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E#235 3 Proven Strategies to Grow and Scale Your Business

3 Proven Strategies to Grow and Scale Your Business

In this current podcast series dedicated to business and revenue growth, let’s talk about three proven strategies you can use to grow and scale your business – even if you’re relatively new to the business and have a few paying clients. Two of these methods discussed today do NOT require you to find new clients – which is often the most costly and time-consuming way of building your business. That means you can improve revenue immediately!

Background

When your business reaches a certain size, you might find yourself working at full capacity in terms of the hours you can physically work or the clients you can physically service in your business.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* Upgrading Your Systems
* Changing Your Prices
* Increasing the Offers

You may reach an upper limit of income or find that your start-up business systems (e.g. manual invoicing) are inadequate and time-consuming to manage.

While there are no immediate problems with either scenario, a business that relies solely on you presents a level of ‘risk’.

What happens to the business if you get sick? What if you want time off? And how can you outgrow your expenses and start making a real profit?

These are just three of many considerations that might inspire you to grow or at least improve efficiencies in your business.

There is a saying that goes, ‘If your business isn’t growing, it’s shrinking.’

If you want to grow your business and revenue, there are several options.

Here are three of the easiest options for businesses in the early stages of growth (‘seed’) who have some customers and are ready to expand their reach, sales and profit.

Upgrading Your Systems

Upgrading your systems becomes a relevant growth strategy if you have reached a limit as to how many clients you can see, and therefore how much money you can earn.

Before you consider upgrading, you’d want to make sure you have regular cashflow and enough profit margin to cover the costs you will incur via systems upgrades.

Two ways of upgrading your systems include:

– Getting specialist help (outsourcing) and

– moving away from manual systems into more automated ones.

Either or both of these can free you up to service more clients. Let’s look at each in turn.

Upgrading by Outsourcing

Thinking about the outsourcing, hiring specialist contractors is an easy way to get qualified help when you are busy or need help in a specific area. This is known as a ‘business to business’ arrangement whereby you engage another business to complete specific work or tasks within your business.

It is also helpful if you don’t want the burden of buying and setting up software (e.g. accounting software) and just want someone to do it for you.

If you are considering outsourcing, you might not have the workload or cash flow to employ someone permanently, but they could do some monotonous but important tasks for you, or cope with irregular busy periods, so that your time is freed up to service more clients.

For example:

· Hiring independent contract coaches can be helpful for irregular work e.g.

  • busy periods
  • when you go on holiday.

· Alternatively, outsourcing allows you to hand over specific tasks or regular roles to an expert e.g.

  • virtual assistant
  • bookkeeper
  • accountant
  • marketing consultant
  • IT professional.

I will be talking more specifically about VA’s in the next episode of this podcast.

If you do any outsourcing, you would need to have a formal signed agreement in place before work commences, which clearly outlines the scope of work, specific duties and payment arrangements.

You’d need to have some clear policies in place about privacy, conduct and other things that state your expectations around quality of work and expected behaviour, and procedures to help hand over specific tasks.

Upgrading by Automating Tasks

When you start a business, you’re often doing a lot of things manually. For example:

  • Creating invoices in Microsoft Word.
  • Keeping track of clients in a log book, or an Excel worksheet.
  • Posting your social media posts one at a time on each platform.
  • Manually writing individual, separate emails to your customers, before, during and after programs.

When you switch these manual systems to automated processes and/or use software, you can save yourself a lot of time and mistakes, which frees you up to coach more clients.

Examples include:

  • Using dedicated financial software like WaveApps (free), Quickbooks, or Xero
  • Using a social media scheduling tool instead of manually posting (e.g. RecurPost, HootSuite)
  • Using an email system like Mailchimp or Mailerlite
  • Using a booking system like Calendly or Acuity Scheduling. For more info on these, you can listen to episode #105 Best Essential Business Systems or episode #106 Best Advanced Business Systems.

Increasing Your Prices

When your business reaches a certain level, a very simple strategy to grow your income without any cost to you, or without working extra hours, is to repackage services and/or raise prices.

