Introduction
Consider this scenario: you provide a service, let's say image consulting. You've been in business for quite some time and have been charging an hourly rate. Business has been okay, but you constantly have to defend your rate to clients who benefit from your service but still complain that your rate "seems to be a bit high. " Or maybe they are reluctant to even use your service because they don't know what they will be getting for that price.
Service providers often have to deal with this problem. There is a solution, however, to productize the service.
How to Productize a Service
Productizing a service means making the service look more like a product so that it is easier for customers to conceive, and thus buy. This involves:
- Giving it a defined scope;
- Putting it into a limited time period;
- Attaching a definite price tag; and
- Giving it a distinctive name.
Going back to the image consulting business, instead of charging an hourly rate, you could productize your service by offering a "One-Day Makeover. " The product would consist of a:
Dressing Up
An image consultant can productize their service by offering a package which includes a clothes and accessories shopping trip, beauty salon visit, and make-up application.
- Wardrobe assessment;
- Shopping trip;
- Beauty salon visit; and
- Make-up application tips.
All of this would be offered for a fixed price. And there's no need to stop there. An entire product line (or lines) could be produced using the same technique.
If you worked for a large corporation and developed a solution such as this, you would be called a Service Product manager.
The Service Product Management
Service Product Management deals with managing a service product throughout its complete life cycle. This organizational function is equally common in business-to-business as well as business-to-consumer organizations.
A service product, unlike a hardware or software product, is intangible, and manifests itself as pure professional services or as a combination of services with necessary software and/or hardware.
The service product management practice ensures management of a profitable service in the marketplace.
The service product manager identifies a profitable service space, packages services in a productized form and delivers the same to the market. The function is a core service business management function and is a mix of sales and marketing functions. The function interfaces with various organizational groups like strategy, planning, financial controls /management accounting, sales, marketing and communications.