How Service Providers Can Identify Their Result and Deliver a Profitable Offer
Looking back there is something magical about the beginning stages of business. It’s like we all had this young naive way of thinking at the beginning. You’re learning all the things, you’re hustling, you’re saying yes a lot (probably more than you should have) but you’re doing it. You’re building something that is yours.
And then you get to a point where you’re hitting 10K months consistently. You did the thing! You’ve become an established business owner BUT you’re still holding onto that “beginner” energy. Yeah, you might be making more money but you’re still feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and stretched thin.
Since 2016, we’ve helped 10’s of thousands of established business owners move from feeling stuck to making multiple 6-figures all while feeling like they finally have their sh*t together. With all that said, we’ve also done our research! One of our favorite things to do is read about other businesses (even if they’re in different industries). And from there, we’ll take the info, tweak it and figure out how it fits within our industry.
So, in today’s blog, we have our research in hand and are talking about ways you can move beyond the “beginner energy” and get to a place in your business where you’ll feel more grounded and confident. Not only that but we’re providing actionable steps on how you can start leveling-up so you can finally move into the next phase of your business.
How to Start Leveling-up Your Established Business
The first step in leveling up your business is getting clear on your results. What is it that you are ultimately accomplishing? What solutions are you providing? What are your services?
Going back to the beginning of your business, it was normal to be everything and do everything because you were still figuring it out. But that has to stop at some point. You can’t be all things to all people and if you are doing that, it’s likely that you’re feeling burnt out. And data shows that businesses that do everything actually don’t stick around.
Okay, so back to getting clear on your results. What does this actually mean? We’re talking really honing in on your services and being VERY clear with your clients about what you’re offering. No more letting your clients dictate what you’re going to be delivering to them (remember, no more being all things to all people!), instead you need to brainstorm and identify exactly the results you want to provide.
Identify your results but how?
Typically when people explain how to identify your results, they tell you to find out what you do really well or what makes you unique. This always makes us laugh because ya want to know what makes us unique? Well, we can make a really yummy dirty chai or put together a beautiful farmer’s market bouquet, but that doesn’t really serve our clients. The question of what makes you unique can sometimes be hard to answer especially in a sea of similar businesses.
There is in fact a different way to identify your results though. And that is by defining your service excellence. What is service excellence? (good question) Your service excellence is what a business decides to do well and what a business decides NOT to do well. What attributes will you be excellent in and what will you decide to have an inferior performance in? If it feels weird to purposely not be good at something, you’re not alone (there are a lot of recovering perfectionists here).
Your service excellence is the missing ingredient. This is how you set yourself apart and how you identify your results. We have some examples for you so you don’t think we’re pulling your leg.
Real Examples of Service Excellence
Our first example is Walmart. We know Walmart is different from our primary audience’s service model but like we mentioned earlier, we learn from other industries and then we tweak and apply. So, Walmart, you either love it or hate it and there’s a reason for that. On purpose, Walmart has chosen to do some things really well and to do some things not so well.
What Walmart does well is they have low prices and a wide selection. You get the best bang for your buck. What Walmart doesn’t do well is they are lacking in ambience and customer service.
As a company, they decided they were going to staff with less people and spend less money on how the store looks. In choosing what their service excellence is, their audience actually self selects themselves. When you go to Walmart, you know exactly what you’re going to get out of that experience.
Another example is Commerce Bank.
They’ve decided that they are going to be more expensive and have higher rates BUT they have prioritized their customer service and their locations are beautiful and feel high end. So not unlike Walmart, their customers also self-select based on their needs and expectations from their bank. Although you’re paying for a higher end experience, that’s worth it to a lot of their customers. Good, bad or indifferent, you’re making a choice when you’re shopping with them.
There are countless examples of businesses choosing to be really good at some things and then purposely not being great at others. But that’s the thing that sets them apart!
Here are some questions you should be reflecting on when thinking about your service excellence:
What attributes do you want to be excellent in? Friendliness, convenience, price, speed, customer service, etc.
Which attributes are you willing to intentionally not prioritize?
How do these attributes match up with what your ideal customer wants and needs? Do these attributes attract your ideal client?
Do you understand your client’s top priorities? What results do you want to achieve for those top priorities?
Do you understand the alternative solutions that your clients would explore? What is your competition?
Now Let’s Talk About Delivering a Profitable Offer
Let’s talk about money. The thing we see when working clients is they think they are charging great rates, yet at the end of every month, they are still living paycheck to paycheck. It’s this constant feeling of scarcity which doesn’t feel fair. You’ve worked really hard and grown something really amazing but you’re feeling stuck.
This is when we ask, do you know how much it actually costs to deliver your service? Most of you might only be billing for the time it takes you to complete the actual task but there’s so much more to it than that.
Let’s talk about Starbucks. Starbucks not only has coffee but they also have comfortable areas for you to work or hang out, they have wifi, bathrooms, a parking lot, a nice air conditioned building, etc. Without telling you, Starbucks is not just charging you for a coffee, they are charging you for all the other amenities they offer. Hanging out at Starbucks for a few hours with your girlfriends isn't free, it comes with a cost.
We say all that to you because it’s so easy to think about your services as a la cart. However, there’s more to your services than just the deliverable. It’s all the time, thought, research, customer service, responding to emails, client communication, brainstorming sessions, the technology you use for convenience, your team’s time and expertise, your expertise, etc.
Here’s a quote from Harvard business review to really nail this point on the head, “The classic approach to funding something of value is simply to have the customer pay for it, but often it is possible to make the form that payment takes less objectionable to customers. Rarely is that done with à la carte pricing for the niceties.”
Think of how weird it would be if you paid for your coffee and then Starbucks billed you at the end for all those niceties.
Like we mentioned, the mistake we see people making is that they are only charging for what they’re actively working on for a client. But you’ve most likely gotten to a place in your business where you have hardware, a desk, an office, technology, a computer, etc. There are so many things that take you to run your business. It’s important to consider all those things when you create your price point.
Source: https://hbr.org/2008/04/the-four-things-a-service-business-must-get-right
Need Some Hand Holding? We Walk Established Business Owners Step by Step Through This Process
Here’s the thing. It’s one thing to read a blog about what you need to do in your business to finally make some shifts, but then actually doing it is another thing. Why not cut out all the second guessing? In the Incubator, we literally walk you through all of this step by step. Our clients come to us overwhelmed, burnt out, and feeling stuck about their next steps. After a couple of months in the Incubator, we’ve had clients more than double their income, take vacations without working and booking their services with their most dreamy clients.
Want to learn more? We don’t blame you! Head here to apply, it’s free and takes less than 10 minutes. Your application lets us know more about you, your business stage and goals. Then go DM us and let us know you applied so we can say hey!
