How To Create Services Guaranteed To Sell
One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is assuming they know exactly what their customers want. As a result, a lot of time is spent creating courses, producing products or trying to sell services that the market doesn’t necessarily want. In this video, I share a few steps you can take to create services guaranteed to sell.
01. Carry Out Market Research
Most of the time when you’re not seeing results, it’s not that your services aren’t valuable but rather your services aren’t packaged and delivered in the right way; in a way that truly connects and resonates.
That’s why it’s important to ask your audience. You eliminate the guesswork and avoid investing all the time, money and resources without the guarantee that your services will sell.
You have to ask your audience. Let them decide on the services you sell. It sounds simple and it really is. That doesn’t mean the process is easy but it is simple.
When you invest in your customers, they emotionally invest in you.
When you ask your audience, you bring them into the journey. You showcase your leadership skills and by investing in your community, you show rather than tell them how much they matter to you and your business. It allows you to leave a lasting impression. It’s the foundation of trust, the cornerstone of any successful business. They know you care about their well being because you’re not just talking at your customers, you’re listening to them. You are interacting. You are hearing what they are saying and delivering on their pain points in a way that they can get behind.
When you invest in your customers, they emotionally invest in you. People buy on emotion then justify with logic. If you can engage your audience’s attention, invite them to be part of the journey, actively listen then create the solution they are asking for, you win. They win. The end.
It’s also important to recognise that by inviting your audience to be part of the creation process, you are actively creating a buzz and preparing them for when you do launch your new or updated services. They are anticipating it. That in itself helps when it comes to the launch and sale of your services.
How to do it:
Firstly, it’s important to be intentional about the questions you ask. You aren’t just trying to get direct responses, you are trying to truly understand your customer. Ask open-ended questions that allow your audience to expand and share their own perspective. They may share insights and information you hadn’t previously considered.
You are also able to really listen to the language, tone, and emotion they use when discussing certain pain points. This is also priceless insights into how you need to prep, package, and promote your services in a way that truly delivers value to your customers.
There are a number of ways you can go about asking your audience:
Get on the phone and talk to past clients
Hold Q&A on Instagram and Facebook. Go Live and invite your community to join you.
Online Surveys
Invite feedback through call-to-actions on blogs or social media posts
Participate in Facebook Groups and ask there.
Research Quora and Reddit
YouTube and Youtube Comments
Social media posts and comments
Google Analytics
Reviews and Related products (what are others saying)
It’s important to really listen and hear what is being said on a deeper level.
You may also want to look at competitor research, particularly how their audiences are responding to the services they provide. Look at reviews and related products. Pay attention to the comments on their social media accounts. Look at the views and engagement they receive on videos, posts, and articles.
This is valuable research but be very careful that you don’t get too caught up in this. It’s so easy to start comparing and replicating molding your services to match your competitors. This is especially true if you have imposter syndrome which most of us do to a degree. If you are someone who tends to doubt themself, spending too much time on your competitors will only fuel that doubt.
It also takes your focus away from your customer and what they need which is the purpose of the research in the first place.
Remember, people can do it the same as you but no one can do it quite like you.
02. Create A Beta Solution / Prototype
Once you’ve carried out all your market research, give yourself to really analyse it in detail. Look at the big picture. Identify the key pain points, the impact that is having on their life (in other words, the cost of not having a solution right now), the solution they need and how that would improve their life.
What is the end result?
It’s not a product or service. It’s a long-term benefit. How will they feel? How will their life be improved by investing in you and the services you provide?
Once again, keep in mind the language they are using. This is important because when it comes to creating your services, you are making them a promise. That promise is to deliver that solution / benefit/ feeling to them.
When you understand what that is, you can create a prototype or beta solution to test out.
How To Do It
Service Name
Ideal Customer Avatar
Problem
Solution and How Does It Work (Process)
Price
Objections and Answers
03. Test Your Service Proposition
Remember, it’s easy for people to tell you what they need or what they would invest in but actions truly reveal all.
Once you have your baseline offer in place, you need to start testing it out.
The reason is that you learn the most when you are in the trenches, doing the work and uncovering issues as they arise in real time. You get a real sense of how an actual client feels about the work you are providing. You can hear their new questions and issues as they come up in real time. You can test and tweak in real time to see what works and what doesn’t.
Most of all, this is an excellent way to get reviews and testimonials. Social proof is a huge influencer in any customer’s decision to buy. Sometimes all it takes is for a person on the fence to see a good review and make the decision to purchase.
I understand the concern of providing work upfront without the promise of a financial return but the thing to keep in mind is that often 5 solid testimonials can help you attract 25 paying clients. This is especially true when you do take the time to test, tweak and improve your offer.
Benefits of Testing Before Launching
Confidence.
You are able to build confidence as a leader and expert in your field. When you aren’t asking for money, you don’t fill yourself with so much doubt. Instead, you just do and you learn and grow then you get better.
