You only need to do four things to grow your service-based business.
Even if you’re just starting, these four actions you need to take work like a charm.
So let’s break it down – growing a service business depends on the following four key actions:
- Standardize
- Delegate
- Automate
- Deliver on-demand
The whole point of taking these actions is to grow your service-based business with growing profit, no increasing stress, and no mind-blowing chaos that it’s impossible to move on from a dead-end.
Let's Talk about Profits! (A Bonus Tip You Might Miss!)
The simplest action you can take to grow your service business is to increase your prices by 10 to 15%.
This sole move supplies a fresh cash flow injection that solves many of the increasing costs that creep up due to increased complexity and hiring new people.
I’m amazed at how many service businesses overlook this simple step that could solve so many of their challenges.
A good question to ask yourself at this point is:
“When did I last raise my prices?”
However, the four key actions go beyond the simple price increase.
They will allow you to increase prices by 30% and 50% provided you have the right quality standards and service delivery in place.
Impossible, you think?
Watch how our client Dennis, an agency owner, increased profits with this proven system by more than 200%—he did this in less than a year and freed himself from the burden of doing almost all the work in his business!
4 Steps to Explosive Growth for Service-Based Businesses
What is efficient service fulfillment?
Let me tell you what it is not—it is not hiring cheaper people.
Why? There are two main reasons:
- They will need better management, which increases overheads.
- Clients will quit due to poor quality of service delivery by an unskilled team.
So what do you do?
1. Standardize work.
You can solve this typical pain of chaos in service-based businesses by having quality standards for all your work, a digital leadership system, and a self-managed team (or teams!)
The result of such a system is higher efficiency or service fulfillment and very few project failures, unresolved software bugs, canceled contracts, or unsatisfied clients.
So who will do the work in such an efficient system if not cheaper people?
The solution to that challenge is to rethink how you hire and delegate.
2. Delegate scalably.
Think scaling and delegation combined.
You can delegate the work to cheaper freelancers because the knowledge is in your system—you don’t need to hire many expensive experts.
Train the more affordable people to work according to the quality standards you have created and hire, for example, only one expensive expert to oversee the results for the whole team.
3. Solve the chaos, then automate.
Chaos means selling everything and anything, without three well defined productized offers.
To solve the chaos before you automate, you also need quality standards, including the minimum of three quality standards listed below:
- Clearly defined productized offers. Package your extensive service buffet into a no-brainer offer, an implementation offer, and a maximization offer.
- Establish quality standards about how people collaborate. This step could include deciding about collaborative software or business automation tools that simplify your workflow.
- Define quality standards about what your team needs to create. Describe the expected result or outcome of the work, preferably using numbers and clear metrics so that people know exactly what they need to deliver to keep clients happy.
Important tip: Familiarize your client with the way you work (your quality standards) so that everyone’s expectations are aligned, including yourself, your team, and your clients.
Then you can grow your service-based business by automating aspects of your business with AI, such as creative work, reporting, and communication.
4. Deliver services on-demand.
Do you ever think about the utilization of staff and resources?
This is the first thing you need to think about if you want to grow a service-based business successfully.
If you simply hire a new person whenever the project scope increases, you often end up increasing the overhead without growing profits enough to achieve stable growth.
Overhiring eats your costs —costs that go to ad hoc projects, unfinished experiments, and failed attempts — and ends up in unsatisfied clients.
What do you do instead?
Grow your team with on-demand freelancers.
Hire only when you have work. Don’t wait until you have too many failed attempts to stop a service that doesn’t meet the set quality standards.
On-demand service fulfillment means spending money only when that service is needed.
Here comes the key move to grow your service business profitably:
Important tip: To know what service your clients need, check in often, listen with intention, and see what works without overspending.
One method to unveil your clients’ true desires is to audit your offer with microtesting, a system that allows you to use a minimal budget and create ad content on various platforms.
The result?
No more selling based on assumptions, with careless spending and overhiring due to panic.
Ready to work on efficient service fulfillment that lets you grow at scale?
Grow your service business with microtests, a verified data-driven approach that helps you get rid of blind spots that waste your ad budget!
Click below to get started:
Watch the video below to see how to develop a profitable marketing system and expand your business with AI and automation:
FAQS:
How to start, promote, and market a service-based business?
Starting a service-based business begins with identifying a specific niche and the exact problems your target audience faces.
Develop a clean, professional website showcasing your expertise, client testimonials, and an easy way to contact you. Build credibility early by creating a portfolio or offering value-packed free resources like eBooks or templates. Optimize your online presence with SEO and use tools like LinkedIn or Google My Business to improve visibility in your niche.
Promoting a service-based business is about building trust and staying top-of-mind.
Run targeted ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn to attract leads within your niche. Offer free consultations or audits to showcase your value and convert interested prospects. Collaborate with complementary service providers or influencers in your space to expand your reach. Use remarketing campaigns to reconnect with website visitors who didn’t take action, and consistently follow up with personalized outreach.
Marketing a service-based business should prioritize digital channels where your audience is most active.
Create engaging content like blog posts, short videos, or social media updates that answer common questions or solve client challenges. Use email marketing to nurture leads, offering insights or tips tailored to their needs. Highlight your expertise through webinars, live Q&A sessions, or case studies, and leverage platforms like LinkedIn for networking and sharing thought leadership content.
