How to Get Rich for Service-Based Businesses (Thank Me Later)
In a Nutshell
Event planning company Utopia Experience needs to overhaul pricing from ad-hoc to systematic by calculating true costs then multiplying 5-10x, creating a dynamic quote generator for live calls, and implementing price lock guarantees with 10% prepayment discounts. Sales process must shift to using pre-call video sales letters, restructure sales team as appointment setters only, and add "how many events per year" to discovery calls to triple average deal size from $80K to $240K by bidding on all events. Focus on doing more of fewer things—maximize LinkedIn outreach volume, speak at events for leads, and secure multi-year agreements with upfront prepayment to hit $300-400K monthly run rate.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Joey Goon runs Utopia Experience, an event planning company based in St. Louis, Missouri. Last year the average deal size was $34,000, with trailing 12 months at $44,000. Audio visual spend ranges between $20,000 and $150,000 per event, while video production serves as a pass-through service.
Joey surveyed 100 people at his sister's wedding in Mexico, asking what they could never have enough of. The overwhelming response was connection, community, tribe, family, and belonging - the core human needs that event planning addresses. The market cap for events is currently $1.5 trillion, projected to reach $3.5 trillion by 2033.
The current pricing process is ad-hoc and lacks standardization. A $15,000 retainer is charged upfront, followed by line items for sponsor management ($15,000), vendor management ($7,500 for managing contractors like photo booths and video production), and venue procurement strategy. Tiered pricing structures have been implemented based on attendee count, vendor count, and sponsor numbers.
The pricing strategy requires complete restructuring. First, cost out true costs for different delivery levels. Then multiply those costs by 5-10x to determine pricing. Create a dynamic pricing sheet that calculates prices based on headcount and other variables. Variable costs scale with headcount (vendors), while fixed costs include team member capacity - for example, Amber can only handle four events, making her 1/4 of the $15,000 retainer.
Pricing should reflect client wealth and location. The same lawn care service costs 2-3x more in top 10 zip codes versus poor areas. This "zip code tax" reflects the privilege of paying more for identical services based on client demographics.
A pricing module was built allowing real-time quoting during discovery calls. Previously, proposals sent via email led to objections and scope changes that couldn't be handled live. The new system enables consultative selling with real-time adjustments for additional scope items, showing immediate investment impact.
Implement a price lock guarantee: "as long as you don't change anything, this is the price." Offer 10% discount for full prepayment to pull cash forward. This avoids payment collection issues, including a current lawsuit against a bankrupt client. Getting payment upfront eliminates chasing money later and provides time value of money benefits.
For B2B events where the audience represents potential customers, secure booth space and speaking opportunities. A 15-minute slot allows sharing "20 mistakes event planners make" with proof points, driving QR code opt-ins for slides. The opt-in captures whether prospects run events and how many per year, building a lead list without direct pitching.
Negotiate booth fees and speaking slots by leveraging high anchor pricing. Example: quoted $90,000 becomes $95,000 after adding $5,000 booth fee, then reduced by $5,000 for 10-minute intermission speaking slot. Post-event email list access allows fee-based referrals from attendees who had positive experiences.
Sponsoring a booth for $15,000 at a target event generated a line of prospects and resulted in closing $500,000 in business. This demonstrates 33x return on sponsorship investment.
Sales team conversion rates are 10x lower than the owner's. Restructure sales roles to function as SDRs/BDRs focused solely on prospecting and booking discovery calls for the owner. The owner closes at 40% rate, making appointment setting the bottleneck. Daily check-ins replace weekly meetings, with morning planning and end-of-day pipeline reviews.
Weekly one-on-ones follow a progression: address personal issues first, then short-term skill corrections, then long-term growth opportunities. Role-playing is mandatory for skill development, providing necessary feedback loops that verbal instruction alone cannot achieve.
Add the question "How many events does your organization do per year?" to discovery calls. This transforms average ticket from $80,000 to $240,000 by bidding on all events. Offer to commit to all events at the same rate if the first succeeds, creating recurring relationships and tripling client LTV.
Create video sales letters to be sent before discovery calls. Include a CTA prompting prospects to text headcount, event date, week, or season - serving as both engagement indicator and pre-call qualification data.
When starting a call, ask prospects if they watched the pre-call video. If yes, proceed with the conversation. If no, direct them to watch it immediately, which saves approximately 30 minutes or 7 minutes on the call. The host can step away to grab coffee while the prospect watches, ensuring they are fresh and primed. The conversation is already framed, and the host is edified before the actual sales discussion begins.
This approach helps scale sales once the founder stops being the primary salesperson. The video does much of the lifting for sales team members, shortening the number of required calls. A VSL combined with an instant quote can potentially change a two-call close into a one-call close.
Two calls are acceptable at certain price points because they give prospects the approximation of knowing someone. Even with a two-call structure, implement an instant quote system. Rather than scheduling a meeting five days out, offer to deliver the quote by a specific time the next day. Speed increases close rates significantly. If it takes a week to provide a quote, prospects question whether that pace represents how the company operates.
Within two days of landing back in St. Louis after events, send a follow-up email to hosts and schedule an event debrief call. The debrief covers what worked, what needs improvement, and booking the next year's event date.