For example, you might decide to:

  • raise prices by 10% and may also offer a bonus downloadable training course with your program – which raises the tangible value of your services and makes the increase more palatable with only a one-off labour cost, or
  • raise prices by 15% and re-position yourself as a highly experienced specialist in one area of coaching –raising your tangible value, or
  • creating a group coaching model to increase ROI
  • develop a premium (high-priced) specialty service.

There are many pricing strategies to choose from.

Pick the one that best suits your niche, your level of expertise and your business and lifestyle (working hours) goals. Work with a business coach to create the right strategy for you. You might also be interested in my podcast episode #202 Should I show pricing on my website?

Increasing the Options

When you start out in business, you’re often just focusing on doing one or two things well, becoming known, and getting a good reputation.

As you start to get more customers, you will start to see more opportunities to work with people in different ways.

By increasing the number of service options you have, you can grow your business and revenue.

For example:

– A short, DIY program with email support provides a low-cost entry point for people who are interested in working on one small problem they have (e.g. establishing a bedtime ritual for better sleep).

This means you are getting some income for very little live client time and gives them a step into your main program. This equates to more money for less time and effort (note: you would still need to promote this program regularly in order to sell it).

– A 1:1 program is now available as a small group program

This means you are earning more money per session, and also building a community of like-minded people who work with you and connect with each other. They are more likely to want to stay connected.

– Your initial 8-week program is now followed up with a 6-month maintenance program (VIP high-end pricing for individuals or mastermind, or moderate price for groups) or a membership.

This means you are keeping customers longer, earning more money and/or over a longer period, and helping your clients get next-level results after their initial program has finished.

– A higher value program where you add specific resources, a welcome pack, or package up other services or products such as meditation playlists, or a recipe book.

This means you can earn more money in the same amount of time.

One important caveat is this – keep your number of available services to 3 or 4, maximum. Otherwise, you risk entering the paradox of choice, where customers walk away without making a decision as there are too many options or difficulties in making the best choice.

Summary 

When you are coaching enough clients that you hit a ceiling of available time or income, or if you notice opportunities to help clients more or for longer, there are a few strategies you can do to take your business to the next level.

We talked about just three of the options today, including

  • Upgrading your systems
  • Increasing your pricing, and
  • Creating more options for working with you (but not too many).

If you need help developing business and revenue growth strategies to suit your business and niche, contact me to join my private coaching waitlist, which runs for five months in February and June of each year.

My private coaching programs usually sell out within a week of advertising, and you need to qualify to be a part of them. To enquire or join the waitlist, hit up my contact page and I’ll get back to you!

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

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E#233 Running Pilot Programs for Quick Revenue (and Growth)

This episode is about running pilot programs for quick revenue (and growth)

Whether you’re starting out in business or thinking of a new service line, it can be tough to break into a new market. 

Pilot programs allow you to test a new service for the first time on a test audience in exchange for feedback but better than that – they are a great way to create business and revenue growth through live customer experience, results, reviews and referrals.  

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* Why Pilot Programs?
* How to Create Value in Pilot Programs
* Building Revenue with Pilot Programs

Why Pilot Programs? 

Pilot programs are a low-risk opportunity for you to test and refine your coaching or other program using live feedback from people in your niche or target audience.  

But more than that, running a pilot program is a pre-marketing activity. It is essentially a soft launch that creates visibility, interest, engagement and excitement around your new program. 

To answer the question – why pilot programs? – they are a great way to give people a taste of what you do, and to create initial revenue, results and reviews (traction) that lead to future sales. 

What I mean is this: by running a test version of your final program, you’re giving people a live experience of what you do, which generates positive feelings and other outcomes (which is what people actually buy – feelings).  

You are showing you care about the customer because they’re helping you to make it exactly what they want and need. 

It doesn’t have to be perfect, and there is far less pressure for you as you work out the kinks and bumps with a willing audience.  

In return, they feel wonderful about helping you and they’re also getting a result in a structured, step-by-step process.  Then, they are going to tell people about what they’re doing – spreading the word for you. 

You can also share wins, photos, insights and progress along the way with your future audience to build their interest and excitement for your next program. 

That means you end up with a refined product that exactly suits your target market – ready to go for a full launch – and with plenty of eyeballs on the next intake of your program. Much more fun than a pile of ads for something you’ve never tried or tested! 

