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Want to know how to make more money from your current clients? If you aren’t currently hitting the financial goals of the business and you are looking at ways to make more money then it makes sense to look at ways to make more money through new clients and your current clients. All too often business owners focus on increasing revenue through new clients, but in many ways, it is easier to make more money from your current clients. Keep on reading to find out the 7 ways you can make more money from your current clients.
This page includes affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I may earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you.
7 WAYS TO MAKE MORE MONEY FROM YOUR CURRENT CLIENTS
1. Offer additional services or products
Is there anything complimentary to your current service that you could offer to your client? For example, if you are a copywriter that is currently writing copy for websites then you could also offer services for writing blog posts or email newsletters. Or you could create a copywriting for social media course that you could offer.
To make more money, and not ruin your brand at the same time, it is key to offer something that makes sense and is still within your area of expertise. You want to ensure the additional services are a way of giving a client an even better experience, but if they don’t buy the additional products or services they don’t feel as if they’ve been shortchanged or ripped off.
Using the example above if the client declines your offer to write their newsletter or blog posts, or to buy your copywriting for social media course, but still gets an amazing copy for their website then you’ll still have a happy client. Those additional services are clearly additional, rather than something that should have been offered with the original service.
2. Offer a service for once their current service is over
This is similar to offering additional products or services, but the intention is different. In the examples above the additional services and products could have been bought whilst they were still clients for the other service. In this instance, the focus is on giving a current client that is coming to the end of working with you an option to continue working with you.
In most cases, the service offered at the end isn’t another one-off service but will be a continuous service (sometimes called a continuity program). Offering a continuous service is popular amongst business owners as it enables the business to have a stream of recurring revenue.
Depending on what your business is you might offer a continuous service that works on a 1-to-1 basis or a group basis. For example, you could be a web designer that offers a client a monthly retainer package where you’ll host the website for them and offer up to 2-hours of support to manage updates. A financial coach could at the end of 12-week package offer clients the opportunity to join a money membership.
In my business, I have a membership group for previous clients. I wanted a way to be able to give Strategy Day (Annual planning) clients accountability to follow through with their plans for the rest of the year and often mentoring clients who finished with me would still want a way to work with me, but didn’t want to sign up for another 6 months on a 1-to-1 basis. My membership has allowed me to support both types of clients. I have the ability to provide training, support and accountability in an affordable way.
3. Raise your prices
An obvious way to make more money from your current clients, but sometimes people miss the obvious ways, is to raise your prices. This isn’t for clients who work on a fixed fee basis or a short-term basis, but specifically for those who work on a retainer basis. If you are a virtual assistant (VA), a social media manager (SMM), designer, copywriter, bookkeeper, accountant etc and you’ve been on the same rate for over a year then you are allowed to review, and raise, your prices.
I’ve spoken to business owners who have had clients on the same monthly fee for years and given the current rate of inflation you are well within your rights to increase your prices. The number 1 reason why business owners overlook this very easy way to make more money is they are scared of having conversations about money and are worried if they raise their prices that their clients will leave them. I’m not going to lie and say if you raise your prices I’ll guarantee that no one will refuse the increase and leave you. But it is a lot fewer clients than you’d imagine. And in most cases, if a client is unhappy about a price increase they’ll let you know so you can at least have a conversation and see if there is anything that can be negotiated.
Raising your prices doesn’t have to be scary and I walk you through how to communicate raising your prices in this blog post ‘How to raise your prices as a coach or consultant’. It’s aimed at coaches and consultants, but the steps are the same no matter what type of online service provider you are.
| WANT TO RAISE YOUR PRICES BUT NOT SURE BY HOW MUCH?
Pricing your services by yourself can be tricky. That’s why I offer Pricing Power Hours. I’ll help you to quickly, and confidently, review and revise the pricing of all your services. You’ll leave confident that your prices are set appropriately, allow you to achieve your financial goals and will work for you and your potential clients. To find out more and book a Pricing Power Hour click here.
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4. Design a new service and offer that as an alternative
Sometimes instead of offering an additional service or increasing your current prices a great way to make more money from your current clients is to design a new service, that is more expensive, and offer that as an alternative to what they are already on.
This is where you get to be really creative. Think about your client and what they need in relation to your services and see if there is any way that you can provide a better service.
For example, an online PT (personal trainer) might offer a range of classes and people can subscribe on a monthly basis. They could create a new service they are offering access to all of the classes and also weekly meal plans that are tailored to dietary requirements and physical aims. This is clearly a service that will help the client get the most out of attending the classes and transforming their body, but given the extra elements, it is understandable that the price would be more.
To make this really work for your business you need to do two things. Firstly, you need to really understand your client so you can create a package that genuinely is something that would excite them. Secondly, you need to ensure that you price the new service properly. The likelihood is this new package will take more work on your part so you want to ensure it is priced in a way that even with the extra work you still feel as if you are bringing more money into the business in a good way.
