Compare your product or service range with dating

Many of my clients are do-gooders. They are people with good hearts who want nothing more than to help other people. I think that's great about them and this is also their greatest strength, but at the same time it is also their biggest pitfall.

You can see this reflected in their product range and their prices. They are, for example, a coach or trainer and know that their customers have to take several steps to get the desired end result. Because they want to help their customers so much, they create a kind of monster product that really has everything in it and with which they can help their customers from A to Z. It's incredibly well-intentioned, but overwhelming for their customers, making the step to big for them to take and no one buying it.

Or they start selling a certain product that is not going fast enough and then they add more and more products in the hope that they will be sold. Or they will lower the prices of their products so that they occasionally sell something, but not enough to live on.

You can recognize a good product or service range by three things:

1. It consists of a number of layers and is therefore manageable for both your customer and you.

2. There are different price tiers ranging from free to high-end/premium.

Each product has a specific focus and solves a specific problem or fulfills a specific need. I always equate creating a product offering with dating. Maybe you missed the entire Tinder phase (lucky you), but nowadays we first take the time to quietly look at what kind of fish are swimming in the pond from the couch.

After that, we still quietly take it from the couch in our sweatpants – the time to chat with someone we felt good with. If that conversation goes well, we plan a first date. After the first date, we see if we want to go on another date and this time maybe a little longer. No more just having a drink, but perhaps a bite to eat or spend a day in another city. And so it goes on until you finally tie the knot. You keep taking small steps and every time it is confirmed that it still feels right you take the next step.

However, what we often do with our product offering is that we either immediately ask on the first date if someone wants to marry us or if we keep going on the first date continuously.

That is why it is important that you create a product offering that offers someone the opportunity to always comfortably take the next step, but at a certain point, you also come to a point where someone can make a full commitment.

You could also compare it to a staircase. You can see the steps as your product range and the railing as your sales and marketing strategy. The steps act as a solid surface to help your customer get from A to B in manageable steps and by means of the handrail you guide them to always take the next step within your product funnel.

Are you ready to go on a date?

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