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3 Reasons Why Your Service is Your Product
As a small home service business, you deliver a service or some services to your customers. That’s an obvious statement; but have you considered that this is your product?
The reason for asking this apparently bizarre question is that one such home service business commented recently that “we don’t sell products”. In a sense this is true because there’s no physical item at the end of the process; it’s not as if they’re selling an iPad, a motor vehicle, dishwasher, or anything else. But by taking such an intangible approach and assuming that the customer cannot see anything, the home service business is actually making life more difficult for themselves. How do you sell something that essentially doesn’t exist?
When a business designs and sells a product, decisions are made about how it looks, how it feels, its features, what makes it unique, and what attracts the buyer to part with their cash and make a purchase. But there’s no reason why these types of decisions shouldn’t be made when defining your service.
Here are three reasons why:
- Differentiation – make yourself stand out from your local competitors and define what is so special and different about your
service. In the same way that a physical product manufacturer cares about the aesthetics that make their product look unique, apply this logic to your service to help make it stand-out and sell. - Vision – despite the earlier comment about selling something that “doesn’t exist”, the reality is: it does exist. By defining exactly what you are selling, you can then paint a picture, a vision, in the mind of the customer. They may not physically “see” your product but by outlining exactly what the customer gets, they will clearly “get it.”
- Tangibility – how you market your product is more than just the product itself because you need to look at how you price and promote this, and where you sell it. By ignoring the product aspect and not describing your service, you have nothing to price and promote: there’s nothing to sell!
The third point from the list introduces the powerful, but simple, technique called the Marketing Mix and we will provide an overview of this in a forthcoming blog.
As a small home service business, what are your thoughts about this perspective?
Why Awareness is Essential to Home Service Businesses
What is Brand Awareness?
What do you think of when you hear Johnson & Johnson? Most likely it’s an image of a happy baby, maybe splashing around in a tub. If someone were to mention McDonald’s, it’s also very likely that the golden arches will come to mind, and your mouth will start to water. This is brand awareness at its finest, when an everyday consumer can instantly identify your company, and what it provides from an image, a logo, a slogan, or just by name.
Why Should You Care?
Brand awareness is important whatever industry you are in, but it is particularly important for home service businesses. Why? There are many home service businesses out there, and it is hard for a consumer to differentiate. It is important then to seize the opportunities you have to capture a potential customer’s attention. People often put off work on their home or business until it is staring them in the face. You want to ensure when they DO
need a service, your company is the first they call. For instance, if a consumer is driving down the highway and they see an eye popping, but nicely decaled van advertising home cleaning services, with contact information clearly displayed, that image will most likely stick in their head and you could receive their call.
How to Implement Brand Awareness:
Brand awareness is like taking a megaphone and announcing from the rooftops; “we are a great HVAC service company located right in the center of town, check us out!” Here are some steps to take at your home service business to ensure that you have properly branded your company, and are sharing it with the world.
- Hire a graphic designer to create a logo for you. There are many freelance graphic designers out there that will happily create a logo for you at a relatively low cost. Be picky and specific. Describe your business and what you would like to portray and work with the designer to come up with an image that suits your company and is a good fit. Make sure you include your logo on your service vehicles, your business cards, bills, estimates and the sign on your office.
- Come up with a slogan. You are looking for something catchy and memorable that also helps identify what service your business provides. Take lawncare company B&G Turf Farm of Helendale, California for example. Their slogan is: “We’re easy to get a lawn with.”
- Use the social media world. Broadcast your company’s existence by creating a company Facebook page and Twitter account. Make sure to use your company logo and slogan in both profiles so that it is easily identifiable. Make sure to post company updates and industry news.
- Update the new-aged Yellow Pages. Visit Yelp, CitySearch, Angies List, and other local search and review websites and update or enter your business information. Make sure to include your website, business phone number(s), logo, and address.
- Get Noticed!
The image that you present to the world is the image that consumers will remember. Make sure that you are presenting your business as a professional, clean cut, responsible and knowledgeable company. Demonstrate expertise in your field. By exposing the world (even if it’s just within your community) to your home service company, you increase your potential customer base. Next time a frustrated home or business owner needs a service; your company will come to mind.
Building a Better Business 