If you choose the right people for your pilot program, you’ll get relevant feedback to improve the final product and glowing testimonials that will attract more people to your business. 

I covered how to get the right people for your pilot program in episode #134 Five Top Tips for Finding the Right Pilot Program Clients. I explained why being selective is important, and how to find the right clients for your pilot program. 

To answer the question – why pilot programs? – they are a great way to give people a taste of what you do, and to create initial revenue, results and reviews (traction) that lead to future sales. 

Now that we know why pilot programs are great, how do you get people to join your pilot program? Well, you need to create value by communicating the problem you help to solve, and the solution or outcomes people will get by participating. 

How to Create Value in Pilot Programs 

Two previous episodes of this podcast do a deep dive into creating value within the program. 

In episode #154, the Why, What and How of Pilot Program workflows, I talked about how to map out the steps of signing up clients, onboarding clients, and the key steps in delivering the pilot program to those clients, so that you can prepare properly, and then deliver a complete and wonderful experience to your clients that cover all the bases. 

In episode #155, The Value of Pilot Program Content and Emails, I described how to create value for your clients in different elements of a pilot program – basically, how to create value within the content of the program that you can then test with a pilot group! 

Building Revenue with Pilot Programs 

Someone asked me recently – does a pilot program have to be free or can it be heavily discounted? 

The short answer is – it depends on the niche clients, the size and urgency of their problem, their ability and willingness to pay, and the importance of change to them.   

If you think about it, someone with a big, painful, problem that disrupts their daily life will be more willing to pay, pay more, and get help, than someone with a minor problem that has little to no impact on their life. 

Let that sink in for a moment – it’s important. 

How do you feel about paying for something versus getting it for free? Several people have told me that they want to pay me for coaching because then they have skin in the game and will be more committed.  

And on top of that – as the saying goes – nobody wants a free kitten. Because then the question is – why is it free? what’s wrong with it? 

So how do you price a pilot program? Firstly, I think language is important. If you talk about discounting as it devalues what we do as coaches.  

I prefer to say that “this first program as a pilot will cost $X, and future versions will be $X”. This can help people decide to buy now or wait until later.  

Generally, I charge about 1/3 to ½ of the retail price for a pilot program, with a clear requirement for feedback along the way (which includes verbal and surveys). So if it will eventually be a $1500 program, a pilot version might be promoted as a one-time-only price of between $500 – $750. 

Remember that even within a pilot program, the right clients will get incredible value, assuming that you pick a niche, you’re clear on the problem they want to solve, and that the aim/outcome/result is clearly defined and exactly what they’re looking for. That is where the value is created – the old ‘what’s in it for me’. 

People love to help, and they love getting a sense of value (which is simply a function of the results they get – and how important the results are to them – in exchange for their investment of time and money). If they can get a result in your pilot program, they’ll be incredibly grateful and will spread the word. 

This is how pilot programs lead to business and revenue growth. 

Summary 

To answer the question – why pilot programs? – they are a great way to give people a taste of what you do, and to create initial revenue, results and reviews (traction) that lead to future sales. 

They are more engaging than the more formal and structured forms of marketing, in that they are experiential and give your customers a feeling. After all, that’s what people buy! 

I’ve linked you to two other episodes of this podcast to help you map out the steps, create valuable content, and take your idea to the world.  

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

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E#150 Business Self Care

This episode is about business self care

I want to start today’s episode with a question for you – how resilient is your business? 

Are you looking after your business as well as you’re looking after yourself? 

As a specialist in resilience building and planning, I have come up with a concept – business self-care – that will help you to develop and manage your business in a more proactive and organised way so that you can stay on top of things and build resilience in your business to help you better withstand the storms.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* What is business self care?
* How developing weekly habits and monthly reviews can help your business
* How a support/check-in process can help your business

What is business self care?

In a general sense, self-care refers to activities that you do to enhance your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing, so that you have the resilience to maintain your energy and manage stress well.

In other words, if you want to be physically and mentally fit and resilient, then you need to have regular habits and rituals in place to first achieve and then maintain those states.

Exactly the same goes for your business!

Business self-care is a concept that I developed to describe the set of activities that you do to enhance the running of your business, so that you are actively taking better care of your business, experiencing less stress and have more clarity, certainty and a sense of organisation around what you are doing each week.

