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Want to know the 3 routes to growth for online service providers and how to choose yours? As an online service provider, you’ve got options. If you are at a point where business is doing well and you are looking to move to the next level and grow your business further, you’ve got options. Options that are proven, options that have been tried-and-tested over and over again, but just because they all work doesn’t mean they are all right for you. Keep on reading to find out what the 3 routes to growth for online service providers are and how to choose what your route to growth should be.
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3 ROUTES TO GROWTH FOR ONLINE SERVICE PROVIDERS (AND HOW TO CHOOSE YOURS)
Route 1: The Premium Expert
As an online service provider, you aren’t going to be the only person offering the service you do. Whether you are an accountant, copywriter or business coach, or another type of online service provider, the reality is there are plenty of other people offering a similar service. But in every industry, there will be plenty of people who are seen as average in their industry. Those service providers will be charging the average rate and ,in some cases, even having to compete on price. But there are those online service providers who decide to grow by positioning themselves as a premium expert and then being able to charge a higher rate because of that positioning.
What growth looks like
When taking this route, revenue growth is achieved by a high price point. You can keep on working the same hours as before, but by charging more you are able to increase revenue.
Things to consider
- Growth is still capped by your hours and energy. There will still be a revenue ceiling, but the revenue ceiling will be higher than previously and might give you enough revenue growth.
- You can’t just decide you are now a premium expert, raise your prices and expect people to pay. Firstly, you are going to need to deliver a fantastic service and then you are going to need your marketing to reinforce your premium positioning.
Route 2: Adding People (Building an Agency or Team)
Another route to growing your business is by adding people to your business. There are two ways this can happen. Firstly, you can look at building a team who are responsible for doing work outside of service delivery. For example, you might decide to hire a virtual assistant (VA) to deal with the administrative aspects of your business and you might hire a marketing assistant to be responsible for the marketing of your business. Secondly, you can build your business by building a team of people who can do the service delivery as well. For example, a marketer could take on other marketers and create a boutique marketing agency or a solo accountant might hire more accountants and bookkeepers to create their own accountancy practice.
What growth looks like
When using this route, revenue growth is achieved by being able to bill for more working hours and/or service more clients. If you delegate non-service delivery work, then you’ll personally have more hours available to dedicate to service delivery. If you decide to hire other people who can do service delivery, you’ll increase the overall capacity of your business for client delivery.
Things to consider:
- Requires a different skillset from you. You will now have additional responsibilities around hiring, managing and firing.
- If you are letting others deal with service delivery, you’ll have to ensure processes are in place so that a consistent, quality service continues to be delivered.
- Whilst this route will allow you to quickly increase revenue, if not done properly, you might not see an increase in profit. You’ll have to very carefully monitor the finances to ensure there is an increase in revenue and profit.
- If you have had the same clients for an extended period of time, some may not be happy with someone else delivering the service.
- If others are delivering the service, it means you are building a business that is becoming less dependent on you.
| PERSONALISED ONE-TO-ONE MENTORING TO HELP YOU SUCCESSFULLY GROW YOUR BUSINESS ON YOUR TERMS
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to growing your business. Sustainable growth, that truly works from you, is only achieved through brutal honesty about what you want in business and life. In my 1:1 mentoring, I support business owners to truly understand their desire for growth, choose the right route to growth and then provide them with the strategy and support to make that growth a reality. |
Route 3: Introduce Scalable Offers
Another route to growth for online service providers is to add a scalable offer to the business. As an online service provider, there is a direct relationship between hours available for service delivery and the price you can charge. The premium expert route looks at how to increase the price you charge. The agency/team route increasing capacity. But there is another route and that is by moving away from a one-to-one approach and working one-to-many instead. There are many ways online service providers can repackage their skills and expertise, and sell it in a way where they can create something once and have it bought multiple times, or they can deliver something to multiple people at the same time.
What growth looks like here
You are able to create something where people can participate at the same time (event, workshop, retreat, membership) or where you create once and then it can be bought many times afterwards (an online course, digital templates etc). You are able to work with more people and (sometimes) separate revenue growth from the number of hours you work.
Things to consider:
- You may have to invest in new technology or bring in additional support. For example, if you want to sell online courses and programmes you’ll need the software to do so (I use Kartra). Another example, if you want to run a membership, you may have to hire a community manager.
- The right scalable offer can help increase repeat sales from the same person and increase client lifetime value.
- Some scalable offers can help you to drastically increase the number of people your business works with. This can have a ripple effect on visibility, recommendations and repeat business.
- Depending on the scalable offer you choose you may be able to create a different type of revenue source, such as a passive income stream or a monthly recurring revenue stream.
| PERSONALISED ONE-TO-ONE MENTORING TO HELP YOU SUCCESSFULLY SCALE YOUR BUSINESS ON YOUR TERMS
Scaling your business marks a new chapter in your business growth, but getting clear on why you want to scale and then having the support to choose, create and successfully launch the right scalable offers is key. Fully Booked and Scaling is designed to help one-to-one service providers to successfully add a scalable offer, whilst still selling one-to-one services. You come with your goals and I’ll help you to make the best decisions around your offer suite, pricing, marketing, sales and operations to successfully scale. |
How to choose your route to growth
All 3 routes shared will enable you to grow your revenue as an online service provider, but as mentioned earlier, just because something will work doesn’t mean it is the right route for you. Choosing the right route to growth will depend on a number of factors such as:
- What level of revenue growth do you want in the next year and then beyond that?
- How much profit do you want your business to make next year and then beyond that?
- How many people would you love your business to work with?
- How do you feel about managing people? What level of team would you be happy managing?
- What other goals do you have? Do you want to exit in the future? Do you want more freedom? Do you want more financial stability in the business? Do you want to reduce the business’ reliance on you?
- What business would you love to have a year from now?
- What would your day-to-day involvement be like a year from now?
Answering these questions will help you to get clearer on the growth you want to create, which in turn will allow you to see which routes are and aren’t right for you and your business.
That’s it. You now know the 3 routes to growth for online service providers and how to choose yours.
As with so many things in business, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all. Over the years ,I’ve helped people to grow their business through all 3 routes. All 3 work, but what is best for you will depend. Regardless of what anyone else says business growth is personal. It requires you to get brutally honest about what you want in business and life in the future, and then to properly consider the implications of each route to growth.
I hope you’ve found this blog post useful. If you have do let me know over on Instagram or LinkedIn.
If you are currently at a point where you are serious about growing your business over the next 6-12 months, then I would love to support you.
I offer 1:1 mentoring where I help service providers to strategically choose their route to growth, and then provide them with the strategy, support and accountability to get there.
For more information about my 1:1 mentoring, click here.
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