Structure Your New Service Offering for Success

As you walk through the show floor, you can’t help but imagine how that new service or technology would fit into your business. You just know that your customers are going to fall in love with that new service. And you are certain that your prospects will say yes once you let them know about your new offering. After all, that’s how it’s been for a long time. Build it and they will come was the ROI methodology for many a successful printer. But does that still work in today’s marketplace?

Was it a good idea?

What sometimes seems like a good idea gets hampered by the lack of oxygen necessary for it to thrive. It could be because of not enough volume, it could be lack of expertise, or just could be a resource allocation issue. By that I mean, the bandwidth within the organization might be stretched too thin to give this new service, or idea, the support it needs to contribute as advertised.

Fill the seats with the right people

A common issue is in the inability to fill the seats with the right people. As printing organizations continue to offer adjunct services, they go further and further away from their core expertise. It doesn’t mean they can’t get there, but they may not immediately have the necessary skills sets to carry out the mission. Further, these adjunct services are often treated in the same manner as the company’s core business. This could include the workflow, the pricing models, and the customer service expectations. Based on the company, these may or may not be appropriate for these new services.

Be accountable to yourself, employees, and customers

Please don’t take my thoughts as being against adding services to your core competencies. Rather, I’m promoting the fact that as you add new services, think about how they can be best managed. Structure it in such a way that they could support themselves and be profitable. Could it survive as a standalone business?

Remain accountable to yourself, your employees, and your customers. Don’t leave it to chance. Make sure that each of your new services can carry their own weight, be a leader, and not be a burden on the rest of the company. It may not happen overnight but overtime you can do this. Be intentional about your decisions to have the right people, products, customer experience, pricing, and deliverables in place to make your new service best in class.

As you go about building your business, you are certain to have impediments along the way. Make sure that the internal ones are kept to a minimum. Any thoughts on this? What did I leave out? If you are already doing this, let us know how it’s going. If you want to get started down this path, let me know. Good luck.

Mike Philie can help validate what’s working and what may need to change in your business. Changing the trajectory of a business is difficult to do while simultaneously operating the core competencies. Mike provides strategy and insight to owners and CEOs in the Graphic Communications Industry by providing direct and realistic assessments, not being afraid to voice the unpopular opinion and helping leaders navigate change through a common sense and practical approach. Learn more at www.philiegroup.com, LinkedIn or email at mphilie@philiegroup.com.