Do you know what feels amazing? When you come to the end of a year and realize that the new norm for your business is hitting 5-figure – or more – months.

If this sounds amazing to you, keep reading, because I’m diving into some of the things and practices that I incorporated into our sales process here at Pinegate Road that made this a reality for my business 3 years ago. And I’m going through how we set things up so that you can take these tips and get to those consistent 5-figure months yourself!

If you’re a service provider and you’re looking to hit regular 5-figure months, or even working your way up to that very first one, I know that some of these tips are really going to help you set some of that solid foundation so you can make that happen for your business.

WORK BACKWARDS

The first thing I want to go over is just figuring out how many clients you need to have each month, or how many you need going at one time, to hit that 5-figure mark.

So for example, if you average $2,500 per month from one client, you need four contracts running at each time in order to hit that 5-figure mark.

Or, if you’re making $500 per client every month you would need about 20 clients to hit that low 5-figure mark. Then you can ask yourself: can I sustainably take 20 new projects a month? Or, what do I need to change that I don’t have to jump from 20 different projects and I can keep my sanity?

If you actually retroactively figure out what you need to be charging in order to meet the goals that you want to meet for your business, you might start to think about things a little differently.

So the way we’ve done this is to break everything down into payments, and then we know how many clients we need going at one time in order to meet that mark. That way it’s not like you’re saying “I need four clients every single month,” it’s saying that one of those spots has filled for the length of a project (whether it’s three months or six months), and then you know when a spot is coming open again (when a project is coming to an end), that you’ll have another spot to fill. You can then work in advance to start to fill that gap so you’re not scrambling at the last minute to make up that income. Working in this way can really help to build a solid foundation for a steady income flow, month after month!

MAKE IT MONTHLY 

Another thing that brings in that consistency is by breaking those payments down into monthly payments, so you get paid as each month starts which kind of breaks that feast or famine cycle that all entrepreneurs experience at some point.

If you’re accepting payments on the first Monday of every single month, for example, you know already in advance what that month is going to look like and you can plan accordingly. Also, make sure to get the payment information up front and automate what you can so that you’re never chasing for money and it becomes a no-hassle process.

By doing it like this, we’ve been able to project into the future and know when we need to bring on a new client, and it just helps to make things really steady. It’s been incredible to see how our months have been so steady just switching up the payment processing workflow!

BE CONSISTENT

Another thing you can do to make sure you’re in the space to invite 5-figure months into your business is to make space for regular sales calls. 

You might have heard me say this before, but the main goal on our website is always to hop on the phone, get an introduction call, and have that sales conversation with somebody to see if they’re the right fit.

You can set it up to have a block of time in your calendar every week just for sales calls to make sure that you’re making room for these calls – because if you’re not making regular availability for them I can promise you they will not happen.

If you’re accepting sales via email, especially with a high-priced item, you’re not going to get the same conversion as you would with a sales call, which has a much higher conversion rate.

Along with making regular space for sales calls, make sure that you’re also making regular space for marketing. It doesn’t have to be crazy, you don’t have to be on Instagram every single day (unless you want to be!) but it is important to have some systems going with email marketing and making sure that you’re inviting people to actually work with you. I know that so many people are afraid of being too “salesy,” or are afraid to put their offers out there because they’re afraid of rejection, but you really need to be making that invitation so that people know you’re available and they can either choose to engage with you or not.

Here’s a tip if the thought of inviting someone to work with you feels really uncomfortable: just throw it out there. Just say something like “do you want to think about working together” or “let’s have a casual conversation and see if this might be a good fit for you and your business” and keep it really casual and friendly.

SHOOT FOR THE STARS

My last tip is to set a big goal. I mean shoot for the stars, even if you think you might fail because if you don’t land in the stars you will land somewhere in between and that’s further than you are right now!

The year that I first hit 5-figure months consistently was the year that I set a lofty goal of hitting $100,000 in the last three months of the year. While I didn’t hit that particular goal that year, what it did was encourage me to push through and hit more than I would have reached otherwise. 

Having that goal in my mind in the last quarter of the year helped me to power through and really get some momentum to finish off the year strong, even if I didn’t hit that super big goal I had set for myself. 

If you do set a big goal for yourself, just go after it and see how it’s actually possible! I think that you’re capable of so much more than you think you are and by setting that lofty goal it pushes you beyond the boundary of what you think you can do, and puts you in a place where it becomes possible. Set your goal, make your plan, then take baby steps to get there day after day.

If you are a designer or a service provider and you want some more mentorship around how to level up in your business, check out the Aligned Business Academy!