Become Profitable - 5 Strategies for Agencies, Consultants, Experts & Freelancers

Whether you're an agency, freelancer, coach, or consultant - the steps I'll outline here could transform your operations and push your profit margins to heights you may not have thought possible.

I’m the founder of APEX Consulting, and we help our clients scale their marketing & sales processes and help our clients focus on scalable, high-impact strategies. Today, I want to share the exact approaches that helped us achieve this and show you how you can apply them to your own business.

Let's examine five practical and effective mechanisms that will help you increase your revenue and profit exponentially. These strategies are not just theoretical, but they can be implemented in your business with confidence.

1. Understand Profit Margins—and Why You Should Aim Higher

Recent studies show that the average business operates with a slight 8-9% profit margin. Consider that a company makes €1 million in revenue but only keeps 80,000€ - 90,000€ after costs. But here’s the catch: You should aim for at least 25-30%!

You might read this and think it sounds high, but it’s achievable. If you're running a service-based business (agency, consulting, etc.), anything below 25% means leaving money on the table. And the truth is, it’s not hard to get there—if you structure your business right.

Here’s how...

2. Optimise Your Overhead and Focus on Profitable Clients

The first culprit of low profitability is usually overhead—unnecessary costs and staff that are dead weight. Are there roles that add little to no value? Streamlining these expenses will give you more breathing room to focus on what matters: profitable clients.

Once you've optimised your internal operations, maximise existing clients. Most businesses need to scratch the surface of what their current customer base can offer. Could you let me know if you've been able to reach out to past clients recently? Would you happen to provide them with new services? One call or email could lead to upsells, cross-sells, or referrals.

3. Ramp Up Your Sales Efficiency

Sales is another area where most businesses need to catch up. In Germany, there's an overall lack of sales culture, which is costing businesses dearly. But when you get sales right, the game changes. You're not doing sales right if you’re not closing 60-80% of your qualified leads. Whether holding sales calls or meeting clients face-to-face, your conversion rate should be high enough to consistently turn prospects into paying customers.

To boost your sales efficiency:

• Implement scripts for your team to follow that take emotions from the equation.
• Track every sale through CRM systems like Salesforce or HubSpot to measure and optimise your team's performance.
• Make sure you book quality meetings where your salespeople only speak to pre-qualified leads.

4. Master Marketing and Retargeting

If your marketing isn’t performing well, you’re wasting money. Advertising that doesn’t convert is just burning cash. We've seen that many clients we worked with before our engagement were throwing money at the Meta or LinkedIn algorithm without a clear goal or strategy.

You should track your Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS), less the CPL number, which is essential but less crucial than the ROAS. If?your ROAS is below 5x, you’re missing the point of PPC. Anything over a specific threshold means you’re not spending enough to grow aggressively.

An undervalued goldmine: E-mail marketing. I mean GOOD E-mail marketing.

It's a massively underutilised channel that can add ~30% additional revenue to your business. Have a mailing list but no strategy? Start creating targeted campaigns, send personalised offers, and watch the bookings roll in. Also, ensure you're retargeting people who have interacted with your ads or website but didn’t convert. The more you stay in front of them, the more likely they’ll become customers.

5. Automate Everything You Can—Including Customer Acquisition

You're wasting money if you’re still doing manual processes that could be automated. Invest in systems like Zapier for automation or Slack for team communication. Automating repetitive tasks frees up time for higher-value work, reducing the need for a bloated staff while increasing output - we've been working on that with our clients as well, and they are saving 20-30 hours a week (!) only through automation!

You can and should consider adopting AI-powered solutions to help your customer support team and reduce your staff needs to a minimum. AI isn’t just a buzzword anymore—it's disruptive, practical and helps businesses operate leaner and more profitably.

Bonus Tips for Boosting Your Business

1. Refine Your Value Proposition

Focus on what you do best and deliver it consistently. Narrow your niche and repeat successful projects, improving efficiency and value each time.

Tip: Identify and emphasise your most robust offerings in client pitches to command higher fees.

2. Bold Pricing

A slight price increase can lead to big profits. You can offer multiple pricing options to show value and make sure your team is confident in selling without discounting.

Tip: Please review and adjust your pricing regularly to align with the value you provide.

3. Know Your Costs

Understand all costs involved in your projects to avoid underpricing and ensure profitability.

Tip: Create a detailed internal pricing guide to factor in all project costs and focus on high-margin clients.

4. Build a Premium Brand

You can position yourself where high-paying clients are. A strong brand lets you charge premium prices.

Tip: Be visible in key industry spaces to boost your perceived value.

5. Use Risk and Reward Deals

Offer performance-based deals to increase profit without extra work. If you believe in your value, these deals can skyrocket margins.

Final Thoughts: Profitability is Within Your Reach

Here’s the bottom line: If you get your sales, marketing, and operations in line, there’s no reason you can’t achieve 30-50% profit margins—even if you're only doing a few million in revenue. Yes, it will take work, but if you implement the strategies discussed today, you'll see the payoff quickly.

Whether you're an agency owner, consultant, or freelancer, focus on optimising your processes, maximising existing relationships, and automating where possible. And if you want to grow fast and profitably, don’t be afraid to take bold steps, including adjusting pricing or acquiring smaller companies to boost your capabilities.

Ready to take the next step? https://theapexconsulting.com/

Get in touch with us if you want to see how we can help you scale your business profitably!