Are you selling services that you provide within agreed deadlines? Is the glass ceiling on your maximum revenue 24 hours a day? Nothing could be further from the truth. In this article, I will describe several ways to increase revenue when selling our time.
If you value simplicity and don't want to spend much time on business development, the simplest solution to increase your revenue will be to raise the price of your services. This solution is suitable when you don't feel capable of building and managing a team. Not everyone wants to build large companies. Personally, I believe that entrepreneurs should build companies that align with their values and vision. Otherwise, we are one step away from building a company that becomes our golden cage, where we don't feel comfortable.
Raising prices by 300% may not be the best strategy. A much safer approach to price increases is a more gradual process.
First, make sure your calendar is fully booked with clients who are purchasing your services at the current price. This will give you confidence, and having a 100% workload will naturally make you start looking for solutions to scale your business.
Choose from among your clients those whom you know well enough that you are almost 100% certain that raising prices will not make them secretly switch service providers. It's also a good idea to have an honest conversation with your clients. Inform them that you plan to raise prices. Don't do it right away; give them time to prepare for the change.
The most important aspect, however, is to provide a well-reasoned argument for the change. It can't be a message like "100% more in a month (period)." Try to find a logical justification that the client will understand. For example, explain that your training costs have increased, and you want to provide the best quality services on the market, so you need to raise prices in order to continue growing and delivering more value to the client.
If you have no problem building a team, and perhaps your goal is even to scale the team, then in the first step, try to ensure 100% workload for yourself. Once you reach that point, simply hand your clients over to the first employee.
When you work alone, you have an average of 160 hours per month. Recalculate your hourly rate so that even after handing over 80 hours to your employee, the business still makes sense for you. At the beginning, building a team and handing all clients to new employees can involve risks for you.
By handing over 50% of your clients to an employee, you still keep one foot on board your own ship. This provides a certain level of security during the transitional period. During this time, it's worth developing a process that will help you assess subsequent employees in terms of delivering the appropriate quality.
Once you have prepared such a scheme, you can replicate it almost infinitely. It requires significantly more courage, work, and commitment from you. At the same time, it allows you to break through the glass ceiling without the fear of encountering another one.
Of course, you need to be prepared for new types of problems, such as:
However, if you want to follow the path of entrepreneurs, you cannot avoid them. Sooner or later, such problems will arise in your company. In conclusion, and as a small consolation, I will add that if you prepare for these problems in a timely manner, you will significantly reduce the associated risks.
I wish you and your business the best of luck! 🤞
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