A Guide To Double Your Sales
Doubling your sales within the next year sounds like an ambitious goal, but it's a target well within your reach, especially if you're a painting contractor looking to grow your business. This might sound like a stretch, but bear with me. The objective isn't necessarily to double your clients or double your average sales price, but rather to orchestrate a harmonious combination of both. This guide will unpack the complexities, explore possible strategies, and provide an actionable roadmap to help you double your sales within a year.
I. Understanding the Math
Before we delve into the specifics, let's get a firm grasp on the math that governs our goal. Assume you have 100 clients each spending $5,000 annually. That gives you an income of $500,000. Doubling this income could mean doubling the number of clients or doubling the average sale price. However, achieving either of these in isolation could prove to be a strenuous task. An alternative, and more achievable strategy, could be increasing both the average sale price and the number of clients by 50%.
Let's crunch the numbers. If you increase your client base from 100 to 150 and up your average sale price from $5,000 to $7,500, your income skyrockets to over $1.1 million. It's a clear path to more than doubling your income. Therefore, the rest of this guide will focus on achieving these two interconnected objectives.
II. Increasing Your Client Base
Doubling your sales involves attracting more clients, which in turn necessitates a focus on three primary aspects: discoverability, appeal, and customer retention.
1. Discoverability – Make Yourself Findable
As a painting contractor, you need to facilitate clients' discovery of your services. This might sound obvious, but you'd be surprised by how many businesses overlook this crucial element. One common mistake is investing heavily in a well-designed website that nobody can find. An effective website isn't just about aesthetics; it's about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), about creating relevant, keyword-rich content that enables potential clients to find you in their search engine results.
If you're struggling with discoverability, it's time to reassess. Consider investing in professional SEO services or training yourself to understand and apply SEO principles better. Remember, if your potential clients can't find you, they can't hire you.
2. Appeal – Give Your Clients a Reason to Reach Out
The second critical aspect of attracting more clients is appeal. When potential clients stumble upon your website or spot your company vehicle, you want them to be intrigued enough to reach out. Your appeal is defined by two components – your brand and your language.
Your brand isn't just your logo; it's the entirety of your company's identity. It's about consistency across all platforms – your business cards, your website, your company vehicle, and your social media profiles. An inconsistent or poorly designed brand can give off an impression of unprofessionalism or disorganization. Engaging a professional designer to create a sleek, consistent brand image can dramatically increase your appeal to potential clients.
As for language, it's vital to speak your client's language. This isn't about English or Spanish; it's about speaking to their needs and desires. Many businesses make the mistake of focusing their marketing materials on themselves rather than on what they can offer their clients. Switch the focus to how you can meet your clients' needs, and you'll instantly become more appealing.
3. Customer Retention – Build Your Database
The third strategy for increasing your client base is building and maintaining a robust database. Many businesses tend to discard contact information for potential clients who don't immediately convert into paying customers. This is a wasted opportunity. By nurturing these leads through an email campaign or other marketing initiatives, you stand a chance of converting them into clients in the future.
Moreover, even if these individuals don't become clients, they might refer you to others. Building a comprehensive database and maintaining regular contact with the people within it is a long-term strategy that can yield substantial returns.
III. Raising Your Average Sales Price
While attracting more clients is half the equation, raising your average sales price is the other half. Achieving this requires you to hone your sales skills, offer additional services, and improve your customer experience.
1. Hone Your Sales Skills
Improving your sales skills is crucial if you want to raise your average sales price. As a painting contractor, estimating is a crucial part of your job. It's part art, part science. The science lies in understanding how long it will take to complete a job. The art lies in identifying potential complications and factoring them into your estimate.
Improving your estimating skills will allow you to provide more accurate quotes and ensure that you're appropriately charging for your services. However, improving your sales skills isn't just about providing better estimates; it's also about connecting with your clients on a deeper level. Understanding your clients' motivations will allow you to pitch your services more effectively and command higher prices.
2. Offer Additional Services
One of the simplest ways to increase your average sales price is to offer additional services. Often, clients are unaware of the full range of services you provide. This is a missed opportunity. By informing clients about your other offerings, you can increase the scope of each job and, as a result, increase the amount clients are spending with you.
Training your team to upsell is another effective strategy. Encourage them to suggest additional services that might benefit the client. This proactive approach can significantly increase the average value of each sale.
3. Improve Your Customer Experience
Finally, providing an improved customer experience is an effective way to justify higher prices. If you're providing more value to your clients, they'll be more likely to pay higher prices. This could involve offering better customer service, higher quality materials, or additional services.
Improving the customer experience also has additional benefits – it can lead to more repeat business and referrals, both of which can dramatically increase your income.
Conclusion – Making It All Work Together
In conclusion, by simultaneously focusing on attracting more clients and increasing your average sales price, you can more than double your income in just a year. Remember to help people find you, give them a reason to reach out, build your database, improve your sales skills, upsell other services, and enhance the experience you provide.
The right combination of these strategies will enable you to substantially increase your sales. Lastly, don't forget to ensure you're charging appropriately for your services. If you're undercharging, you're undermining your own success. By following these strategies and principles, you're well on your way to achieving your goal of doubling your sales within the next 12 months.