A productised service is a service that is packaged and sold like a typical product. For service providers, productised services are a hybrid business model. They offer the convenience of a one-size product and the personalisation of a service.
For customers they offer a packaged solution to a problem. Think of them like a beautifully wrapped gift – a bundle of services put together and tied with a neat bow. Everything you need is wrapped safely inside.
If you’re tired of tracking time, productised services offer a way to simplify your business model. They let you “work hard once” and leverage that hard work time and time again.
Here’s how.
Productised services have a standard scope
Productised services offer a defined set of deliverables; a fixed and standard scope.
It’s clear from the outset what’s in, what’s out, what the cost will be and when each deliverable will be provided.
When you offer a productised service, you go from saying, “here are all my skills and expertise, how can I design a service to help you?” to saying, “this is the solution to your problem.”
The scope is pre-prepared for an ideal customer, not custom-designed to suit the unique needs of every person who walks through the door.
Think about buying a car from a new car show room. You can choose the make and model, and perhaps some upgrades, but a Toyota Corolla is a Toyota Corolla. Choose your colour and add some fancy rims, sure; but don’t think about redesigning the car to change its shape or add a different engine.
Productised services work in the same way. They offer a standard scope of services designed to solve a specific problem for a specific type of customer. There may be some add-ons, but the hard work of designing the scope is done once and presented as a solution many times over.
Escape the billable hour
Imagine going to a supermarket where the isles and products have no price tags. You have no idea what you’ll be charged for your shopping until you reach the checkout and you scan and pack your shopping. Crazy, right?
When you productise your services, you sell them for a fixed price that’s agreed upon at the start. Price is based on the value of the solution, not the time it takes to provide it. This gives you an incentive to work smarter, not to work to fill hours on a time sheet. The more efficient your service delivery, the higher your profit margins.
An added bonus is that products are paid for in advance. You don’t pay for your groceries after you’ve eaten them! Productised services are the same, so you can eliminate the job of chasing those pesky debtors.
Eliminate the grunt work
Streamlined systems and processes for service delivery are the engine of productised services. They’re what truly distinguishes a productised service from a typical fixed price service.
Systems only work for a standard service. If you offer a custom scope to every customer, your process will look different for every engagement.
With productised services you follow the same process every time. Each time you deliver a service you can make improvements to your systems and benefit time and time again.
With good systems you will increase the standard and quality of your work and at the same time reduce the time it takes to deliver the service. Better still, you can automate the grunt work, freeing your time to work on the things you enjoy most.
Productised services let you simplify your business model, escape the billable hour and do more of the work you love.
Keen to learn more? Discover the Power of Productised Services in my free e-book.
