productized consulting for designers by jane portman

Productized Consulting for Designers

by Jane Portman at UI Breakfast

Step #1

Understand the Benefits

Why are clients scared to hire designers?

Don’t know the price

Afraid that the scope will spin out of control

Not sure whether you know what you’re doing

Not sure how to proceed

What can you do?Set up a fixed price

Set up a fixed scope

Describe the benefits and provide social proof

Describe the process & the deliverables

What problems does productized consulting solve for you?

Makes you easy to hire

Eliminates proposals and allows to set your own rules

Helps transition to value-based pricing

Helps sell recurring services

Free crash course on productized consulting by Brian Casel

http://productizecourse.com/

Is Productized Consulting Really a Good Fit for Your Business? (by Jason Pelker)

http://item-9.com/productized-consulting-good-fit-business/

Is Productized Consulting really a good fit for your business? (by Kai Davis)

http://doubleyouraudience.com/productized-consulting/

Step #2

Define Your Offering

Define your audienceRemember your top 3 favorite clients

Niche down on a certain business type

Define your scopeRemember your top 3 favorite projects

Niche down on the format

Think of common things and processes

What has the top value for the client?

Three levels of involvementStrategic guidance

Review & report

Hands-on work

Define the processDiscovery

Execution

Delivery

Define the priceThink of your delivery time and double it

Create pricing tiers (packages)

Charge more

Step #3

Write Your Sales Page

Portfolio doesn’t sell your services.Long-form sales copy does!

Follow the structurePain, dream, fix, objections, call to action

Desribe your fix wellWhat exactly you do and why

The process and the client’s role in it

Common client questions

Protect yourselfWhat you won’t do and what problems you can’t fix

Common pitfalls caused by clients

Reserve the right to determine the scope

Anchor your priceAnchor to alternative services

Use tiered pricing

Overcome objectionsProvide testimonials

Provide a money-back guarantee

Types of calls to action“Make a payment here and I’ll get back to you”

“Email me at (this address) and I’ll get back to you”

Fill in a form/questionnaire

Capture leads with a freebie“Not ready for an expensive XXX yet?

Try solving the problem yourself by using my free course (cheatsheet)”

The Brain Audit by Sean d’Souza (book)http://amzn.com/B00COQFUNU

Dissecting Great Sales Copy For Productized Consulting by Patrick McKenzie

https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/dissecting_sales_copy

Step #4

Market Your Services

Basic marketingPut your new service front-and-center on your website

Tell everyone you know

Point your clients to the service sales page

Advanced marketingStart an email list and feed it with good content

Create a free course

Do outreach

Turn Readers Into Buyers (article by Brian Casel on creating free email courses )

http://casjam.com/email-course-guide/

Step #5

Deliver and Polish

Do a test run (or a few)Offer your new gig at 50% off

Practice your process

Get a shiny testimonial

Refine your sales page

Common mistakesCompromise on the audience, scope, or price

Deviate from the process

RecommendationsPractice saying “no”

Avoid strict deadlines

Be generous and exceed expectations

Step #6

Plan a Product Line

Ideal product lineA free course

A book (under $100)

A more expensive course (under $300)

Productized consulting

High-touch custom gigs

Ideal productized consulting lineA strategy call (under $500)

An entry-point gig ($500-1500)

An “all-inclusive” advanced offering (under $5000)

A recurring monthly service ($500-1500)

Best practices for a monthly serviceLimit the contract to 6 months

Set a grand goal

Do a roadmapping session in the first month

Don’t book yourself solid

My own consulting productsCorrelation: monthly creative direction for software

companies (discontinued)

Custom UI Audit: the actionable screen-by-screen teardown of your web app

My full consulting line for SaaS companies

Walkthrough Strategy Call

Custom UI Audit

Wireframing Session

Visual Style Guide

The UI AuditMy book based on productized consulting: http://uibreakfast.com/audit

Use code INVISION30 to get 30% off any book package

Good luck in productized consulting!

Thank you my friends!