5. Ask if there is anything else you can help them with
Does the thought of having to create a new service to offer as an addition or alternative freak you out? If so, there is a way you can make your life easier and still put yourself in a position to make more money from your current clients and that is by asking your current clients if there is anything else you can help them with.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is ask. The client will either say there is nothing else they need help with or actually they currently need help with X, Y or Z and can you help with any of those things? If they do come back with things they need your help with then you have to make a decision if it is right for you to help with any or not. Either way, make sure that you go back to them and who knows you might have got yourself some extra work by just asking.
6. Encourage your current clients to refer you
So far the focus has been on making more money from your current clients by making them pay you more. However, there is another way that your business can make more money from your current clients and that is by your current clients referring you to new potential clients.
Setting up a referral scheme can be a great way to ensure that your current clients are actively promoting you to others. In an ideal world, your clients will love working with you and will be promoting you all the time, but this is the real world. And in the real world there is no harm in actively reminding, and encouraging, your client to refer and recommend you.
A great way to do this is through having a referral scheme. Referral schemes can work where the client who is referring your business gets a commission or kickback for every client that signs up via them. Depending on the type of service and the price of that service you’ll have to work out what is an acceptable kickback or commission.
Another option is that both the client that refers you and the person who is referred gets a financial reward. This works well because often if the person referred has no incentive to say they’ve been referred they won’t do and that can get messy when someone later tells you then sent a client your way but you are none the wiser.
A great example of this ‘refer and both people get a reward’ technique in action is with PensionBee. I currently have a pension with PensionBee and am passionate about everyone, but especially self-employed people, getting their act together when it comes to pensions. I was talking an Instagram Live (come follow me out at @charellegriffith) earlier this year on the topic and knew I would mention PensionBee so I thought I would check out if they had an affiliate or referral scheme and they had a referral scheme. As you can see in the image below that everyone who uses my referral link will end up on a screen that makes it clear that both I and them will get a £50 bonus (T&Cs apply) once they’ve transferred a pension over. Want that £50 bonus? Click on my referral link here.
Now you might be looking at that example and think that is too high-tech for you. If you are providing a 1-to-1 service you don’t have to be that high-tech at all. Have a question during your onboarding about whether anyone referred your business to them. Nice and simple.
7. Affiliate marketing
Do you recommend other services or products to your clients? If so, it is worth checking out whether the services and products you recommend run affiliate or referral schemes. Affiliate marketing can be a super easy way for you to make some additional income from a current client without any more work (except for providing people with a link or code).
For example, in my line of work (if you don’t know I’m a marketing strategist and business mentor) I am often referring to books, software and equipment. So I looked up all the things I often recommend and where possible I became an affiliate. Now I’m an affiliate for lots of companies including Amazon, Canva, Kartra, Tailwind and Repurpose.io.
I’ve learnt the hard way that just being an affiliate isn’t enough to actually make money and I’ve had clients sign up to software I’m an affiliate of, without using my link, because they had no idea I was an affiliate. If you want to make more money from your current clients via affiliate marketing then your current clients need to know what you are an affiliate of. This means making it clear whenever they or you mention something that you are an affiliate of that you make it clear you are an affiliate and if they are open to using your link or code you’d greatly appreciate it. Even as your client they aren’t obliged to do so, but it is always worth the ask.
I’ll be honest in most cases the commission isn’t going to change your life (I’ve only got big commissions from promoting other people’s signature $1,000+ courses), but if you are going to be recommending those things anyway then you might as well make some extra income from it right?
That’s it! You know now 7 different ways to make more money from your current clients.
As you can see there are many different ways to make more money from your current clients. You definitely do not have to try all. Have a look back through the list and think about what makes the most sense for your business. Depending on the size of your business, and the amount of extra money you are trying to generate, you might try one or a few of the different ways out.
If you’ve found this blog post helpful it would mean the world if you could comment below or send me a message on Instagram or LinkedIn. I absolutely love hearing that business owners are loving my blog posts and, most importantly, are implementing what they’ve read in their own business.
Let me know in the comments what way, or ways, you are going to try and make more money from your current clients.
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Since you are reading this blog post I’m going to assume you want to make more money in your business and I can help you build a profitable, and fulfilling, business as a soloprenuer. I’m a Chartered Marketer that specialises in supporting solo coaches, consultants and online services providers to build businesses they love, and support their long-term financial wealth. I have a 1:1 business and marketing mentoring programme where I specifically help solopreneurs to be more strategic and smash their business goals in the process. To find out more about my 1:1 business and marketing mentoring programme click here And to discuss your precise needs book a free, no-obligation, introduction call to discuss your business here. |
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