How to Grow a Service-based Business fast and effectively
Do you run a service-based business and desire to grow it fast? If you do, then this post will be helpful to you as it provides ideas you can apply to quickly achieve significant growth.
What is a Service-based Business?
Every business offers some kind of product or service in exchange for revenue. A product-based business provides physical and tangible goods for customers. This is easily referred to as a product, for example, selling groceries, cars, shoes, clothes, etc.
However, if what a business offers in exchange for revenue is intangible and non-physical, then it is called a service-based business, for example consulting, event planning, DJ, massage etc.
9 Best Ways to Quickly Grow Your Service-based Business
1. Play in a niche
A service-based business is founded on expertise and relationships. To grow such a business, you first need to define the niche you are operating in.
Building your business around a niche means focusing on one service or two instead of doing many different things together.
The question is, do people perceive you as an expert in your business? If that is not the case, then growing your business will be difficult.
If you run a service-based business, you have to ensure that you keep up to date with trends, skills, and technology that have to do with your trade.
A service-based business is time dependent, so being an expert, and being perceived so is at the heart of your business’ growth.
You should offer a service that plays to your strengths, and offer your service in a unique way, maybe it’s the depth and details that come with it or how it’s delivered. Whatever you settle for should set you apart as the go-to person.
2. Offer complementary services
When you have established yourself as an expert in a particular niche and have gained a sizeable number of clients, it is then appropriate to introduce related services to your business.
These services must complement what you already do and are known for. It is much easier to sell complementary services and increase your revenue because your current clients already know, like, and trust you.
How would you know what to add? You can learn what to add by following industry trends, keeping a keen eye on the competition, and from personal observation, etc.
3. Upselling
Upselling has to do with selling more of your services to your current customers. You can create a loyalty package or some points-earning programs that get your customers to buy more of your products or service.
It is so much easier to sell to an existing customer than it is to introduce your service to a new prospect, so take advantage of upselling technique in growing your sales and business.
4. Outsource
Another way to grow your service business is outsourcing. You need to know when to outsource services that may be a drag for your business.
Many service based businesses have found a lot of benefits in outsourcing some parts of their operations and you too can if you take a look at it deeply.
Some benefits include speed, cheap cost, high quality and others; not to mention how the outsourced work can help you save up on taxes, medical benefits, insurance, and other costs that come with having full-time staff.
5. Get a website
The world is changing fast. The coming of the Internet has changed so many things. And it is smart for your business to reflect this change. Getting a website is not debatable since the purpose of a business is to find and keep customers.
A website helps in so many ways. It represents your brand and message online. It also facilitates client attraction and service delivery.
Your website should speak favorably for your business. It should tell why you are different and can be trusted as a professional.
You also want to make your website rank well on search engines, when keywords relating to what you do are entered.
You can also take advantage of Google My business. It is a free service from Google that helps your business name come up when people search for your type of service in your locality.
6. Franchise
Since service based businesses depend on expertise, relationships, and specific methodologies, you should research how your business can expand through a franchise.
You should research how this can be done and you should start to document your operations, processes, and methodologies; everything that can help someone else run the business effortlessly without you.
The franchise is a low-cost alternative to growing a service based business if it is done right
7. Partnership
A service-based business can get a lot of benefits from getting into partnerships. You should partner with businesses that are in a related (not the same) business.
If you are a content writer, the partnership with graphics design companies will be beneficial. If you sell health products, the partnership with Gyms and Massage parlors will be immensely useful.
To form effective partnership that can help in growing your business, just ask yourself, what businesses you can partners with that will be mutually beneficial to both parties.
8. Email marketing
You can integrate your website with an email marketing system like Aweber, Mailerlite or MailChimp. There are a few others you can check out, just compare benefits and features and see what fits.
The benefit of such systems helps you market your services to prospects you attract. You can get new prospects to exchange their email addresses by offering them special benefits such as a video tutorial, infographic, or ebook on your website; something they will find really valuable.
After the exchange, you send them a welcome message and remind them of the occasion. You then tell them there’s more.
Email marketing helps you court your prospects until you convert them to paying customers. It’s a relationship, it will take some time investment until a prospect comes to know, like, and trust you.
9. Expand to another location
Have you thought of expanding to another location? That may just be another way to grow your service based business.
Before you expand to another region, you have to do some research so that it will be a worthy adventure at the end of the day.
First, there should be demand for your service in that locality, next thing; you need to find a suitable location.
Conclusion
Needing to grow your service-based business? if yes, then the ideas shared in this post will help you to do so quickly.