As we enter the last 3 months of the year and come out of summer, you may be looking to generate some short-term cash flow to make up for slower summer revenue or to hit your financial targets for the year.
Although this year has seen a lot of changes in buyer behaviors and trying to figure out what's working has felt like a moving target for many small businesses in the coaching, consulting, and service-based space, there are several strategies that are proving effective in the current market.
Keep in mind that, while short-term injections of cash into the business are valuable and sometimes necessary, you always want to be focused on a balance of short-term and long-term strategies for sustainable success.
Here are 12 actionable strategies that can help boost revenue:
- Offer Limited-Time Promotions
- Pre-Sell Future Programs and Services
- Offer VIP Days or Intensives
- Bundle Services or Create "Done-for-You" Offers
- Run a Paid Workshop or Webinar
- Introduce Payment Plans for Higher-Ticket Offers
- Leverage Existing Client Relationships for Quick Wins
- Sell Digital Products or Templates
- Offer Referral Incentives
- Coordinate Affiliate or Collaborative Partnerships
- Get Paid to Speak
- Create and Sell a Certification Program or Course
Let's break down each one:
1. Offer Limited-Time Promotions
Create urgency by offering exclusive promotions on your high-value programs and services for a limited time.
My favorite types of promos are ones where you offer bonuses instead of discounts, but if you are offering special pricing, be sure to limit the quantity or duration and have a strategy for backend upsells.
2. Pre-Sell Future Programs and Services
Pre-selling a future program, course, or service is an excellent way to bring in cash upfront. This is also a great way to validate your market's interest in something if you are launching something new, adjusting your pricing and packaging, or simply to validate that your market is still interested given recent changes in buyer behaviors.
This works especially well when combined with #1. This is something I am currently doing for my Ops Alchemy program. Because this is a rebrand of my signature Simplify to Scale program, the self-paced content is available immediately, but the live elements are not available until November. For those who join early, they get the best pricing AND access to live bonus calls.
Maybe you're kicking off a new mastermind that starts in Q1, or hosting a retreat next year? Offering a special "early bird" rate for those who sign up now can be a win win for those who join and for you in validating interest and generating revenue.
Even having someone put down a deposit and starting full payments later can be valuable.
3. Offer VIP Days or Intensives
VIP days or one-off intensives are my favorite high-ticket, high-value service that provides immediate cash influx without the long-term time commitment of recurring services (although they often lead to recurring services if you want them to!). These offerings attract clients who need quick results and are willing to pay a premium.
In today's market, quick results are the name of the game, so position your VIP Days or Intensives as a way to solve a very clear and very urgent problem for your clients.
4. Bundle Services or Create "Done-for-You" Offers
Bundling services can increase perceived value while increasing the amount someone invests in working with you. For example, you might bundle a month of coaching with a personalized strategy session or a consulting package with implementation support.
"Done-for-you" services are especially appealing because clients want fast solutions that they often don't have the time, interest, or support to implement on their own.
One word of caution here is to avoid what I call "bonus stuffing". There was a very bad trend for a while in the online space to stuff every single piece of content you've ever created into an offer as a bonus to make it seem more valuable. If you work with a discerning client who is time poor and results focused, that will have the opposite effect. No one wants more to do. They want simple and clear solutions to their problems.
So bundle in a way that adds value, not overwhelm.
5. Run a Paid Workshop or Webinar
Short, paid workshops or webinars are a quick way to generate revenue while simultaneously building your client pipeline. Charge a small fee for access to exclusive content or a deep dive into a specific topic, with an upsell to your higher-tier services at the end of the session.
Avoid the bait and switch $47 workshop that is really just a paid sales pitch to your next offer. This is advice that is often given that I completely disagree with. Offer something of real value significantly higher than what someone pays. It should solve a problem, ideally a micro-problem that will be a quick win for those who attend, even if they do not take the next step to work with you.
And not everything needs to be $27 or $47; charge what it's worth.
I offer a $297 workshop on Building Your Lean Dream Team and Finding the Right Right-Hand Person. It is a 3-hour workshop where people leave with a clear understanding of the gaps with their current team, a map of who they need to hire next, an understanding of the type of right-hand person they need based on their business stage and their leadership style, and my recommendations for where to find them. That is a LOT of value for $297. For me, it is easy to deliver because it is already a key part of my Ops Alchemy program, and I know how valuable it is for attendees because it continues to be an area I get tons of positive feedback on from those in the program.
As an upsell, I offer training and mentorship if they have someone on their team they want to uplevel into the role of their right-hand leader, or I offer Ops Alchemy as the place to build out the rest of their scaling ecosystem so they can access all the resources need to build their lean dream team, connect their vision to the day to day actions their team takes, and implement strategic systems for scale. Not everyone takes advantage of those 2 solutions, some get what they need in the workshop. But for those whose next problem is how to develop their right-hand person or scale their business, I give them simple solutions.
