Establishing your business. Ready to prove you are the best in your niche. You have it all figured out, and you are ready to go. Now, just minor details…
How do you get paid?
Do you get paid at the beginning, middle, or end? Do you get paid on a payment plan? Will you always be ahead or even? These are questions you will want to think about. I love math, so this is what I break down before I even research my idea. I have to know if I should continue with this thought or move on to the next.
Although you may be a person with high integrity and be on top of your bills, many others aren’t and sadly, many will take advantage of nice people.
Are you thinking that those aren’t your “avatar” or ideal client so you shouldn’t attract those people?
Sometimes it may be a true error, but why put your life, your money, your bills, your dream business at risk of not getting paid because of someone else’s mistake?
Business is business, tell your clients your rules and establish a clean business relationship! You are going to change people’s lives! You are going to build your empire!
But, you must get paid to do so.
Let’s walk through some payment method ideas:
Subscription: If you choose a subscription, I highly suggest automated billing or charging. For a small fee, you will be getting paid without even thinking! I help build a pool service company and we set up automated invoicing in the same amount of time as creating 1 invoice and just set it on a calendar forever. The owner was able to get paid consistently. If it were my company, I would have paid a little extra for a credit card processor that automatically charges, but he had customers that paid cash and/or check so he opted for invoices.
Payment Plans: If you are creating a payment plan, you can just add an end date to the automated invoices or credit card processors.
Beginning: How will the service/product be delivered? Do you have an email sequence to notify the customer their payment has been received? Make sure you have all systems in place so your customer knows their money will not be lost and they will not be forgotten about! This is my personal favorite.
Payment Schedule/Middle: Customer pays some upfront, you do service, the customer pays for the next steps, you do service, etc. I prefer to pay this way with contractors. The trick is to never get behind in payments or work. I find this to be a balancing act, however, for large projects, this is so necessary. I have personally had people just disappear in the middle of a project, so I was thankful I didn’t pay them completely because I was able to pay someone else to finish for the same price. Now, since this is your business and you are a person of integrity, you will have to think if you really want to be chasing payments in each section of project completion or again, this can be set up on automated invoice or credit card processing.
End: As Trivinia said, don’t do this. I cannot think of 1 exchange of service/product where this is the best method.
Are you thinking, numbers just aren’t your thing so you are avoiding this subject?
PICK UP YOUR CALCULATOR.
It is not hard math, simple addition, and subtraction – may be some multiplication!
Questions to answer at any stage:
How much do you want to make per month (income)?
The current price of what you are selling?
How many clients/products do you need to sell each month?
If you are in business/If you are not in business you can use these questions to set your goals quickly so you can reach your ideal income per month quickly:
What is your close rate (out of all your calls, how many become a customer/client)?
What is your show rate (out of the people that book a call, how many show up)?
What is your book rate (book a call if you are interested sent via email/social media)?
What is your conversion rate (conversion of people on your email list/social media that book a call)?
Now, get to work! If you are new to the business, make sure you stay on top of your numbers. This was how I personally almost lost a business. If you are currently in business, you should still re-evaluate your numbers and make sure you are on track to hit your goals.
If you need some help, email me at megan@megangalane.com?
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