When it comes to business growth, we all want to make sure that we are maximising the revenue in our business…well here are 9 tips to do just that.
Tip number one – Create a client assessment chart
Create a client assessment chart. You can do this on a piece of paper or in an Excel spreadsheet that will detail every single client you have.
If you have less than 100 clients I want you to do this for every single individual client that you have, and I want you to write down all their names in a list. And then beside that list, I want you to write down how much revenue each client generates you every single year.
Have a number of columns that then go across the page, or the spreadsheet, and grade each of those clients. Ask a few key questions to each. So across the top, I want you to have headings Client Name, and Annual Revenue. Then the next column I want you to have is the Cringe Factor. Grade every client, and I want you to rate them on the basis of how you love working with them or do you hate it.
Are they the type of person that when you see their name pop up on your phone or in your inbox, you go, oh, cool, yeah, I want to interact with that person, I want to help them, or are they the kind of person that when you see their name come up on your phone or your email you go, oh, crap, there they are, I’ve have to speak to those people, dammit, don’t want to? Which are they?
Put a one against the cringe factor for that individual if you love them, if they are awesome and you love working with them. And I want you to scale that up to a five if you cannot stand working with them, you really hate them as a client. Obviously you can put something in-between if it’s in-between. But I want you to do that for every single client. I want you to go down that list and write what the cringe factor is for that client. Do you love them? Do you hate them? Are they a one, two, three, four, or five? Pop it in the box.
In the next column is the Speed of Payment. So, are they somebody who either pays by direct debit or, you know, the minute the invoice drops in their inbox, they’re paying you, straightaway. They pay super, super fast. Or are they someone that you have to chase and chase and chase and they’re always in arrears, they’re always behind, you know, you have to threaten to stop service for them, you have to threaten to send it to debt collectors. That would be a five.
The next column is for Repeat Revenue. Are they a repeat client? Are they paying you month on month, or year on year, and they’re coming back regularly to buy from you, or are they not? Are they just somebody who’s going to be a one-off and then disappear? Put a one for yes, they’re a repeat, they come back, and a two for no, they’re just a one-off.
The next column is Referrals. Do they refer people to you? If the answer is yes, they do refer people, you put a one, and if the answer is no, they don’t refer people, we put a two.
The next column is History. Is there an established history with this client or customer? Have you got a longer-term relationship? And if the answer is yes, we have a one in the box, and if the answer is no, we have a two in the box.
At this point, you now have your Client Assessment Chart. Each client will basically have a score. Sort each client based on score. Who got the lowest score? They are the ones that you love working with. They are the ones that pay very quickly and they give you repeat revenue. They have referral opportunities, and you have a great history with.
Take a closer look at these set of people. Their score gives you real good insights into the types of services that you’re offering those clients. It tells you what types of services you should be promoting more in your business based on the results you gathered from your best clients.
Remember to be really honest with yourself when grading your clients and do not let emotion get in the way.
(If you’d like a template for the client assessment then you can get that HERE)
Tip number two – Clone your best clients
Based on the data from your assessment chart, clients that are scoring really well, are not cringe worthy, they are paying you fast, they are repeat revenue clients, they are giving you referrals, and you have your great history with them. You want to work out how you can get more of those types of people.
Work out how you can clone your best clients. Gather information about your prospect that can help you target more people like them. Speak to them, and find out things like, do they prefer to hang out on Facebook or LinkedIn? Do they read certain magazines? Do they watch certain TV programmes? It’s about really getting to know them as individuals. Do they have kids? Don’t they have kids? Are they male or female? What are their beliefs and values? What industry events do they go to? Or what sector are they in? If you’re finding that they’re all in a specific sector, or they’re all going to the same events, then you need to be going to those events, and you need to be thinking about, is that a sector that you should be focusing on, perhaps, to get those amazing clients.
Clone your best clients by finding out as much information about the people that are in that bracket right now, that can help you basically find others like them.
Tip number three – Sack your worst clients
I know, you spent time getting them on board, they are paying you money, well, maybe…they might not be. We’ll know from the assessment chart whether they are or not.
Sacking clients can be a really, really scary thing to do but who are these ‘worst clients’? They are the types that you ‘hate’, they are the ones that never pay you and you’re always having to chase them for money, if they don’t offer you any repeat revenue, if they don’t offer you any referrals, if you have not established a history with them, they are gonna be scoring really high on your client assessment chart.
Ok, they’re gonna be near the bottom of that sorted list. And they are people that you’re not enjoying working with, and are really rubbish payers, generally. And why would you want to be spending your energy on servicing those clients when your energy could be spent cloning the better ones, okay?
And you know, if you’re anything like me, I really, really hate conflict.
I avidly avoid it.
I really hate it.
And so, when it comes to sacking clients, I really, really hate it.
And I put up with way worse behaviour from clients than I should. I
know that, and I let people off with a lot more things than I should do, because it’s my business, and I get to choose who I work with.
You know, there’s people that I love working with, and they light me up, and there’re people who I cringe when I see their name come up. And I know I need to get rid of more of those and do more of that more often. I know this is an area where I struggle with. But I also know this is an area that’s really important to think about, because apart from anything else, those clients that we don’t enjoy working with, that are not paying us very frequently, and are rubbish at doing that, they drain our energy, okay, and our business, because when we see their name come up, when we have to chase them for money, it’s just kind of a feeling, right? They drain us, and actually, our energy could be better spent working with amazing people that we’re finding through step number two, cloning our best clients. So tip for maximising your revenue number three is to sack your worst clients, because it will free up your time and your energy to seek those amazing ones, ‘kay? So that is number three.
Tip number four – Ask Your Clients
Ask your clients and your prospects what they want from you, what they want to buy from you and they will tell you.
