Mike McKay
August 18, 2026
Everybody wants more leads. It’s the first lever business owners reach for, every time, because it feels like growth. New name, new number, new opportunity. But leads are the most expensive way to grow revenue. There’s a simpler, cheaper lever sitting right in front of you, and most owners never touch it: average dollar sale.
Average dollar sale is just what it sounds like. How much a customer spends with you per transaction. $5,000 from 100 transactions is a $50 average sale. Simple math. Most owners have never actually calculated it, let alone set a target for it.
Here’s what matters. You don’t need a single new customer to grow revenue. Just a focus on providing more value per transaction. It’s the cheapest growth you’ll ever get, and almost nobody works on it.
But first, know your numbers before you touch anything
Calculate your current average dollar sale. Write it down and give your team a target. If revenue’s flat and you’re blaming lead flow, check average dollar sale first. Half the time the leads are fine but the problem is you’re selling everybody the cheapest thing you have.
Next, raise your prices. Seriously.
If you haven’t touched pricing in a year or two, you’re subsidizing your customers. That’s not a good business decision.
Here’s a fun fact. A client said their salespeople were adamantly against a price increase because they’d lose all their sales. Now, this company has raised prices 6 times in the past 8 years. I had them graph their conversion rate by month for that entire period. There were dips of about 10% at each price increase point that lasted for about one month. Then their conversion rates went back to the long-term average.
Price increases are normal, expected, and a fact of business. If you haven’t gotten your head around this, do it now.
Then, create bundles.
Break your offer into tiers. Good, better, best. A starter package, a premium package, a “just handle it all” package. People don’t love making decisions. If you’ll just give them three choices, you’ll simplify their life and you’ll see that they gravitate toward the middle or top tier. This is basic retail, but somehow the service businesses we work with have never packaged anything in their life.
That also includes trades and remodeling companies. This is money left on the table.
I’m not a huge fan of the upsell/cross-sell. They’re standard tactics, but to me, it feels like bait and switch. If you offer good, better, best packages, it accomplishes the same outcome with a simpler, easier set of options.
Just make sure your bundles are relevant and transparent. Nobody wants the extended warranty pitch shouted at them on their way out the door. That’s the standard car dealer sales experience, and everybody hates it. The offer has to solve something, save time, or make the outcome better. Do that, and it feels like good service.
When you bundle, highlight the option you want them to pick. Don’t make the mistake of burying your best offer next to your worst one and hope customers figure it out. You can even set a price threshold that unlocks something (free shipping, a bonus, whatever) and watch people choose to hit that on their own. None of this is complicated. It’s just intentional, and most businesses aren’t.
Finally, train your team to sell value, not just ring the register.
Your front-line people impact your average dollar sale more than any other aspect of your business. If your team’s default path is to point out the cheapest option, that’s what your customers will buy. That’s because that’s what’s easiest for the salesperson, not because it’s what the customer actually needed. Your people need to know what to recommend, why it’s valuable, and how to offer your upgrades without flinching. That’s a training skill.
A couple final thoughts.
Quit discounting like you’re going out of business.
Discounting is the fastest way to tank your average dollar sale and your margin in the same move. It’s the Kohl’s playbook. Mark it up, discount it back down. Train your customer to never pay full price for anything. Great for foot traffic. Terrible for margin.
You don’t need to run a permanent liquidation sale to get people through the door. Build a better offer instead.
Track it like you mean it
You can only improve things that you measure. Cliché, but true. Check your average dollar sale on a schedule. If it’s not moving, test something. A new script, a new bundle, new placement on the menu or the estimate. Small improvements compound. A 10% improvement in average dollar sale is a 10% revenue increase with zero extra marketing spend.
The bottom line.
Leads get all the attention because they’re visible and exciting. Average dollar sale doesn’t get the attention it deserves because it’s boring. While it’s just blocking and tackling, it’s also some of the cheapest revenue growth available. If you work on it.
Stop leaving your money on the table. Schedule a discovery call with us and we’ll talk about implementing this in YOUR business.