What got you here won’t get you there

Congratulations on your first $1 million.

Or $5 million.

Or $250K.

When you hit your latest revenue goal, it’s time to celebrate.

And before you set our next goal, take a reality check…

What got you here won’t get you there.

The desire to keep doing what you’re doing is understandable.

After all it got you to this goal.

“We must be doing something right” you think.

Yes, you did so many things right.

So right that they got your revenue up to $1 million, $5 million or $250K.

Whoo hoo!

What’s next?

Here’s the key to reaching the next revenue goal…

Understanding that your systems, processes, practices, and mindset are perfectly designed for this goal.

They are not perfectly designed for the next goal.

You’ll need a new set of perfectly designed systems, processes, practices, and mindset for the next revenue increase.

It’s up to you to design that set.

7 Steps to the next goal

Review your firm’s 7 assets that helped you reach today’s total revenue.

  1. Strategy
  2. Brand
  3. Offerings
  4. Prospects
  5. Marketing
  6. Sales
  7. Leverage

For each asset, ask “what do we have to change to achieve the next level of growth?”

Internal Facing Assets

  • Strategy. Let’s say your strategic statement is “We provide optimized websites for e-commerce companies for (X) profit.” Is that strategy going to lead to the next level of growth? Probably yes.
  • Brand. Your firm’s brand attracts prospects. Your brand may need modifications to attract prospects with greater needs so you can make more money.
  • Offerings. Your offerings are either the biggest contributor to year-over-year growth or the biggest barrier to it.

To grow, you have to make your offerings IMPACTful. Start this year of growth where you       ended last year, rather than going back to your offerings from the beginning of the year.

The biggest asset for professional and business services firms is their ability to build on recent experiences and let the older offerings go. Do not be afraid to use it.

Your prospective clients or target market has to change for your revenue to grow. You redefine your prospects to be in line with your upgraded brand and offerings. You will also look at existing clients and choose to let some of them go. Those who aren’t growing themselves will hold your firm back from growth.

External Facing Assets

  • Marketing. Marketing includes all the activities you engage in to attract the right prospects. To attract the prospects that will want your new offerings, you will have to change your marketing. What worked to get you to $1 million isn’t going to get you to $2 million.
  •  Sales. Most of your sales systems, approaches and methodologies will likely work for the next level of growth.

         The key change is in how you speak about your new offerings and your pricing. Define, and learn to talk about, the life changing differences you deliver, aka the IMPACTs. Speak effectively about how your fees or prices are proportional to the IMPACTs you’re delivering. Make sure your invoicing systems easily invoice your new fees and prices.

  • Leverage. What I mean by leverage is your ability to get new business from existing clients and, perhaps, get some referrals from them.

         The key to new business from existing clients is to reflect on the advancements your existing clients have already made and talk with them about their own next level up. They will have new needs, wants, and desires. Your offerings have to advance them even further.

        Your existing clients can contribute a large part of the growth you’re seeking this year. Make them a priority, not an afterthought!

How to hit the next million!

One client, the Founder of a graphic design and web design firm I who met me on LinkedIn, hit $1 million in revenue. She was ecstatic. She had a great team and enthusiastic clients.  $1 million was a big goal, as it should have been. We’d spent the several months working on all of these assets, improving them with changes large and small.

What put the firm’s revenue over the $1 million mark was an existing client who accepted her offer to go full throttle on SEO. She and her primary designer had studied the client’s business for a few months. They saw opportunities and made 3 offers (the Choice Framework) even though the client hadn’t asked.

The client was thrilled that her firm had paid so much attention to their growth and envisioned the next level of growth. The client quickly chose the IMPACT offer.

That choice put my client’s revenue over $1 million and led to her client’s explosive growth.

You can do the same

When nothing changes, nothing changes. It’s that simple.

Continuing to do what you’ve always done, for any reason whatsoever, is choosing to get what you’ve always gotten.

How are you going to get to your new revenue goal?

Choose the same or choose to make changes?

If you’re choosing to make changes, email me or text CHANGES to 703-801-0345.

My Partnership model ensures that we work together to get to YOUR new revenue goal.

What will it be for you firm?

$1 million?

$5 million

$500K?

If not now, when?

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