Growing Client Services Businesses

Always be selling. In order to grow, you'll have to stop being the person that does the work and start being the person that sells the work. Your expertise will build trust with clients and employees that forms the glue that holds your business together. Your time is best spent on pumping new leads into your sales pipeline, identifying opportunities with those leads, and pushing deals to close.

Build trust. It's much easier and cheaper to sell to a client than it is to find a new one. It's much easier and cheaper to keep an employee than it is to find a new one. Invest in building trust with your clients and employees and you'll be rewarded with a growing business.

You'll never get the hour back. Unlike a business that has inventory that can sit on a shelf until it sells, you deal in time. And once time passes, it's gone. Obsess over billable utilization and make sure you're not leaving money on the table.

Cash is king. Avoid revenue leakage, stay on top of every invoice, and keep a close eye on your cash on hand, accounts receivable, booked business and burn rate. There are many things you can recover from - not having cash on payday isn't one of them.

Track your metrics and make improvements. Know which metrics are important, keep track of them, and, most importantly, make changes to improve them. Building a business is about constant improvement and keeping the wheels on the track.

Set up cadences for sales and project management. Schedule regular meetings with involved members of your team to stay on top of sales activities and projects in progress. Opportunities are fleeting and it only takes captitalizing on a couple to have a big year. Be ruthless about your sales pipeline: if a deal isn't moving, get involved or move on. Look for signals in your current projects to identify new opportunities with your existing client base.

Network like crazy. Business isn't going to drop into your lap, you're going to need to constantly put yourself out there and find people to talk to. This may lead to prospects, referrals, new employees and other opportunities.

Hire for things you've figured out and don't differentiate you. Hire people that can do the things you've figured out and don't differentiate you from your competitors. Use them to scale the parts of your business that are repeatable and predictable.