winning in niches gets easier, too.
by jody padar
from success to significance: the radical cpa guide
product marketing is so different than selling service hours. it’s easier to teach to your employees.
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why? because there are advantages to selling a product.
product solutions offer a uniform solution to customers’ problems. if you sell product solutions, you sell identical versions to numerous customers. you may offer advanced or improved versions of products, but even those remain very similar to each other. your prospects can evaluate features before they buy, and if you do not sell to one prospect, you can try to sell the same item to another prospect. when you sell a product, you can focus more on selling than on customizing the product. if you are unable to explain your business and know the value of what you sell then it doesn’t matter what you sell.
if we’re selling correctly, we’re ultimately anchored in the customer’s “gap,” which is the gap between where they are today and where they want to be tomorrow. we’re selling based on solving measurable, tangible, urgent business problems.
also, if we have customized our personas correctly, the customer naturally wants to buy because the product fits them and it is sold as such, as opposed to us saying, “i am a cpa and i can help you with accounting and tax.” what does that even mean?
is there a defined outcome or a deliverable that is tangible and valuable to a customer besides a compliance-based document?
of course.
but i would argue that our customers are not convinced based on our poor sales process. if we were good at defining and delivering on value, our fees would not be subject to the scrutiny they currently are today. the value would be apparent.
it’s also easier for the team to understand the value gap; when they do, they can better explain it and ultimately sell it.
they also begin to understand their value, and how to step back and say, “this work is above and beyond the original scope,” and to price for it separately and potentially define a new product offering. it’s just easier to sell a complete solution rather than a billable hour of time that has no defined end.
when you productize your offering, it is easier to sell in a channel. when you define and create channel sales you have the opportunity to grow faster because of those channel sales. referrals are always good, but isn’t it exponentially better to receive referrals from a technology channel partner?
when you have a productized service offering, you can develop thought leadership within that technology vendor’s channel. that can greatly increase your sales much quicker than one-off referrals. and because you have standardized everything, it is easy to assimilate this growth into your firm because of all the processes you have created for your specific offerings.
selling to niches becomes easier as well because your persona matches perfectly to the niches’ needs. when you can match their exact need, speak in their words and bring the solution to their problem, that becomes a powerful growth option. add a little thought leadership, show up where the customer lives both online and offline, and not only can you sell your solution, you can increase its price as well, because a specialist can always command a higher price than a generalist based on value and expertise.
the choice becomes yours if you want to only serve a specific niche and create a boutique firm.