Building the perfect service business
Copyright Roger Pierce. Used with permission.
They say a perfect business makes money while you sleep. Chasing new business all the time is expensive and exhausting, so try to develop a model where your customers can buy more, buy more often and buy on their own. Here's how:
- Bring in money frequently. An ideal service company does something for customers every month (or week) so you can charge them again and again. If you can only sell once to a customer, you'll be forever hunting down new sales.
- Offer long-term service. Build a business model to serve customers for a year or longer. It'll give you time to develop customer relationships, deliver stellar service and achieve revenue stability.
- Think scalable. While charging out your time by the hour sounds appealing, in reality you can only bill for a fraction of your work week. Doing the books, running out for office supplies and fixing your computer aren't billable client hours. Be sure your business can handle an increasing number of customers by planning to hire others to do the work, automating procedures or taking operations online.
- Spend a little more. The simple question, "Would you like fries with that?" has built McDonalds into a huge multinational company. Give your customers the chance to spend a little more by offering a warranty, service plan or upgrade option.