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.
As markets evolve and industries face new challenges, many firms find themselves at a crossroads, contemplating the shift toward productization. Productization can significantly enhance valuation, streamline operations, and boost competitiveness. But what triggers a professional services firm to productize? Let’s explore the eight most common reasons that move B2B services organizations from traditional service models to a more productized approach.
From time to time, I get a call from a pro-serv company that has invested a lot of time and money into launching a product that simply isn’t selling. They don’t know what went wrong. Can we help? After a little digging, we often find out they didn’t get enough (or any) market feedback as they were building. They were sure about the solution/product/offering and wanted to get right to selling. In the right situation, I am all for going right to selling, BUT do it without building anything! Save thousands of dollars, maybe hundreds of hours, and Sell then Build.
As 2024 unfolds, the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on professional services is increasingly apparent. In a recent discussion on the Professional Services Pursuit podcast, hosted by Banoo Behboodi, Vecteris’ Eisha Armstrong explored how AI is helping professional services organizations rethink how they solve problems and create value.
In the realm of B2B professional services, where expertise and tailored solutions are the main offerings, the challenge of introducing new technology products or tech-enabled services is magnified as they can require significant upfront investment as well as new skill sets. Imagine if you could first test your new product concept with actual live, paying customers to be sure there is market demand before making that significant investment.
In today's fast-paced sales environment, equipping your team with the right tools is crucial for success. For organizations with lots of products, one such tool that can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your sales process is a decision tree.
As you embark on your productization journey, you're likely to encounter some familiar roadblocks – first, the need to quickly demonstrate value, and second, overcoming internal resistance to change. But here’s the good news: the secret weapon to generating ‘quick wins’ to overcoming these challenges lies in a focused approach to learning.
In 2023, we saw an accelerated shift of market trends that affirms the need for B2B professional services firms to form a digital strategy to compete.
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There’s a writer's term-of-art (the origins of which are murky, with claims that it was coined by Earnest Hemmingway, Oscar Wilde, or William Faulker amongst others) that goes like this: to get to the best possible outcomes, you have to be willing to “kill your baby.”
“I don't want this new product to eat away at my existing business.”
We hear this a lot.
So many executives get caught up in the fear that new products will detract, or worse destroy, their existing business. Total or partial cannibalization can occur when a new product moves customers away from current service offerings or product lines. It is a legitimate concern, but the right framework and strategy can help companies stay competitive and turn potential threats into opportunities.
Product innovation and management are key capabilities for developing successful scalable, digital products. But if you're new to product innovation and management, building the processes and competencies you need to be successful can be overwhelming. For example, should you start by improving your voice of the customer skills or Agile project management skills or product usage analytics skills or all of the above?
