Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

What if your business sold a product that, once demand kicked in, you couldn’t make any more product?

Well, you could always raise prices, but that may not slow demand or be possible due to competition.

While it may appear that I am speaking about widgets when I refer to products, I’m actually talking about service businesses and professionals that sell their time by the hour. See, you can’t make more time, so once you are at capacity it’s nearly impossible to grow – or make any more of the product.

The best way out of this time box is to turn your services into products. Now, I don’t simply mean write an ebook that details your services and sell that (although that may indeed be a fine idea.) I’m talking about packaging your unique service offering, branding the heck out it, and selling it as set deliverable – here’s what we do, here’s what you get, here’s what it costs.

The value behind this product approach is that it is much easier to differentiate your offering from competitors and you can charge a set price for the package. (a package that you can get very efficient at delivering.) Once time clocks are removed from the equation you will likely quadruple your effective hourly rate overnight.

Once you create your service packages you can multiply yourself (make more product) by documenting your unique deliverables and teaching others to market and deliver them or you can license your new service technology to others in your industry, often at premium pricing.

For some, entrenched in the ways of the time sheet, this can be a tough mindshift. But let me ask you this – if it has taken you years to get to the point where you can offer a service or advice that is second to none, shouldn’t that be worth more than $75 or $100 an hour? If you can help an individual or business get more of what they want out of life, gain wealth, get healthy, solve their toughest challenges – I say results like that are worth thousands an hour.

The only way to do that is package and repackage your knowledge and experience and stop selling your time.

Posted by: John Jantsch on May 30, 08 | 7:07 am
Category: Branding, Entrepreneur, Marketing Strategy | Tags: