Productize Your Services: 8 Inspiring Examples to Help You Work Less, Earn More

There’s a simple way writers can work less and earn more: Productize your services.

That service you deliver as a bespoke solution that’s handcrafted for each individual client? That one.

The one your clients demand most.

That’s the service we’ll productize first.

“Work less and earn more” might sound too good to be true. 

But almost any service business can be productized to make it easier and faster to deliver.

Your clients won’t notice the difference — they’ll just think you’re super organized.

It’ll be our little secret, OK?

Read on.

How to start turning your services into products

To start, review your sales.

Notice what service your customers purchase most often from you.

It’s smart to select your best-selling service. Productizing a service that has high sales volume will make a noticeable difference in your business.

Developing a process for the service you deliver most is the first step toward working less and earning more.

Look for the constants

Even ultra-customized services have a few tasks in common.

Once you know which service you want to productize, your job is to look for those consistent tasks and create repeatable processes around them (just like you do when carving out creative time for your business).

The more you can systematize your service, the faster and more efficient it will be to deliver it.

That means that over time, you’ll work less time and earn the same amount of money. You could even take on more work if you lock in processes for repeatable tasks.

Repeatable process examples:

• Create a checklist with a standard series of questions you ask every client in your initial meeting.
• Have your client fill in a form to give you the majority of the information you need to be able to deliver the service.
• Create a process for setting up the new project in your project management software.
• Use templates for your estimates, your contracts, and your welcome, follow up, and wrap-up emails.

This “observe-and-note-the-constants” step is crucial and it’s something only you can do.

Any time you find yourself repeating a task, make a note so you can create a repeatable process.

It’s the foundation for productizing your service. 

It’s not sexy — it’s systems

One of the most challenging parts about delivering a creative service is that clients have a difficult time understanding how you create their solutions.

Your process isn’t visible for the most part. 

Your clients describe what they need and somehow (maybe by magic?) you appear at the agreed-upon date with the solution.

“How did that happen?” they wonder.

Creating and following systems as you deliver your service makes the process feel more tangible. You may find your clients are relieved to not only see that you know how to create digital products, but that you also have a process. It’s reassuring to work with a creative person with a plan and a method they follow.

Have I convinced you to try productizing your best-selling service?

Let’s look at some examples of how you can work less and earn more with products — we’ll call them packages.

8 examples of productized services for writers

My background in branding requires me to tell you that you can charge more if you create a compelling package name for your productized service.

That’s why the examples below begin with a compelling package name.

I’m sharing package options for four different types of writers. Use them as inspiration for the productized services you’ll create for your clients.

Digital Marketing Copywriter

Example 1:

Website Kickstart Package: Write the copy for your client’s Home, About, and Contact Us pages so they have what they need to get a basic website online.

Example 2:

Promotion Copy Package: Write copy for a sales page, plus five social posts and three emails so your client can run a promotional campaign.

Content Writer

Example 3:

Content Continuity Package: Consistent content creation is challenging! Offer a package of four blog posts per month. For each blog post you write, create two related social posts and one email to announce the new post to email subscribers.

Example 4:

Email Maven: Help your clients keep in touch. Offer a package that includes one weekly email plus landing page copy for the opt-in page where people can subscribe to join the list.

Technical Writer

Example 5:

Knowledge Power Package: Scour your client’s customer support queries and create two new Knowledge Base articles per week based on what’s confusing their customers.

Example 6:

Onboarding Matters Package: Write a seven email sequence to onboard new customers based on client-provided information.

Curriculum Writer

Example 7:

Pre-enrollment Package: Write one opt-in incentive, plus educational copy for the opt-in landing page, and a three email sequence to deliver additional education to new subscribers.

Example 8:

Standard 6-Week Course Curriculum Package: Create written content for a 6-module online course based on interviews conducted with your client’s subject-matter expert.

The increased revenue from productized services? It’s pretty great

The creative process may seem like it’s more valuable if it’s sold as “customized to each client individually.”

I beg to differ.

Clients love seeing that you have a structure in place and a repeatable process you use to create the solutions you offer.

Systems are sexy — and they reassure clients that you can solve their problems today, tomorrow, and next year.

And for you?

Dialed-in processes mean your service-based business should earn more every time you lean on the processes you create for the compelling productized services you deliver.

Now the question you have to answer is …

What will you do with the extra time and money?