Service business owners desire growth for various reasons. Some want to increase revenue for their own profitability. Others are interested in selling in the near future and want to make their company as appealing as possible.
If you’re wondering how to grow a small service business or how to expand a cleaning business, here are three essential strategies. You can try one at a time or use them in combination to boost your bottom line.
Leverage Existing Clients
Your current clients are considered “low-hanging fruit” in business jargon. That means they’re the easiest customers to sell to because they’re already using your services.
How can you leverage that for more business? One way is to upsell them on additional services. For instance, if you offer cleaning and carpet shampooing for apartment property managers, you could also offer other services, like:
- Floor polishing
- Painting
- Lawn maintenance
- Small fix-it tasks
Another way to get more business from existing clients is to ask them for referrals. People tend to trust recommendations from friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors more than advertisements. Consider offering clients a discount for every referral they bring you.
Add New Services
In addition to upselling your existing customers you can branch out in new ways for existing and new customers too.
- When adding new services, there are multiple considerations:
- Filling a gap not covered by the competition
- Finding staff to perform the work
- What to charge to be competitive but profitable
- Equipment or tools that must be purchased
- Insurance to cover new services or increased liability
- Marketing and advertising costs (if applicable)
You want to crunch the numbers so you come out ahead. Therefore, you have to look at overhead versus profits. You may find some proposed services are too costly to be worth it. Or the competition is already too stiff in your area.
Expand Your Geographic Area
When thinking about how to expand a business, another idea is to broaden your service area geographically. There are probably untapped neighborhoods or whole towns you could capture, depending on the services you offer.
When expanding your territory, you need to consider two primary things first:
- Is there a need there for your maintenance or cleaning services?
- What is the competition like there, or is it an untouched market?
- There are several sources for this information, such as:
- Existing customers who know people in the area
- Colleagues who aren’t competitors
- Chamber of Commerce and membership groups
- Area business alliances and organizations
- Facebook and Nextdoor local groups
Once you know where you want to expand, you need to think about many of the concerns listed above, including staffing and overhead, as well as vehicles and dispatching. Remember, profit is the end goal.
Do you have a service business you’re interested in selling? The Batallan Group are experts in your field and would be interested in speaking with you. Reach out online to get the conversation started.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post is for general informational purposes only, reflecting our perspective on what matters most when selling business. This content is derived from the collective experiences and expertise of our team at The Batallan Group. However, every business is unique, and individual circumstances may vary.