If you want to grow and manage your business in a way that feels easy, organised and generates regular income – then you need to adopt a few regular business habits and rituals.

Here are my top four business self-care practices that every business needs.

1.  A routine of weekly tasks (habits)

For you as a person, there are certain things you do every week to build resilience – the ability to bounce back from stress. These include things like exercise, eating well, getting a good night’s sleep, journaling, creative hobbies, social contact and being in nature.

There are also parts of your business that need attention every week so it can bounce back from setbacks and not succumb to pressure.

What are business weekly self care tasks?

They’re generally tasks related to financial health, service quality and generating new income.

While every business is unique, I’d suggest that most businesses can be resilient by:

  • making a weekly plan and priorities list,
  • checking the bank balance, 
  • calling in debtors, 
  • paying bills on time, 
  • confirming client appointments, 
  • scheduling and completing the week’s marketing activities, 
  • measuring trends in engagement, and 
  • taking time out for personal self care.

All of these tasks might equal around one day’s worth of time per week, either in one block of time or in not negotiable time slots.

Scheduling them into not-negotiable slots makes them happen, and will keep your business running smoothly. 

These are the things that keep the wheels turning and to stay on course toward your goals.

2.  A monthly review 

For you personally, checking in with yourself helps you to identify what’s working well and which areas of your life need more attention, or help. 

The same goes with business.

It’s easy to get busy with doing the work, but you also need to take time to review how things are going, what’s working, and what’s not.

One very good reason for this is to increase your efficiency – to do more productive work in less time and/or with less effort.

Your business review highlights what’s working in your business, and what’s not.  It might help you to identify where you are losing money, wasting time, or misguided effort.

In one example, I had a client who spent around 10 hours per month promoting products in her business, but they made up only 1% of her business!

As soon she saw that, she realised that those 10 hours could be better spent – and, she defined an easier way to sell more products that took far less time.

Another example is marketing.

When was the last time you looked at how many people responded to your offers, or joined your mailing list, or joined your group?

If you don’t know those things, then you have no way of measuring the effectiveness of your marketing. You’re flying blind.

Knowing and tracking a few numbers and doing a simple monthly review will help you work out what’s working and what’s not – so you can build more resilience into your business.

3. A support/check-in process 

Support and check-ins are so important for us as individuals to maintain health and wellbeing.

I go to my dentist regularly, get checkups with the doctor, see a skin therapist, and do other things to help me get an external perspective on my state of health and resilience.

I hire coaches to coach me through the year in different areas to help me recommit to my health habits or motivators.

When life is busy, it’s easy to forget to check in and ensure things are on track, and that you are attending any blind spots, and anticipating challenges so you can respond appropriately.

The same goes with your business.

Having outside eyes on your business, or to help you recognise what’s working, trends over time and identify which areas of your business need attention, is the best way to maintain the health and wellbeing of your business.

4.  A growth process

If you know anything about how the human body works, you know that it’s only by changing things up regularly that you get progression and growth.

It’s only by changing your exercise routine that you maintain fitness and strength.

It’s only by learning new things that you grow your knowledge and mental capacity.

Without changing things up and committing to growth, you risk becoming stagnant and bored. 

The same thing goes with business.

You can keep doing the same thing day in, day out, but it may not help you to keep abreast of changes in technology, client sentiments, trends, disruptors and industry changes.

Professional development and business training are essential parts of business self-care and resilience.

When you stay on top of the changes that affect your business, and upskill to address those changes, you’ll more easily pivot and adapt, keep the ship sailing on course, and roll with the changes with ease.

The pandemic is a great example. We all had to learn how to pivot into online service delivery and for some people, that means learning new skills like using online conferencing platforms, changing to an online payment system, and finding new ways to market their business.

Being responsive and proactive means you can prepare yourself to adapt and maintain your clients and your business income. 

Summary

Today I talked about self-care essentials for business, which I consider to be:

  • A weekly schedule of not-negotiable, business-critical tasks
  • A monthly review to see what’s working and what’s not
  • A support or check-in process to help you see the blind spots so you can remedy them, or simply get new perspectives, and
  • A process of ongoing growth and learning so your business stays agile, relevant and appealing to your target audience.

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here: