Guest Author: Turning Your Services Into a Product

By C.J. Hayden
Author, Get Clients Now

One of the biggest challenges in selling professional services is that what you are offering is intangible. Your product can't be seen, touched, or tasted. Until your prospective clients experience what you do, they have no way of knowing if it will turn out, whether they will like it, and how well it will work in their situation. To make a buying decision, the client must first trust that your work will produce the result that they need.

The most common way to package professional services is by the hour or day. The client pays for your time, and they keep paying until the project is declared complete. But clients are often resistant to this. You will hear them say, "I don't want to leave it open-ended," "That seems high for an hourly rate," "I'm not sure my budget will allow for this," or even "I'm not quite clear what it is I'd be getting."

You can overcome these barriers to making a sale by "productizing" your services. This awkward term simply means that you make your service look more like a product, so that it becomes easier for your clients to buy. You give it a defined scope, fit it into a limited time period, assign it a definite price tag, and attach a distinctive name.

Let's say you are an image consultant, and you've been selling your time for $75 per hour. Instead, you offer a "One-Day Makeover" at a price of $495, and include a wardrobe assessment, color consultation, and shopping trip. You're giving your clients a defined result with a clear timeframe and set price, making it easy for them to buy. Plus, you are able to let clients experience a range of the services you offer and suggest additional ways they can work with you.

A market research consultant working with corporate clients at $150 per hour could instead provide a "Market Position Blueprint" for a flat fee of $2500. The package would include a comparison matrix of three key competitors, qualitative data from interviews with six loyal customers, and recommendations for improving the client's market position, all to be delivered with 30 days. Clients know in advance exactly what they are paying and what they will get for it.

When buying your services in a package, the client runs less risk. They don't have to worry about cost overruns or getting an unexpected result. They know how soon the result they are paying for will be delivered. There's also an emotional comfort factor in buying a package. Purchasing something with a name attached makes it feel much more tangible than simply buying hours.

For you, offering a package helps you get your foot in the door. Once you show a client what you are capable of, more business will often result. Even if you price your package at slightly less than what you would earn for working the same amount of time at an hourly rate, you will probably profit more because more of your time will ultimately be sold.

Many consultants find that fixed-price contracts are much more profitable than working by the hour. In a survey quoted by the late Howard Shenson in "The Contract & Fee-Setting Guide for Consultants & Professionals," consultants working exclusively on a fixed-price basis had 87% higher profits than those working on a daily or hourly basis.

To determine which of your services would be best to turn into a product, consider what your target market most often wants from you. Is there a specific set of steps you usually follow when first working with a new client? Activities that you perform repetitively with many people give you an opportunity to create templates, worksheets, and other tools that you develop only once and use over and over. This effectively allows you to charge for the same work more than once.

Be sure to spend some time on coining a unique name for your product. You want a memorable results-oriented name that will help you to stand out from the competition, and perhaps even allow you to trademark it.

To launch your first product, you may not need to do much more than develop a standard format for what you are already doing, set a price, and name your new invention. Taking this critical step toward making your services more tangible can result in easier sales, more repeat business, and more profitable engagements.

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Copyright C.J. Hayden.
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Marketing coach Veronika Noize has created a list of what she considers the Top 10 Marketing Tools for Small Businesses. Among them are some obvious items (web site, business card) … but do you use your e-mail signature line effectively? How about a script for when clients call?

Find a Resume Writer By Auction?

Combing through some old notes this Memorial Day weekend, I came across some musings I had about an "Auction System for Resumes."

Using an eBay-like interface, the client would input information and standards (timeline, job target, products he/she is interested in -- like a resume, cover letter, bio, etc.) and resume writers would bid for the project (the lowest bid would win).

I tried looking online for something like this, but didn't find it. I did find a site -- CareerAuction.com -- that offers client resumes for auction, using an unusual strategy of paying clients when their resume is used to win them a job. (It's a strange concept, and even stranger when you read about it.)

Have you heard of such a service? Let me know if it exists...

Low-Cost Resume Revisions

There may be times when you offer an "entry-level" resume development product to clients -- for example, a low-cost revision of the client's existing resume. This service might be priced from $59-$149 (of course, your fees will vary with how seasoned of a resume professional you are!!) and include revamping the client's document with a minimum amount of new content.

This service might be appropriate for the client whose resume needs some help, but not a complete overhaul. It might also be appropriate for the client who cannot afford your typical service offerings (including full resume revision and accompanying cover letter). Or it might be a service that you offer specifically to job seekers participating in a job fair in an effort to develop immediate business and generate a return on the time and money invested in participating in the career fair. (For example, you might advertise this Resume Revamp service for the 2 weeks leading up to a major career fair in your area, at a special $99 price, plus a handout on 'Getting the Most Out of Job Fairs.')

So what should the client expect to get for this low-cost investment? Managing his or her expectations is a critical part of the service delivery process. A client who is expecting the "full treatment" while paying bargain-basement rates will be disappointed, no matter how great the finished product is. So outlining the scope of services you will provide will be critical.

This can include defining such things as:

• Up to 'x' amount of time (for example: one hour) on resume research, draft development, and design. Package does not include questionnaire or client consultation beyond initial conversation. Resume revision will be based upon content provided in client's original resume.
  
• Package includes one revision to incorporate client's changes/modifications (up to 'x' amount of time). Additional drafts or consultation time beyond that will be charged at 'x' rate.
  
• Resume provided in electronic format (Microsoft Word), with additional formats or hard-copy laserprints and/or CD provided at an additional cost (specify the cost in the quote). Cover letter development or revision provided at an additional cost.
  

You will also want to clarify that this service is not appropriate for career changes, adding in any new positions, or significantly changing the content of the existing resume. Client must have an existing resume (updated through current position) in order to order this service.

A question I'm often asked by resume writers is how different the resume revision should be from the original. Here are a few guidelines:

• At a minimum, you should use a different font and layout than the original resume. Sometimes this is an easy fix -- particularly if the original resume was developed in a Microsoft Word template.
• Completely rewrite the top 1/3 of the resume. The Qualifications Profile is the area where most clients struggle. Spending 75% of your efforts on creating an outstanding opening to the resume will make a huge difference in results for most clients.
• Use a different layout for the company descriptions than what the client originally provided. If the client's resume uses a series of bullets, change to a more paragraph-oriented style. Incorporate in design elements, white space, and expert formatting techniques to make the resume more "professional" in appearance.
• Make sure you change 20-25% of the client's wording -- with special emphasis on punching up the Accomplishments. If you don't want to take the time to ask the client the questions needed to quantify more accomplishments, include the question in the resume itself for the client to answer.
  

For example, the client's original resume might have this statement:
"Negotiated with vendor to decrease annual costs of packaging materials by 40%."

You might rewrite this to be:
"Saved company [$$] by negotiating with key vendor to reduce annual packaging material costs by 40 percent."

Finally, the key to successful client expectations management is outlining the changes in the e-mail to the client with the draft delivery. Here you want to manage the client's expectations that they're getting your *best* work for the price they paid -- but leaving the door open to upgrading them to a higher level of service later.

For example, you might write:

Dear (Client):

Thanks for the opportunity to work with you to revise your resume within the scope of our
entry-level Resume Revamp package. As promised, I have incorporated in a couple of key modifications which should result in an immediate improvement in how your resume is received by prospective hiring managers. These include:

• (Developing / Modifying / Improving) the Qualifications Profile on your resume to create a dynamic first impression for the reader. The top 1/3 of the resume is key to attracting the attention of the hiring manager, and the rest of the resume is used to provide information to support the qualifications we spotlight in this key section.
• Highlighting the value you offer to a prospective employer by quantifying key accomplishments in your work history, including how you've saved your previous employers money, made them money, or improved the workplace by your contributions. I've outlined a couple of key areas where you can provide additional information to better quantify your impact on the organization.
  
• Using effective design strategies to create a resume that can easily be scanned to find key information. This format is effective for both traditional (printed) use of the resume as well as sending your resume as an attachment in Microsoft Word format. (Please keep in mind, however, that we recommend an ASCII text format if you are going to be using your new resume in postings on the major Internet job boards. You can order this format as an additional service.)
  

The resume package you purchased is not a complete overhaul of your resume, so you will find that I have kept the majority of your original content. I am confident that your revised resume will increase the response you receive -- but keep in mind that we do offer more comprehensive writing services to further enhance your qualifications and incorporate in more targeted keywords and accomplishments. We can also re-target your resume to position you to pursue different career fields, and provide template and customized cover letters to support your job search. If you are interested in more information about any of these additional services, please let me know.

Of course, a key part of the resume development process is collaborating to finalize your new document. Please make sure that everything on the resume is accurate (including the spelling of your name, your address, phone number, e-mail address, dates of employment, etc.). Also, please make sure that I'm describing you accurately, as we want to position you as a great candidate, but I don't want to overstate or overemphasize any areas you're not comfortable with. You may show your drafts to others, if you wish, but be sure you have spoken to everyone before you contact me with your changes or approval since your contract provides for one revision.

I look forward to hearing back from you in the next 24-48 hours to finalize your documents. If I don't hear from you in that timeframe, I will assume that you are happy with your new resume and will close out the project.

Thank you!

(Your Name)