The crux of any business is to operate successfully in a highly competitive world, which simply gets measured by the size of the profits that are generated. While a number of other parameters are also used to gauge how an enterprise runs, profit still reigns supreme and therefore the key to the success of any business, is to formulate an effective strategy to increase profits.

Business success is the result of co-ordinated focus on different ways to thrive and remain on top, which could translate into numbers of (a) customers, (b) enquiries,(c) units sold/serviced or for that matter even abstract and difficult measures to customer satisfaction, but in the end, it is always how in some form ‘to increase profits’, or simply how to run a profitable business.

Here let us taking a look around into a small shopee store with a peculiar sounding name Lovelysweet Candy Parlour, who run a popular candy business in a local neighbourhood of downtown Philadelphia. LCP or Lovely as they are called, sell a variety of candies of many makes, colours, flavours and of course tastes and suited to customers of all ages, as attractive small goodies which cater to people of all streams in wide range of events/likes. Let’s see how these 'Lovely' folks go about their job of churning a profitable business from basic but creative thinking.

Push 1: LCP thinks innovatively and creates customer interest offering a ‘freebie’, an attractive packet of lip-smacking chocos which are price-tagged at 4 dollars, along with each $50 spent. Just an attractive poster display could make the customer buy for a minimum of $50, instead of stopping at $40 or 41 or so, and when he / she opts for the ‘freebie’ the counter girl offers a “double-pack” for just 6 dollars.

Push 2: LCP next offers a 20% discount by means of a small coupon card or something close to it on the next visit / order which quietly but effectively builds customer loyalty but unobtrusively mentioning “when the buy is for $200”.

Push 3: LCP ensures that the packing on each product is attractively and convenience-wrapped, since many of them are meant as gifts – so the contact information, phone or name merges as noticeable part of the packing but unobtrusively spreading the customer net to the giftees as well.

Push 4. LCP often uses co-sponsoring events closely intertwined with like businesses such as flowers, bathing products and so on, improving visibility all the way.

In effect what we did see is a simple demonstration of business success, adopted by the Lovelys. The focus was on three basic steps (a) to make each customer to buy a wee-bit more, (b) to make him/her to buy more often, and thirdly (c) to make others to buy – in effect widening the customer base.

While these steps do not seem to be directly targeted on increasing profits, they really are, as the attack is on the in-built systems, to discover and tap the hidden resources from within, and finally turn towards a more successful business. In reality, efforts were on quietly to increase profits in each step. Increased profits would not only be the means but also the end, leading to business success and ultimately towards more profitable businesses which can thrive and grow - no stopping possible.