Insights on How to Productize Services and Solution Offerings
A collection of news, insights, and best practices for productizing services, conducting market research, developing new products, and commercializing offerings.
“Our product review board meetings are less about improving the performance of the product portfolio and more about getting people to buy into our productization strategy. They allow people to come with ideas, source ideas, and get involved in the process. They give us a chance to see who is willing to raise their hand, come on board, become true believers, and take that back to their own teams."
Fear management in B2B professional services is the practice of mitigating psychological and operational barriers to innovation and product development. This process involves helping leaders navigate the uncertainty of shifting from bespoke services to scalable products. Mastering this skill is essential because it allows organizations to grow and protect their business while delivering honest, data-driven feedback to clients. Understanding how to apply risk management to business operations provides a framework for leaders to navigate these uncertainties effectively.
Key Takeaways
• Fear management mitigates psychological and operational barriers to innovation in B2B professional services.
• Leaders can learn how to apply risk management to business by following structured, controllable practices.
• The think big, start small approach mirrors the non-linear progress required for successful product development.
• Focusing on controllable risks prevents analysis paralysis and improves decision-making during complex business initiatives.
• Practicing gratitude and seeking expert guidance builds the resilience necessary for long-term organizational success.
I’ve also watched brave colleagues, friends and family stare down fears when the stakes are much higher - a cancer diagnosis or a sick child, for example. And I think of their ‘fearlessness’ when my smaller work-related fears can feel all-consuming.
In August, I practiced fearlessness by summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, a process that mirrors the risk management required in product innovation. On August 3, I reached the peak with my 16-year-old daughter, Kate.
Gratitude practices have been a mainstream personal improvement trend for almost 20 years, since psychologists began testing the role of gratitude to positively impact mental health and boost happiness. Science shows that consistent gratitude practice–taking time out to recognize and say thanks for the good things in our lives–has a host of personal benefits, including increased happiness and positive mood, less experience of burnout, better sleep, and more patience, humility, and wisdom.
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I recently had a conversation with one of my CEO clients about how best to help the senior leadership team embrace a new product innovation idea. This CEO was frustrated that the team seemed resistant to the changes the innovation would require and was wondering how to proceed. We discussed two options: asking the team to collaborate on a business plan for the new product, or, providing them with a concrete plan and asking them to implement it.
Innovators know that expecting and embracing imperfection is a necessary ingredient of developing and launching a successful product. Recently, I was reminded of this while working with a client who was preparing to present their MVP to the sales team. Their main concern – was it ‘too basic’? Their demo, although lacking a visually interesting UI, was fully functional. Knowing that an MVP does not need slick aesthetics, we encouraged them to begin using the MVP in sales conversations to demonstrate the breadth of their offerings and to begin getting customer feedback. At the meeting, the CEO began the presentation with one of my favorite quotes by Reid Hoffman -
Fear accompanies business model transformation and product innovation because these activities introduce ambiguity into your normal business operations. But to productize successfully, organizations must learn to face fears associated with change. In this four-part series, we outline our LEAP method for overcoming the fear that gets in the way of successful productization. LEAP stands for:
Informed by the neuroscience of mindfulness, the LEAP method has helped clients and our team find the courage they seek to innovate and transform.
When services firms choose to pursue a productization strategy, they can face many challenges. I’ve seen companies fail because they didn’t have the right skills, poor product-market fit, or they under-invested in go-to-market. Another significant challenge is changing the organization’s behavior and culture to be more product friendly. Consider this:
Most professional services organizations deliver their expertise through one-to-one customized interactions. When these organizations decide to grow through productization, they need to learn how to deliver expertise at scale.
I can’t believe that three years have passed since we launched Vecteris at the Women in Product Conference in San Francisco back in 2018! So much has happened and this seemed like a good moment to stop, reflect, and celebrate.
