I've audited dozens of business models — and for the early part of 2023, I offered a $500 service reviewing offer ladders and providing suggestions that improve long-term profitability.

The biggest problem I found reviewing these offer ladders was a a lack of recurring revenue.

This was most common for coaches who sell programs, but happens in many industries.

Today I want to cover why you need a recurring revenue service in your business, and how to start thinking about creating that offer for business. 

The core benefit of recurring revenue isn't what you think...

When i started my photography business in 2016, I only performed events and portrait shoots.

To get clients, I would receive a referral or reach out to my network. I would then sell a one-time package depending on what they desired and the total deliverables.

My customer flow looked like this:

Track down a lead → one-time sale → deliver product → chase more leads

I was always on the hunt for more clients. I was in sales and networking mode 24/7 and I could never turn off. This led to burnout, stress, and a lack of sleep.

I didn't know where my next client would come from... which is the worst.

This is why it's so important to have a recurring revenue service model in your business. It's not only about making more money (p.s. you will), but it's about eliminating the stress of the unknown.

It feels great knowing you can pay your bills next month even if you acquire 0 new customers. 

I urge you to revisit your business model if you're on the never ending chase for new clients. That stress can be eliminated, I promise.

So how do you uncover and brainstorm your recurring service idea...

To understand what you should offer as an ongoing service, you must fix your core customer flow first.

Instead of the flow mentioned above, your new customer flow should look like this:

Lead → customer → → deliver product → upsell to recurring client

The number one reason this is better is eliminating the stress of chasing new leads forever, BUT another benefit? It's easier to sell to a happy customer than it is a lead.

Your job is to strategical take a customer through a journey that enables you to make sales and help them see massive improvements on whatever their issue is right now.

And when you provide great value, people will want to continue working with you, period.

Now that we've corrected the core customer flow, what should your recurring service be...?

It should be the logical next step following the solution of your intro offer. Your intro offer being "what you sell so a lead becomes a customer."

Let me give you an example from my friend and Laptop Lounge member, Aurrie Hicks.

Aurrie runs a brand strategy and social media management company called Hopson Rae.

Her intro offer is a visual branding package. She works with small businesses to define a brand strategy, then provides new logos, typography, color palettes, and collateral. This costs $3,200.

But what happens after a business gets new branding? They want to share that with the world of course! That could mean a few different things, but primarily:

1. They want a new website or to redesign their current site
2, They want to increase their marketing to build brand awareness and gain customers

These are revenue opportunities, and good businesses tap into them. Aurrie does this is in 2 ways:

1. She doesn't make websites, but she has a friend and partnership in place to refer businesses that want a new website. Aurrie gets a referral fee and helps a friend's business. Win-Win
2. Aurrie's logical next service offering is social media management. And she's the obvious choice for these clients since she understands the company, their goals, and their brand strategy already since she helped develop them.

So Aurrie's customer flow looks like this:

The benefits are obvious → instead of constantly chasing new clients for her visual branding program, she has a system in place to build recurring revenue over time AND tap into partnership revenue when that's not the best fit. 

This is what you should be exploring for yourself as a baseline business model for service providers. 

Over time, you will eliminate the stress of chasing clients constantly and the month to month swings that come from selling one time projects over and over.

I hope this helps spark ideas for additional revenue opportunities for you.

See you in the next issue!

P.S. If you'd like to have your business model reviewed and access all of our courses on content strategy, offer creatiion, and more, check out our business owner community, the Laptop Lounge. this is the best value growth program for service based business owners, and we think you'll love it.