to write off his consulting fee. My attitude is that it is much simpler to sell than to reduce.