At the same time, it also provides your community with confidence in you. People see you not only know how to talk the talk, you know how to walk the walk and deliver on your promise.
You can gauge demand.
When you reach out to your audience and offer a freebie you are able to see how many people are interested. People will not respond if they don’t have any need for what it is your offering. They may not respond if it costs them money but that’s the purpose of offering something free of charge.
You create demand.
By publicly creating and launching with the help of your audience, you actively create demand. You bring awareness and education to your core service offer and set yourself up to launch with success. When people are invested in the journey, they do have an emotional attachment. They also see first hand what they are missing out on if they don’t purchase.
You learn what you truly love.
As you test, tweak and adapt, you learn what you truly love and you get a real understanding of what you want to be known for. You want to be the best in the world at what you do and the easiest way to get there is to be all in on one passion and improve it all the way until you become a master at it.
For example, you may provide consulting but soon realize, you love to teach and would rather sell courses teaching others how to do what you do rather than do it for them.
Now that’s not to say if you’re multi-passionate you need to put yourself in a box and forget everything else. It’s simply saying commit to following one path through. One at a time. Master it then move to the next. Multitasking is a myth and it creates chaos.
How To Do It
You can test out your new service in a couple of different ways but the end goal is always to provide a small win. I recommend creating a free offer that requires minimal investment on your end.
This way you can provide a taste of what you offer and let them see the benefits of working with you without having to them having to invest money upfront and without you having to invest too much time upfront.
There are a number of ways you can do this depending on your business:
A video audit
Strategy Call
A lead magnet or downloadable freebie
A free class or webinar
A mini-course
A word of caution. When you provide a service rather than a digital product, be sure to have a clear written agreement and preferably a proposal that outlines the work you will carry out in exchange for the testimonial. Unfortunately, people can take advantage if you don’t manage the relationship properly.
Once you’ve completed your first round of testing, you are no longer guessing what will sell, you know the exact services your clients need and will invest in.
You can then build your core service offer around that.
04. Clearly Define Your Service Offers
Having clarity and certainty around the services you provide is key to being able to sell them. People often shy away from selling, they don’t like it but if often it’s because of doubt.
When you have 100% confidence in what you sell and you know (because you have seen first hand) the value it provides to your ideal client, you can promote that service with ease. Energy is contagious. If you have passion and belief in what you do, you can pass that on and it absolutely will have a huge impact on the profit you can potentially go on to make.
How To Do It
When it comes to selling your services. You need to clearly define your offering. You do this by answering the key questions your ideal customer has:
Who are you?
What do you do?
What problem do you solve?
How do you solve that problem?
How will this make my life better?
Why are you the best person to solve that problem?
When it comes to creating your sales pages, these are the questions you need to answer. When it comes to pitching to clients or selling on social media, these are the questions you need to answer.
There are of course a number of objections you need to answer too. Hopefully, through the market research you’ve carried out, you have a clear understanding of what they are and you can address them when you do launch either through an FAQ section on your website, promotional posts, through the conversation with potential clients, or by creating content around those questions answering them in detail.
The bottom line is that you can answer these questions because of the research and development work you’ve carried out upfront. You know the end result they are looking for and the promise you are making to them.
You can clearly articulate the transformation they are going to go through by investing in your services. You can create your brand promise.
The promise is what you go on to sell.
Formula
When you (INVEST IN SERVICE), you will go from feeling (BEFORE) to (AFTER), and experience (SPECIFIC RESULTS).
Key Considerations
Be extremely clear about what your core offer is but also clearly explain what it isn’t. This also hold true in terms of the audience the offer is and isn’t intended for. This is for the audience you can achieve the desired result for. If you attract others, your offer may fall short.
Be sure to limit the choices you provide. You aren’t trying to be everything to everyone. You are trying to be the best in the world option for your ideal client. When people are faced with too many choices, they start comparing and fail to make a decision. Keep it simple and make the decision easy.
Present your offer in a simple, easy-to-digest package that provides your audience with all the information they need to make a buying decision without overwhelming them.
Finally, you’ve taken the time to truly understand your customer and what they want, be sure that when it comes to promoting or services, you keep them top of mind. Speak to them, not at them. Use their language. Connect to their emotions. Reason with their doubts. Inspire their actions and belief in you by building belief in themselves.
And most importantly of all, when you do put that brand promise out there, be sure to always deliver on it.
Recap:
Ask your audience what they want/need
Take time to carry out market research
Give yourself the freedom to test, tweak, adapt and refine.
Once it clicks, go all-in on one core offer.
Clearly define your core offer (and limit choices)
Launch. Review. Renew. Repeat.
Keep going until you become the very best in the world at what you do or you decide to add a new value proposition to the mix.
Either way, it’s a process that’s guaranteed to work because you’re not operating blindly. You’re working with your community and create and deliver the best solution possible.
I hope you found this video valuable. If you did, subscribe for more good vibes or leave a comment below. I’ll see you there! :)
