Making Services Tangible

If you’re selling a service rather than a tangible product, you have a unique problem. Because services are intangible, they’re impossible to ‘test drive’ or be fully appreciated until after they’ve been delivered so it’s really hard to differentiate your service from someone else’s. And, if you can’t see the work product of a consultant, designer, lawyer or even a carpet cleaner until after it’s delivered, how does a client know what they’re going to get…before they buy it? The answer is what we call ‘productizing,’ ie, translating what you do into a ‘deliverable,’ with outcomes, names and processes. Here are five principles to help you ‘productize’ your service:

1. Define Solutions and Outcomes. Services become more tangible when they are perceived to be solutions to a particular problem. “Carpet cleaning” is a service. “Spot Removal” is a solution to a problem. “Golf lessons” are a service. “Lower Handicaps” are an outcome. “Branding” is a service. Creating a “personality of an organization” is an outcome. By defining what you do as a solution or an outcome, it’s easier to demonstrate tangible benefit.

2. Identify. Create a name or identity that corresponds to the solution and communicates the outcome. In the above examples, giving a “Spot Removal” process a distinctive brand identity such as SpotGo or CleanSpot captures both the benefit and provides an opportunity to brand the service. A process for lowering handicaps might be called “ScoreCure” or “The ProScore” System. A branding process might be called “BrandMapping.” Naming your process or deliverable helps differentiation your service and can help communicate the value.

3. Visualize. Although a document such as a brochure may not seem as product-like as a toaster oven or screwdriver, it can visually represent a process. Using charts, graphs, drawings, diagrams, and other visualizations of a process can help give tangible meaning to a process or service.

4. Simplify. Processes and services can be complex. It’s one of the reasons they are sometimes hard to describe. For example, by breaking down a complex process, into a series of 5 steps, you make a process or service appear simpler to understand. The “5-Step” ProScore System or BrandMapping Process allows a complex process to appear simple and tangible.

5. Concretize. At the end of the process, provide some tangible evidence of what you’ve done. A photo, report, evaluation, summary, certificate or any other tangible representation of completion helps to convey that you’ve provided a concrete deliverable.

If you’d like to productize your own service, get our free guide and audio program at www.droz.com.