Do you have a piece of one of your existing programs or services that you can carve out into a stand-alone paid workshop or webinar?
6. Introduce Payment Plans for Higher-Ticket Offers
If high-ticket services are not selling as quickly, offering flexible payment plans can attract clients who might not be able to afford the full price upfront. This allows you to still capture business while spreading out payments over a few months.
I know many business owners who refuse to take the risk of non-payment so they only offer pay in full or 2 pay options instead of extended payments. It could be time to experiment with more flexible options, or if you do not want to offer them yourself, make services like AfterPay or Klarna available, or share tips on how they can finance their investment.
7. Offer Upsells and Cross-Sells to Existing Clients
Reach out to existing or past clients to offer exclusive access, upgrades, or additional services. Upselling and cross-selling to a warm audience who already knows your work and trusts you to help them get results is much easier than acquiring new clients, and they are more likely to act quickly given the existing relationship.
If someone is on a monthly payment plan, offer an incentive to pay their remaining balance in full. It doesn't need to be a discount; instead, you could offer access to a small and private group coaching call or workshop, or even a 1:1 call.
8. Add Digital Products or Templates
If you’ve already created valuable resources (like templates, guides, or checklists), package them into a low-cost digital product that can be sold quickly and at scale. Digital products require minimal ongoing effort once created and can bring in cash "passively". You still need to market and sell them, but especially if you already have a large audience, it can help to have an on demand offer ready to buy that seems like a no-brainer.
If you use Kajabi, they recently added a downloads feature that makes this extra simple to do.
9. Offer Referral Incentives
Implement a referral program that offers existing clients or network connections a financial incentive or special bonuses for referring new clients. This could be a percentage of the sale, a flat fee amount, or a valuable service for them if the referral results in new business.
Most tools, like Kajabi, have an affiliate portal built in that is simple to set up, but don't let getting it set up keep you from leveraging this strategy if you're pressed for time.
You can start low tech if needed and implement a full solution when you start generating enough referrals.
10. Coordinate Affiliate or Collaborative Partnerships
Partnering with complementary businesses can provide an immediate influx of cash. For instance, if you're a business coach, you could partner with a marketing expert or an operations expert to host a joint workshop or webinar, or even offer a joint program that could be as simple and bundling together offers from both of you.
Affiliates can help promote your services to new audiences in exchange for a commission.
11. Get Paid to Speak
Similar to joint venture partnerships, anytime you can get in front of another audience of ideal clients, you are likely to get new leads and potentially new clients. Speaking is an incredible strategy to leverage for long-term growth, but there are also short-term cash injection opportunities.
While positioning yourself as an authority by securing paid speaking engagements at other people's events, conferences, or podcasts sounds enticing, showing up for free can also be an effective strategy if it's the right audience, especially one where you can sell from the physical or virtual "stage".
Be selective in where you invest your time and energy and you can see a great return.
I personally am doing a lot of speaking this Fall, a combination of free and paid engagements, with a clear strategy for generating leads and new clients from each.
12. Create and Sell a Certification Program or Course
If you're an expert in your field, developing a certification program or specialized course can generate significant short-term revenue while positioning your business as a leader in your niche. This could be a self-paced course or a live training that offers participants a certification they can use to advance their careers or businesses. Certification programs often command higher prices due to their perceived value.
While developing something new could be an effective long-term strategy, would there be value in adding a certification to one of your existing programs in the short-term?
This is a go-to strategy for me. I am so passionate about certifications that I created an entire business around training and certifying Operational Leaders.
In Summary
By combining urgency-driven offers, flexible payment options, and leveraging existing relationships, coaching, consulting, and service based businesses can generate short-term cash flow while setting the stage for ongoing growth.
Focus on creative, value-driven offers that align with client needs while enlisting your right-hand Ops Leader to ensure that the backend systems and processes are optimized to handle increased demand smoothly and efficiently.
Wondering where to start? Keep things simple and just pick one to focus on.
Which are you going to leverage to drive increased revenue in Q4?
by Crista Grasso
Crista Grasso is the go-to strategic planning expert for leading global businesses and online entrepreneurs when they want to scale. Known as the "Business Optimizer", Crista has the ability to quickly cut through noise and focus on optimizing the core things that will make the biggest impact to scale a business simply and sustainably. She specializes in helping businesses gain clarity on the most important things that will drive maximum value for their clients and maximum profits for their business. She is the creator of the Lean Out Method, 90 Day Lean Out Planner, and host of the Lean Out Your Business Podcast.
