Most entrepreneurs are stuck with products that require a long time to close, i.e. long gestation period. Their product or service is taking too long to convert, because it’s too complicated, not packaged properly, or requires way too much customization. Meanwhile, bills need to be paid, while revenues take too many steps to convert. The key here is to design an array of products & services that have different lengths of conversion and easy marketability.
What you have to do is design your products or services into 3 different categories: Basic, Premium, and Support.
Basic products are easy to understand, in the “most-wanted” standard format, and the shortest time to convert.
Premium products require more customization and likely greater education by the provider.
Support products are those that enable the business to have a long-term relationship with its customers. These product categorizations will work differently for different types of businesses, and target customers, whether B2B or B2C.
For instance, if you run a website development company, the product menu and the product cycle will make or break your business. A basic product for a website development company would be making and setting up websites, as these are basic and easy to understand. A premium-level product would be a digital marketing consulting jobs or social media marketing jobs, which require proposal customization, and greater level education before prospects convert. A support level product would be perhaps an email marketing service or web hosting service, where there are perhaps low margins, consistent small income, but enables a longer-term relationship between you and your customer. This is a B2B example.
For a B2C example, let’s look at a pet store. The basic level products would be perhaps grooming, or cleaning, as these are easy to understand and most pet stores have this service. Premium level products could be pet beds, or pet nutrition services, which are more customized toward each pet and its owner. Support level products could be a pet hostel service with a membership program in place.
This is one of many strategies, but I talk much in detail on how to overcome the hurdles of an average business, in this article. Check out my article “Are You Tired of Running a Mediocre Business: Seven Success Principles that Differentiate GREAT Businesses from Mediocre Ones”
I cover these in detail accompanied with real examples and teach you how to design your product pipeline in my programs. Click here to find out more.
