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Profitability the final piece in the VCP Process

Over the last few months, I have written about Visibility and Credibility. In this post, I would like to dive into the last piece, that being, profitability.

What Does Profitability Mean?

Profitability has many definitions depending on how you want to define it. 

BusinessDictionary.com defines it as, “The state or condition of yielding a financial profit or gain. It is often measured by price to earnings ratio.”

 Whereas Lexico.com defines it as, “The degree to which a business or activity yields profit or financial gain.” It also defines is as, “The state of yielding profit or financial gain.” 

The problem with these definitions is that they are only looking at financial gain. As Zig Ziglar says, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” 

This begs the question, do you consider your life and business to be profitable if you were helping your clients or customers get what they want, even if that meant pointing them to a better solution or dare I say a competitor?

I know that the last statement may seem shocking and almost profane to you, but rest assured, you may think that you are losing out. I won’t lie, to you may be losing that one sale, but you just gained a heap of credibility in the eyes of that person. Do you think they will remember you when they need your solution? You bet! Do you think they will call you when your solution will be a better fit? The answer is yes, and there is a higher likelihood that will. Do you think they will tell the story to their friends? Yes!

Visibility > Credibility ≠ Profitability

Visibility leads to Credibility leads to ProfitabilityVisibility and credibility do not equal profitability, it is a circular path, continuous circle in which we must always keep moving. If you take one out, then the entire process fails.

As I said in a previous post, there are numerous ways to increase visibility and your credibility, those being:

  • Use in-person networking to become the person people can come to for answers and try to be a connector to other people and businesses.
  • Use the power of your website and content marketing to show up with the answers to peoples questions
  • Leverage social media to increase your visibility and to help stay top of mind.

Now that you have established your visibility and credibility you can work toward profitability. You can do this by:

  • Asking those whom you have been able to help for referrals, and to help connect you with your ideal client or buyers.
  • Use your social media connections and followers to help you identify people that could use your goods or services.

However, be careful not to “overstay your welcome.” You could quickly lose all that you have gained in a short period of time by over asking. You want to make sure that the relationships are mutually rewarding.

Visibility > Credibility > Profitability

This brings us back to the more traditional definition of profitability. Yes, you may make money off the goods or services you provide. True profitability should be measured in how and if you solved their problem.

Don’t ever forget that Visibility > Credibility > Profitability is a process. If you are visible enough and credible enough, you will be profitable. It may not be in the traditional definition, but you will be profitable as you help other people get what they want.

Image of the author - Chad J. Treadway

Written By: Chad J. Treadway |  Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Chad is a Partner and our Chief Smarketing Officer. He will help you survey your small business needs, educating you on your options before suggesting any solution. Chad is passionate about rural marketing in the United States and North Carolina. He also has several certifications through HubSpot to better assist you with your internet and inbound marketing.