How I Upped Revenue by $400k Last Year
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Picture this: you've embarked on a fitness journey with the aim of becoming a strong, healthier version of yourself. 💪
You’re super motivated and stick to your routine: healthy eating and exercise. You meet your goals and see progress quickly! 🥬
Then suddenly…it all stops.
Despite your best efforts, you seem to have hit a fitness wall…
That’s how I felt when my business was stuck on a revenue plateau. 😤
I spent what felt like an eternity stuck on that plateau!
(Okay fine, it was only a couple of years… but it felt like forever to me.)
Thankfully, last year, we finally cracked the code.
So grab your favorite notebook, because today I'm going to give a mini revenue-boosting masterclass. 📝
Whether you're looking to add a little or a lot, here are 3 powerful strategies to help you do it.
Here's the kicker: not all the strategies are created equal.
While some strategies are quick fixes, others are more like slow burns.
Today we will unpack three types of methods:
fastest
easiest
hardest
It might surprise you to hear this: I personally went for the hardest of the three methods. It’s ironic since usually I’m always looking for the “lazy efficient strategy”. Stick around to read about why I chose to do this later in the blog.
The idea for this blog came to me during a brainstorming session with two of my business girlfriends.
Both of them were on a mission to skyrocket their business’s revenue. 📈
So we hashed out the best strategies for them to meet their goals. Before diving into the three strategies with them, I posed a really critical question:
Is your current business model scalable? Or is it time for a total business offering overhaul?
Try to see your business model as a recipe that you're following. 👩🍳
Say you're trying to bake a chocolate cake but you keep adding ingredients for vanilla sponge. No amount of vanilla sponge ingredients is going to give you the chocolate cake that you’re aiming for.
Sometimes you have to completely change the recipe - not just the quantity of ingredients.
See where I’m going with this?
If doubling down on what you're currently doing won't catapult your business to where you want it to be, maybe it's time to pivot rather than just push harder.
This is especially true in the following scenarios:
You’re selling a low-ticket item that won't move the needle much in your business (for example, a $49 eBook).
Your current business model has you on the fast track to burnout. 🥵
A possible solution for the first scenario would be to turn this eBook into a high-value offer. Creating a course or a Done-For-You service could be a game changer. You could also consider using it as the entry point to a more lucrative product ladder (but more on that later).
If the second scenario rings true for you and service overload has you at your wit's end, it might be time to switch to an agency model or productize your offerings.
Every silver lining has a cloud of pros and cons so consider these different options carefully.
If your current offering and model ARE what you want to continue with, here are three methods for raising your revenue.
Option #1: Raise The Price of Your Current Offerings
Out of the three strategies, this one is definitely the fastest to implement. If you're looking for a quick win, this is it.
LEt’s look at an example:
You're at your favorite café (where the barista knows your name) and notice the price of your go-to drink has gone up… ☕️
But with the first sip, you realize they have seriously upped their game!
They’re using a higher-grade bean for better-tasting coffee. On top of that, they have redesigned the entire cafe and the cup branding. This place is now fabulous and totally Instagrammable. 📸
So in the end, you’re fine with paying the extra money because it's worth every penny!
That's the gist of raising your prices. If your offering is top-notch, don't be shy to ask for what it's worth.
When it comes to raising rates, it might be as simple as leaving your offering as it is and just upping the price. For those of you who massively undercharge in comparison to your competition, this could be the solution you were looking for.
In other cases, significantly raising the price without increasing the value of the offering just doesn’t make sense. Instead, you have to first figure out what changes to make to your offering so that it’s worth the amount you’d like to charge.
Even though changing offerings does require a bit of work, it’s definitely not a heavy lift compared to the next two strategies on the list. That’s why this method is the fastest option.
It’s also possible that you’ve hit a limit on what you're offering is worth (and therefor can’t up the prices). If this sounds like you, move along to option two. 👇
Option#2: New or Exclusive Offerings for Existing Customers
I like to call this the “easy method” because it’s definitely easier than the third strategy on this list. And there are a few stats that prove this. 👇
Selling more to your current audience/customers who’ve already had a positive experience with you is significantly easier (and therefore cheaper) than finding new customers.
It's like when you’ve hosted killer dinner parties, and your friends just can't get enough of them. 💃
Why not make it a regular occurrence?
Your guests already love what you serve. All you’ve got to do is keep hosting the parties
.
This can be applied to your existing customers. They already like your products/services, so introducing something new or exclusive could have them coming back for more.
the important question to ask yourself is: what is the next step that customers could take with my business?
This is where a product ladder comes in.
Here's an Example of What Your Ladder’s Steps Might Look Like:
You run a copywriting templates business.
A customer purchases your $200 template for writing their website copy.
The NEXT thing this customer likely needs is a website.
You consider creating these website templates but realize you don’t have the skills nor the desire to do so.