Add a VSL before the post-event conversation. Use the same structure but different examples, as objections differ for repeat bookings versus first-time bookings. Objections include pricing consistency, billing logistics, future event handling, and video deliverables. Address these FAQs in the VSL so the call focuses on closing rather than information transfer.
The post-event VSL frames the conversation around the completed event, emphasizing that perfection is the standard and continuous improvement drives company growth. Cover common questions about billing logistics, future events, and video deliverables. Include the next steps for booking future events with advanced preparation benefits. State that booking now provides better value than waiting, even if competitors exist.
The top-of-funnel VSL presents the avatar, pain points, and threshold for working with the company. Prospects respond that the messaging feels personally targeted. The team shifted from going ten miles wide to ten miles deep and one inch wide. Narrow-casting to a specific avatar revealed that nine out of ten prospects experience the same pain points. Systematizing around this avatar improves scalability.
When clarity exists on the avatar, the solution can be systematized and templatized. This enables higher-margin sales and operational scale while reducing customer acquisition costs through aligned messaging.
The bottom-of-funnel VSL targets busy CEOs or CFOs who make final decisions but may not join calls. This has helped close deals that might otherwise stall.
First, create the auto quote generator by identifying costs, variables, fixed costs, and headcount dependencies. This establishes the cost basis and pricing range. Second, add referral and promotion incentives with discounts to solicit more business through lists, speaking engagements, and survey closes. Third, implement DLE sales training and VSLs at three touchpoints: call one, call two, and post-call.
Increase outreach by having team members start each day by maxing out platform limits, cloning the founder's proven outreach process. If team members aren't following this approach, either they're the wrong people or training is inadequate. Conduct an AI scrape of contacts to obtain numbers, then feed them into a dialer. Multiple dialer software options exist. The dialer enables volume outreach across channels, while platform-based outreach generates warmer responses.
Stick with LinkedIn as the primary channel since a proven process already exists there. The focus should be doing more of what works rather than expanding to unproven channels like Facebook. The LinkedIn process has the best LTV to CAC ratio. With two new hires already onboarded, prioritize getting them on-ramped through training and motivation. Conducting outreach twice daily will increase team productivity.
Price at 5 to 10 times costs, with five times as the minimum to account for potential overruns. The price lock guarantees the quoted price unless changes occur. Higher pricing tiers allow statements that costs remain fixed unless headcount changes more than 20%, venues change, or other scope modifications happen. Present pricing options as either getting nickel-and-dimed or receiving a fixed price within budget. Factor in fudge factors for up to 20% headcount changes while locking venue and date.
Ask prospects how many events they conduct annually to seed the conversation about volume commitments. Most prospects in similar positions conduct three events per year. Offer a 10% discount on all three events for committing upfront, significantly above current pricing. Include a break clause requiring payment of the difference if they cancel. Offer an additional 10% discount for prepaying all three events. Many departments work on annual budgets, making Q4 prepayment attractive for tax benefits.
Events booked in Q3 and Q4 typically occur in Q1, Q2, and sometimes Q3 of the following year. Prepaying allows businesses to remove cash from books, reduce tax liability, and receive discounts simultaneously.
Speak at as many events as family life permits. Stage presence edifies the speaker, increasing LinkedIn response rates, inbound leads, and direct event leads. At B2B events with 500-person audiences, 50 to 100 opt-ins are achievable, with 10 to 20% representing qualified leads. Survey closes work effectively as the primary method. The founder's previous $1,250 hourly rate calculation was based on an inadequate offer and conversion process.
Business operations function adequately but lack necessary profitability. Understanding costs better and pricing appropriately increases profit margins. Address the demand constraint by generating more prospects from existing events, training the sales team for effectiveness, implementing VSLs, increasing outreach volume, and speaking at events. Fix margins before increasing demand volume.
With 30 total employees and 12 full-time staff, the company needs sales training systems, individual coaching, and team cadence implementation. The events serve as thought leadership vehicles while sales team outreach increases. Product improvement involves incremental enhancements across both products through detailed cost breakdown analysis. Customer segmentation becomes relevant approximately one year out, identifying that 25 of 100 events generated 75% of profit. Retool messaging, marketing, VSL examples, and scripting to attract more of these high-profit customers.
A 90-minute scaling roadmap video is available for business owners to identify their current position and next steps. The link appears in the video description.
Entrepreneurs face limitations on executable ideas, and attempting everything prevents any from working. Focus on what generates the most revenue and ruthlessly eliminate everything else. Most businesses appear more limited than they actually are because owners attempt too much rather than too little. The solution involves doing more of fewer things.
The founder's mother started the business and passed away from cancer in 2013. Continuing the legacy holds deep significance. The founder's wife left her corporate job, and his father also joined the company. They have a three-year-old daughter who may eventually take over the business.
The Scale It 90 Days competition offers $100,000 for the most scaling achieved. The business previously lacked a defined acquisition process, creating scaling concerns. Two underutilized sales team members represent significant potential. Training them daily to replicate the founder's process while improving the offer could enable winning the competition.
Focusing on making two sales team members productive and implementing the quote generator should yield significantly higher prices and conversion rates. The business could potentially move from one deal per week to two or three deals weekly at $70,000 to $100,000 each, reaching a $300,000 to $400,000 monthly run rate within 90 days.
The founder has 90 days until the Iron Man competition to implement the strategy. The mother started the company, making external validation of the business profoundly meaningful as an ode to her legacy.
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