Selling Services Online
The difference between products and services is a service is usually a one-off. It is tailor-made for the customer and so takes up more time for the producer than a product, where the same thing can be replicated many times.
So, a book is a product whilst consultancy based on the book, is a service. You would expect the price of a service to acknowledge the extra time and effort involved.
The issue for anyone selling services, online or offline, is scalability. Scalability is how you fit sufficient work into the time available to make a living. There are two ways to do this:
- Charge a higher price. This works where there are corporate customers who can afford to pay consultants thousands of pounds a month. They do this because the consultant generates more than their fees for the business. In the third sector, this is unlikely to work on the same scale.
- Develop services to sell to more than one person or organisation at a time. So, rather than one-to-one coaching, you set up group coaching. This means you may be able to do more for the same unit costs. Let’s say you typically charge for a session a sum that means you need to sell twenty a week to make a living. If you can run four sessions for five people, this reduces the work and maintains the income.
If option 2 works for you, then your service is scalable. Hairdressing is an example of a service that is not scalable.
Examples of Scalable Services
To deliver any service requires conversation, even hairdressers need to discuss their service with their customer. Conversations are central to some services, such as consultancy and coaching.
Coaching is an example of a scalable service. Where coaching is about passing on a skill, eg website maintenance and so a number of people can share the same session. Consultancy may not be so easy where it addresses issues unique to a client.
Masterminds are another example of a scalable service. They bring a group of people together to share their expertise. They pay an organiser who holds the ring and sets the theme for each meeting. So, in a mastermind of website designers participants contribute their work for comment or bring issues or questions about their work for discussion. They are in touch because someone has set up the network to which they belong, usually someone who has a good track record with the theme of the mastermind.
Can you think of other scalable services?