Instead, you become an affiliate of a template shop. *
*There's nothing to say that every single step on your ladder needs to be a product that you personally create.
Once this customer’s business has grown a bit, they’re like “Man...I’m writing constant copy for my emails. 🙈 ”
Enter your fabulous (and higher-priced) copywriting course!
It allows them to take off their template training wheels and write their own copy for their sales emails.
Further down the road, this same customer has successfully scaled their business and is looking for a community of like-minded entrepreneurs operating at their level.
You’ve got them covered.
You offer in-person experiences (or a mastermind or group coaching program) as the highest-level tier of your offerings.
Adding these different rungs to your business’s ladder instantly increases the potential of generating more revenue through existing customers.
If neither one of those options feels right for your business (or you're just curious 😉 ) , it’s time to unbox the final strategy:
Option #3: Get More Buyers For Your Current Offer
This is the hardest option. And yup you guessed it - also the one which I went for. 🙋♀️
Now true, this IS what you might typically think of when aiming to grow a business: Sell the same thing, just to more people.
But the implementation of this can take MANY different forms.
if you get it right, this method can have a truly exponential impact on your business.
It IS pretty time-consuming though. This is not a get-rich-quick method. This is the long game. ⏳
honestly, while options 1 and 2 are great, At some point you will exhaust them.
Even if you plan to go for option 1 or 2, you should never forget about option 3.
Always aim to constantly grow your reach and expand your audience.
This means getting in front of new audiences
👉 who you turn into warm audiences…
👉who then buy your offerings.
There are MANY ways you can go about this:
Ads
social media
Affiliates
SEO
Speaking
TIP: Feeling overwhelmed by all of the options? unsure which method is right for you? take this FREE QUIZ and find out which client-finding method is the best fit for you! 👇
Okay, so you might be wondering:
“Paige, why on earth did you decide to go with the hardest option?!”
You might also be curious about how I managed to add a few hundred thousand in additional revenue to my business within a year. 💸
Here's a little bit of important background:
I specialize in selling online courses that empower women to become top-notch web designers. 👩💻
When it came to choosing my revenue growth strategy, I found that option 1 & option 2 were not a good fit:
❌ Raising Pricepoints
I'd already raised my prices in the past and felt satisfied with the price point of my offering. So I wanted to leave the price where it was.
❌ Doubling down on sales to my current audience
I’d also already given this one a go.
Although it did increase revenue, it wasn't anything monumental.
I even launched a higher-tier program but I started to feel like I was trading too much of my personal time for dollars. That was definitely a situation I was keen to move away from so the idea of expanding into an agency or building up a coaching team wasn’t super appealing either.
what did spark Joy was my course content.
I had already spent years crafting and perfecting it. 💖
It was clear that my heart was with my current offering. So, faced with the crossroads of how to scale it, I landed on option three: broadening my reach to new potential students.
next, it was time to find the best approach….
Ads?
👎 The idea of pouring thousands of dollars into ads with my fingers crossed for a good return was not my cup of tea,
Social Media? or SPEAKING?
🙅♀️ Constantly sharing my life on social media, or constantly jetting around for speaking engagements both just didn’t jive with the work-life balance that I wanted to have.
SEO?
🧐 I had a really good run with SEO. It definitely did offer a linear trajectory but as a primary method, it felt kind of limiting.
I was craving a method with exponential potential…and then, the light bulb turned on💡
An affiliate program!
This wasn't going to be just any affiliate program…we were going for gold. 🏆
So here’s what we did:
We meticulously curated a group of 30 affiliates whose audiences perfectly aligned with our offering.
We held personalized calls with each affiliate.
We had detailed briefings on our courses (some of the affiliates were past students, so they already knew the courses super well).
We created an incredible prize ladder that ignited some fun competition. It offered luxurious spa treatments & dreamy vacation getaways. Basically did everything we could to ensure that our affiliates were as excited about the program as we were.
We wrote LOADS of sales emails for our affiliates.
We hosted a training for them where they learned about what our launch looked like AND the best tips we’d gathered over the years for how to sell the courses.
this project was no walk in the park.
It took us six months of preparation but it was well worth it. It paved the way for what turned out to be a game-changing year!
By focusing on empowering others to share our courses, we managed to smash through the lead generation barrier and add significant revenue to the business. 💥
The lesson from this? picking a strategy and sticking to it is crucial.
Diving headfirst & with determination into your chosen method can transform whatever dream you have into a reality. 🙌
I know it can be hard to make these big business decisions alone (depending on where you live and your social circle, you might be the only business owner that you know.)
Lucky for you, you’ve got me as your business bestie!
I'm more than happy to share my future growth strategy and plans for my business with you.
That’s exactly what I do in this video. I break down exactly what is happening behind the scenes in my business and what my big plans for this year are. 👀