In the 30+ years I’ve been in the business of providing professional services, I’ve learned a considerable amount about what works to get clients and make sales. One of my most significant discoveries — which I luckily made early in my self-employment adventure — was that it’s easier to convince people to buy something that seems to be tangible than it is to sell only your intangible services.
Once you give your offering a name and assign it a fixed price tag, it makes it appear to be a real, tangible thing that potential customers can wrap their mind around and budget for. Some examples:
- A program, like my own Get It Written Day, or Kris Carey’s Solo Biz Journey. Mine is a one-day online retreat; hers is a membership community.
- A product, like my book Overcoming the Fear of Self-Promotion or Kris Carey’s Get Clients Now! Virtual Success Course.
- A package, like my colleague Raven Friedlander’s Financial Foundations Program or Margie Beiswanger’s Create Your Program Now VIP Day.
This sort of packaging makes it easier for your prospective clients to buy from you, and also makes it easier for you to sell to them. When you stand up to introduce yourself at a networking event, instead of having to say, “Please hire me,” you can say, “Please come to my workshop on July 12th.” Or when emailing a potential customer, you can replace, “Let’s talk about how I can help you,” with “Let’s talk about which one of my packages might be a good fit.”
Once you give your offering a name, you can sell the thing instead of trying to sell yourself. Many self-employed professionals and creatives find that this simple shift makes selling less stressful. Instead of having to talk about yourself and risking a rejection that feels personal, you can offer your program, product, or package instead.
It’s likely you’ve already encountered the objections folks make when they consider buying services they perceive as intangible. They’ll ask questions like: “What will I get?” or “What if the cost becomes more than I can afford?” Or they’ll say: “I don’t want it to be open-ended” or “I’m not sure how that will work.”
People find it more straightforward to quantify the value of a tangible offer, and that makes it more possible for them to justify your price tag. Prospective clients make judgments about your offerings based on how they appear. A program, product, or package can appear more manageable, more solid, and its benefits can seem better defined.
No matter what your business is, making your offerings more tangible is possible. Some examples are obvious, like creating a workshop or seminar series, or setting a monthly retainer for a fixed level of service. Here are other possibilities which might spark some ideas:
- Series of one-on-one sessions over a fixed period of time, which cover a specific outline and deliver a defined result.
- Specified set of deliverables created for a fixed price.
- Ongoing membership which provides a library of tools and a set number of live sessions.
- Product such as a book, ebook, email course, or online course which packages the same advice you give your clients in live sessions.
- One-day offering that provides a pre-determined deliverable by the end of the day.
What I frequently find with programs, products, and packages is that people are willing to buy them without ever talking to me first. But when selling my services by the hour, month, or day, this type of low-contact buying hardly ever happens.
Now, what if packaged offers like these aren’t the total of what you want for your business? Let’s say you have a high-end service that is the one item you most want to sell. In this situation, a more tangible offering can serve as an entry point to start working with you. Once a client experiences your program, product, or package, it’s highly likely that they’ll trust your work, and want more.
If you’re having trouble making enough sales, give programs, products, or packages a try. This just may be the how-can-it-be-easier solution you’ve been looking for.
