22 Ways to Increase Profits in Your Consulting Business pt - 2
By VICKY BROWN
Last week we talked about 11 ways you could increase the profits in your consulting business. Well, hold on – here are the final 11!
Like last week, we have a ton to cover. So, I’m going to jump right in. And this one might surprise you.
Invest properly and appropriately. That’s right. Increasing your profits does not mean hoarding any money you get and never spending anything. Because making the right investment, at the right time, in your business will grow it exponentially. Money needs to flow, if you want to grow your business. So invest in better equipment or software or knowledge. It will all come back to you tenfold.
Expand your services. Figure out a way to give your clients more value with less friction for you and your team. Launch a subscription service, or the knowledge equivalent of a maintenance program. You provide a knowledge product, and then keep it up to date. For me, that would be our handbook development product. We write the handbook and update it as new laws are signed.
What about digital products. An eBook, or whitepapers – you could do a guide, or how to step by step. Digital products are easy to deliver, can be made once, and become passive revenue generators.
And while we’re talking about digital products – don’t forget about their valuable cousin, online training.
Hey, you know a lot about what you know a lot about, so why not package some of that knowledge and provide training for your target market.
Again, it can be made once, it’s relatively easy to deliver and can generate passive revenue. It’s also an excellent marketing tool that can easily lead to bigger ticket sales.
But you don’t have to stick with expanding your actual service offering – you can expand into a different geographic area.
Maybe what you’re doing here you can do there. With all the online tools we have available today, it makes it easier than ever.
Or you might think about expanding your services functionally. We did this a few years ago when we launched our insurance agency. It made perfect sense as a partner service to our core HR services. What service or product is adjacent to your core offerings, that would make sense for you to add to your offerings.
Next is one of my favorites – keep your money. Remember that old adage – it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep. Well, what can you keep. What expenses are stealing money from you and your business every month. What old subscriptions do you have laying around, that no longer have any value to the business. Are you overpaying for services from your vendors, can they give you some sort of discount – you won’t know until you ask
Which brings me to another good point.
Get rid of dead weight. Bad customers, ineffective employees, broken processes – they all weigh you down. And anything that produces drag, means you aren’t as efficient or effective as you should be. And that means, you’re wasting time and money. So take action to clear all that out, so you have a clean, clear path.
“… having a higher profile isn’t just a vanity play – it actually has solid benefits.“
Standardize your processes. As I just mentioned, anything that produces drag is costing you money. And doing everything as a one off, well, believe me – it’s costing you a fortune.
Standardize your key processes, bake them into your services, and make that your core offering. Meaning, charge extra for anything that’s outside that scope.
Raise your profile. Yes, I know this sounds like it’s just something to do to make you feel good, but it actually adds a huge amount of value to the business.
When you’re known as a source of knowledge, and expert in your field, people, potential customer people, will be drawn to you. They’ll seek you and your business out. And getting that type of warm-ish lead is significantly less expensive, and time consuming than drumming up cold leads.
And it also offers you the opportunity to charge premium pricing. Would you pay more to be coached by Jenny Unknown or Marie Forleo?
Don’t waste another minute trying to figure out how to get your business going and what should come next.
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You see, having a higher profile isn’t just a vanity play – it actually has solid benefits. So get out there, write, speak, teach, show up on podcasts, produce videos, do public speaking – become known.
And the most important way to increase your profits – is to plan.
I mean it – look at all the areas we talked about in this episode and last week’s episode; create a target of where you want to go in the various areas, and then go for it.
I hate to say it, but failing to plan means you’re planning to fail. So don’t try to hold all the things in your head, and organize them there. Write down a formal plan on how you’re going to move forward on getting these things done, and what outcome you want.
Then work your plan!