Productized service operators, how do you standardize?
When I started my copywriting & content creation shop, I envisioned an ecommerce site.
There's a bunch of pre-designed packages. Any website visitor can add to cart and swipe their credit card on checkout.
I can see that this works for the likes of DesignPickle and WPCurve... where they basically offer unlimited.
However, it doesn't quite work the same way for us. I can't imagine offering unlimited and there's almost always a customization for every deal.
How does it work for you?
How were you able (or unable) to design... and stick to your standard packages?
Are there ways to limit the customisations and word counts so that each job equals say 400 words and take up to 48 hours. They get 1 job at a time on the Standard plan and 2 concurrent jobs on the Pro plan.
When they order, they complete a form with say 8 fields with some being multiple choice to limit the choices. Also, revisions take 24 hours so new jobs can't be started until the revision is approved. It might work...
Ooooh...
I like that DesignPickle-like approach. :D
Having a package like this will enable me to have a clear ecommerce page that indicates costs and inclusions.
Exploring this idea. Very promising!
This is something I struggle with also. I think a lot of is down to choosing your services wisely so the deliverable is quite specific. For example the past few days I've been thinking to specialise my web development offering into api development, because it's easier to validate an API with a customer than a user interface.
The API niche sounds good.
Regardless of what niche you focus on, the fact that you have a narrower set of services enable you to dive deeper into that specialty.
It's also good to have services that compliment each other, good for up-selling.