Tips on adding Google Ads to my repertoire, other tips for upsells?

[Mr.Nichan]

Hi guys!

Couldnt find a better place to put this. This is not my side hustle, I'm freelancing.

My main income comes from freelancing as a software developer (full stack javascript web dev) and I have a long time client that I have built (and by request continuing to expand upon) a much better version of their internal and external system for working with their clients. They are one of the largest cleaning companies in Stockholm that specializes on cleaning stairwells for apartment buildings. And the system I'm developing is near a point where I think they would only want continuation on upkeep/mandatory updates. I have in this project also built their external website.

After researching GoogleAds and coming across the masterclass @Andy Black has on youtube I thought that I should add this service to my offers and see if I can upsell them into having me on for seo and Google Ads.

My question to you guys is what I can expect to charge them for that service?
Now i'm charging them an hourly rate of around $85/h for the development work and I'm spending around 120 hours a month doing this. This company has a yearly revenue at around $8M and they have an end of year net profit of around $110K. So they indeed have the funds to pay for further expansion.

Help me jog my brain a bit?

 

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[theag]

I wouldn't dare offer a service that I just read and watched a few YouTube videos about, but thats just me, I kind of care about the quality of my work.

Btw, 100k profit at 8M revenue sounds absolutely horrible. Not much more to squeeze out of them. Let them have some profit left so your main contract (which sounds good) is not in danger of getting canceled.

Don't jump on the same SEO/Google Ads agency BS bandwagon as everyone else. Compared to most people doing that, you have some real skills.

Consider using the insight you have through that contract with them to build an SaaS for such use cases. They probably aren't the only business that needs a better version of those systems.

 

[Mr.Nichan]

I wouldn't dare offer a service that I just read and watched a few YouTube videos about, but thats just me, I kind of care about the quality of my work.

Btw, 100k profit at 8M revenue sounds absolutely horrible. Not much more to squeeze out of them. Let them have some profit left so your main contract (which sounds good) is not in danger of getting canceled.

Fair enough, Though I have been reading up on sales for some time and in that also digital marketing. But I do get your point and will consider it. In case of presenting them with an offer I will of course let them know that I am the beginner phase of that particular service.

The thing is that my current work is probably about to run out since I'm near getting finished with the system for them. So thats Why im thinking I thought I could try and bring value in more parts too.

sorry, my conversion from local currency missed a 0. The profit after everything at the end of last year was $1.34M (13.8M SEK).

 

[theag]

I edited my post but I think you didn't see it before replying.

The thing is that my current work is probably about to run out since I'm near getting finished with the system for them. So thats Why im thinking I thought I could try and bring value in more parts too.

Like I mentioned, you could explore turning that experience into an SaaS product. Did they need a custom solution, because there was nothing off-the-shelf out there that solved this? Than you might have a nice product idea on your hands. And the skills to bootstrap it.

sorry, my conversion from local currency missed a 0. The profit after everything at the end of last year was $1.34M (13.8M SEK).

Alright, thats much healthier

 

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[Andy Black]

Hi guys!

Couldnt find a better place to put this. This is not my side hustle, I'm freelancing.

My main income comes from freelancing as a software developer (full stack javascript web dev) and I have a long time client that I have built (and by request continuing to expand upon) a much better version of their internal and external system for working with their clients. They are one of the largest cleaning companies in Stockholm that specializes on cleaning stairwells for apartment buildings. And the system I'm developing is near a point where I think they would only want continuation on upkeep/mandatory updates. I have in this project also built their external website.

After researching GoogleAds and coming across the masterclass @Andy Black has on youtube I thought that I should add this service to my offers and see if I can upsell them into having me on for seo and Google Ads.

My question to you guys is what I can expect to charge them for that service?
Now i'm charging them an hourly rate of around $85/h for the development work and I'm spending around 120 hours a month doing this. This company has a yearly revenue at around $8M and they have an end of year net profit of around $110K. So they indeed have the funds to pay for further expansion.

Help me jog my brain a bit?

Are they doing any Google Ads yet?

If not, then maybe suggest it to them and start small and prove/disprove whether you can make it work for them.

If they are, then maybe see if you can tweak what they have to improve performance?

 

[Mr.Nichan]

Are they doing any Google Ads yet?
If not, then maybe suggest it to them and start small and prove/disprove whether you can make it work for them.

If they are, then maybe see if you can tweak what they have to improve performance?

I don't believe they are.. Thanks for that suggestion! Will do that! Either way I dont feel comfortable in charging for anything that I don't give back in at the very least double value

 

[Andy Black]

I don't believe they are.. Thanks for that suggestion! Will do that! Either way I dont feel comfortable in charging for anything that I don't give back in at the very least double value

Do some keyword research and present your thoughts to them.

Maybe take an angle like this:

"I thought I'd check to see if something like Google Ads might work for you. Here's some search terms I think are good ones for you, and Google's monthly estimated searches volumes. Here's the ads and landing pages when I did a few of those searches. I can run a small test for you with a small budget if you want."

It can be quite compelling to see lots of searches they're not showing for, and to see competitor ads appearing for them when they're not.

 

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[Andy Black]

Will your SaaS be more valuable to them if you can also generate more leads for them? Can you create the simple landing pages and leadforms that send people into your SaaS product so your offering expands to being a system for generating as well as managing clients?

 

[Mr.Nichan]

Will your SaaS be more valuable to them if you can also generate more leads for them? Can you create the simple landing pages and leadforms that send people into your SaaS product so your offering expands to being a system for generating as well as managing clients?

The project I have been working on for them is more of a internal work tool for their employees to do reporting through and for their customers to see statuses on the stairwells that are scheduled to be cleaned. And I unfortunately didn't build it for them as a SaaS, I'm just hired as a consultant and was tasked to build this for them. So once this is done, I will mostly get requests for adjustments and/or maintenance work. I have of course been trying to sell them more functionality by suggesting stuff that would benefit them and their employees.

But I do have the skills to build landing pages and lead forms. And I would be able to build that into their web page to offer them a package type deal of Google Ads and landing/lead pages.

 

[Mr.Nichan]

Do some keyword research and present your thoughts to them.

Maybe take an angle like this:

"I thought I'd check to see if something like Google Ads might work for you. Here's some search terms I think are good ones for you, and Google's monthly estimated searches volumes. Here's the ads and landing pages when I did a few of those searches. I can run a small test for you with a small budget if you want."

It can be quite compelling to see lots of searches they're not showing for, and to see competitor ads appearing for them when they're not.

Great suggestions! Will do that!

 

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[Mr.Nichan]

Like I mentioned, you could explore turning that experience into an SaaS product. Did they need a custom solution, because there was nothing off-the-shelf out there that solved this? Than you might have a nice product idea on your hands. And the skills to bootstrap it.

There have been mentions of thoughts of selling their company, so my work in this has been a conscious step for that company towards getting more for the company once they want to sell. The system that I built is too custom to be easily turned into a SaaS, but since the owner is a real businessman I suppose I could talk with him to see if he'd be interested in extending this to a SaaS as a joined venture with me. That way I would have funding during the development and a possible future fastlane on my hands.

Though that would take a lot of time from my current startup since I would need to commit to a longer period of work on that. I have a new progress thread where I talk about what my main fastlane idea entails.