If you ask them what their biggest pain point is they will tell you what they need and what they want. Provide options for them and they will give you an answer. Your clients and prospects will tell you what appeals to them best and what appeals to them most. If it’s within your zone of genius and if it aligns with the kind of thing that you could offer them, then offer that to them.
I’ve recently started doing VIP days asking my clients, “What would work for you “in terms of working together”? And a few people have said to me, “I just want a day with you. I want a day in a room where we can sit down and just hammer out the financial strategy and the profit plan for our business”. And I go, “Okay, let’s do that”.
Whether it’s a course, whether it’s an opt-in or a freebie, whether it’s a webinar or a live stream, whether it’s a paid programme, whether it’s one-to-one time, ask your clients and customers and prospects what they want from you. And you might be amazed by the answers, but it will also help shape what you can deliver to them, because they’re asking for it. And if they’re asking for it and they’re willing to pay for it, then it makes sense to deliver that, if you can, if that’s within your zone of genius.
Remember to deliver what your clients or prospects want as a revenue stream.
Tip number five – Be consistent with your message to the market.
There is nothing that confuses the marketplace more than being inconsistent with the message you deliver. The messages I deliver are all around maximising revenue, business growth, and profitability. They are my messages. When people think of me, what I’m hoping they think of are those things.
If I start chatting about you know, any number of other things that I could talk about, people will start getting confused and not understand what I stand for and what my message is. Now, do I help clients in other areas? Yes, I do, but they are not the things that I go out and broadcast about. So, have I helped clients come up with their, you know, marketing strategy? Yes, I have, because for me that builds some business growth, but I don’t actively speak about that, en masse, to people, because I want to be known as the person that speaks about financial mastery and profitability and revenue growth.
You should have something too that you’re leading with so that people know when they see you on their news feed for example, or in their inbox, they kind of know what type of thing to expect from you.
Remember, confused people don’t buy. Be consistent in the messages that you deliver so that people can understand what it is you stand for. That is key in maximising your revenue.
Tip number six – Get your clients to pay upfront
No cash – no sale. Get your clients and customers to pay you up front for the services you’re going to deliver, or before you’ve fully delivered the service. That’s when the sale is made.
If the services are delivered and there’s no money exchanged, there is no sale. Make sure that at the very least you’re getting a deposit up front for the services you’re going to deliver. There’s a greater tie-in from your client or customer to work with you, because the money has been exchanged. There’s more commitment, it’s just a psychological thing that the results are then going to be greater and better.
You don’t want to drain all your energy by doing the work first, invoice your client and end up chasing them. Learn to maximize your revenue by charging upfront.
Tip number seven – Nurture relationships with existing clients
We often overlooked the importance of nurturing relationships with the people we already have. We tend to get busy attracting new people to our door, growing our list, getting new audiences and growing out business. Little did we know that existing contacts, existing clients, people already on our list, people who follow us on social media and even previous clients are KEY. Why? Because these people already know about you.
There’s a certain trust factor from people who already know all about you. The truth is that makes it much easier to get people to either spend more money with you or buy from you if they already know who you are, rather than not knowing who you are at all.
There are many ways how you can reach out to your existing contacts. You can start by emailing your list on a consistent basis. You can also make yourself visible on social media by posting updates and sharing content. Go an extra mile to deliver messages that speak to those people that are already on your list. For example, you can share exclusive content through a webinar. Or how about a Facebook challenge that is exclusive to your community.
Remember, the easiest way to generate revenue, is to generate it from people who already know about you. I was reading somewhere that between 1 and 2% of your audience should become buyers, okay, so if you already have that audience, then it makes sense to nurture those into becoming buyers, rather than trying to spend your time getting more people in the audience. At least initially.
Tip number eight – Get good at selling and be comfortable with it
As a business owner, you need to sell. That’s just fundamental, because sales is the lifeblood of a business, well, cash is, really, but, you know, that’s linked to selling. And if you don’t make a sale, you don’t have a business. You’ve got a hobby. So get over any horrible feeling or limiting beliefs about sales, and what sales is, and what salespeople are because it’s not going to help you at all. Those negative thoughts will hinder from growing your business.
Why don’t you think about it this way – when you are selling your products and services you are offering a solution to your clients’ problems or pain points. You have the solution.
They don’t have to take it. There is no pressure. You are saying, “okay, you said you have this issue. If you want, this is how I can help.” That’s it. That’s all you’re doing. If they don’t like your solution, that’s okay. You can leave as friends. If they do like your solution, then great, you work together, and that’s awesome, too, and you can help them with that problem, because that’s what it is.
That’s all it is, is helping somebody with a problem they already have. You’re not inventing a problem. You’re not creating a problem for them. They already have this issue, okay, and they’re reaching out to someone because they need help with that issue. And if you are able to provide help with that issue then that’s awesome. If you’re not, that’s okay, too. And maybe you know somebody else that can help with their problem if it can’t be you. And that’s also good.
Tip number nine: Do not give stuff away for free, unless…
You could offer free things, options or services in your business up to a point. You can only do that if it’s part of an overall strategy. Free stuff needs to be thought through, planned out, and it needs to be part of a strategy – a bigger strategy for you to attract clients into long-term coaching services.
You can offer a free event, if it’s part of a longer-term strategy to get them to work more closely with you in some other capacity in the future. But you need to know and understand how those numbers stack up. So if you are offering free coaching calls, that’s fine, as long as you know that you can convert a certain percentage into paid clients, which pays for your time, essentially, delivering lots of free discovery calls or lots of free coaching calls.
These nine tips for maximising revenue for your business are proven to be most effective when implemented.
Originally published at www.annetteandco.co.uk