It's all in the packaging

When you’re selling a service, expertise or a physical product, packaging is everything.
Voice of invisible business owner: “Packaging, how does that relate to my business? I offer a service. I don’t ever have to worry about packaging.” Au contraire, my small business owner amigo (and yes, I was able to fit 3 languages into this sentence).


Packaging for businesses offering services or consulting sometimes includes grouping services together in a tidy little package, making your services easier to sell, not to mention easier to quote. In a sense, creating packages with pre-priced options saves you administrative time and makes it simpler for clients to decipher what you will offer for what price--hence the easier to sell piece of the puzzle.

An example of packaging service can be as simple as putting together blocks of hours for a pre-set price and offering them in regular increments. At the Marketeers, we’ve recently started a “Rent a Marketeer” package in which we offer 5-hour blocks of time to clients to cater to their every marketing whim. The hours are useable over a 6-month period, so even if the client takes 2 out of the 3 initial hours, they have 5 more months to use the 3 leftover hours.
It’s easier for us to quote jobs, offers more flexibility and everyone gets a fair deal. Plus, the package is easily renewable when the client exceeds their initial 5 hours (or 10 or 15—depending on their project). Much less headache for all involved.

Another way to package services is to combine two or more of the services you offer for a small discount, allowing the client to receive more bang for their buck and you to have more potential for an upsell (or eventually a larger check from the client). Both sides benefit from this package deal. You should have the services offered and the details involved written in way that should be transferable to all clients, saving you time (once again) with administrative duties and quoting jobs.

One last way to package things for a service-oriented business is to offer a membership plan. The Latham Group, a business offering mostly outsourced administrative help, offers a great monthly plan. They offer different levels per month, also providing flexibility for businesses and creating a simpler process within The Latham Group for selling and billing. The client knows exactly what to expect every month and The Latham Group is able to bill at a lower rate due to the security of having members at different levels and decreased administrative upkeep of these accounts.

How do you package your services? If you don’t offer services, but use other companies that do, have you noticed anything that stands out from certain service providers as far as packaging?