Video: Clarify Your Service Offer (Don't Mix Cookies and Batteries)
When you’re looking to sell products and services with your social enterprise, you have to appeal to customers, and be the best option that they can think of when they are looking for a solution to their problem or the best way to fill their wants or needs.
If you look at it from the other side; Customers will choose the best option for solving their problems or fulfilling their wants from among the options they’re aware of and based on their specific priorities.
The more simply you can present what you do, the easier it will be for customers to choose your products/services.
Host - Matthew Rempel
Editing - Kailan Janzen
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If you would like some support while creating a social enterprise, Strategy Made Simple can help. We provide coaching, consulting, and workshops to help social enterprise teams get on the same page and move their ideas forward. If you or your team need help, please contact Matthew Rempel at Matthew@StrategyMadeSimple.ca
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Strategy Made Simple: Keep it simple.
Transcript:
Matthew Rempel (00:00):
When you're looking to sell products and services with your social enterprise, you have to appeal to customers be the best option that they can think of when they're looking for a solution to their problem or the best way to fill their wants or needs. If you look at it from the other side, customers will choose the best option for solving their problems or fulfilling their wants from among the options that they're aware of and based on their specific priorities. The more simply you can present what you do, the easier it'll be for customers to choose your products and services. Here's an example. If I'm an office manager and I've been tasked with arranging for a move to a different location for the whole office, I'm going to be looking for a company that deals with office moves. It doesn't matter how many residential moving companies I find if I'm looking for office movers, it also doesn't really matter.
(00:45):
The work is very similar. The work of moving is about safely and securely packing, carrying and installing furniture into a new location. A description of the fundamentals of the work is nearly identical in this situation, but as the office manager whose job it is to find an office mover, I'm going to be looking for a company that does office moves. If I find a company that specializes in office moves, then I'm going to automatically assume that they have a better idea of the complications and specific issues that come up in moves like mine. Let's use another example. You're at an event and you're looking for a sweet snack. There are three bags on a table at the event, one with chocolate chip cookies, one with batteries, and one that has both chocolate chip cookies and batteries mixed together. Which bag will you grab from? This example is meant to show that how we present our options can sometimes unintentionally push away potential customers.
(01:38):
In this example, anyone that needs either a chocolate chip cookie or batteries have easy choices. They could pick from the bag that has what they need without risk of receiving what they don't. Even further. Even if somebody needs both, they probably don't want their cookies mixed with their batteries. In a similar way, organizations that specialize or pick a niche will have an easier time finding the people that want exactly what they offer. In both of these examples, the cookies and office moves, the clearer the description of the products and services being offered and who therefore the easier it is for the customer to make the decision to buy. So what can you do if your social enterprise isn't being clear with your offering or who it's for? First, you should look through the past customers you've served. Is there a common element between them? Do they have a specific need or want do you're filling?
(02:27):
Ideally, you should lean into a group of reliable customers that regularly purchase from you and have the ability to pay within that group. Is there a specific product or service that earns you a majority of your income? Rewrite your product and service descriptions with those customers in mind. Ideally, this will be using their words from reviews, comments to your staff or in post-service survey responses. The more natural your wording sounds to this group of people, the better. Ideally, you're looking for them to say: “It's like you took the words out of my mouth. That's exactly what I wanted.”
(02:58):
Next, evaluate what extra services you're offering that aren't making much revenue or impact. Are there any that don't really fit the focus of the organization or the social enterprise? Consider dropping them. Are there other services that you could add or bundle as extras to the core services that you're rewriting for this core customer group? While you're doing this reframing work, you should ask your customers what other products or services they would put into the same category as what you sell. Ask them for alternatives that they've evaluated or others that they've checked out to see if they fit better. This can help you understand what product or service category they would lump your offerings into. If you can identify the core customer group, a core product or service and reframe it so it's specifically appealing to your core customer group and refocus your other offerings around that core, then you're well on your way to clarifying what you sell and who it's for. And it should also make it easier for customers to choose your products and services because you're exactly what they want. Thanks for watching. I'm Matthew Rempel with Strategy Made Simple. And if you like this video, please share it with somebody else. Thank you.