How to Create Products for Your Service-Based Business - Part 3

by Erin Banister

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This is part 3 of a three-part series on how to productize your service-based business.

What systems can I use for my product?

If you’ve been doing business on the internet for any length of time, there’s no doubt you’ve bought a few info-products. As soon as you get into their funnel, you’re put on a list where you get follow-up emails, helpful advice, ideas on how to implement the product, a monthly (or more frequent) newsletter, and more.

All this follow-up is made to help you, the consumer, understand the product and for the author to build rapport with you. It’s been estimated that it takes between 7-10 contacts with a person for them to buy anything from you. These contacts not only reinforce the content you’ve bought, but it also allows you more face-time with the author - thereby getting through those 7-10 contacts. This system is invaluable to any business.

Your system will allows you to help your customer use the product, and it will also builds rapport and shortens the amount of time it takes for them to buy a product from you.

Building Your System: It starts with email

As we discussed in Part 1, AWeber is my #1 favorite follow-up tool. Why, you ask? AWeber is a robust tool that allows you to segment your list and send out messages specifically to that list.

For example, if you have three items in your product funnel - product a, product b, and product c, you can have all of them filtered into one main list (newsletter) as well as having them on separate lists. So, this way, when you’re sending out your newsletter you can send advertisements specific to where your leads are within your funnel.

Neat, huh?

With many other tools, it would take an eon to get this set up - but with AWeber it’s simple as pie. THAT is why I love AWeber so much.

I have an Autoresponder/Broadcast System - Now What?

Now it’s time to systemize.

This process is designed to allow you to communicate and build rapport with your clientele and readers without having to spend a lot of time speaking to each person individually.

Set up an autoresponder system for each product. During each phase of your funnel, you want to ensure you’re communicating with your customers, especially directly after they buy.

After each purchase, set up a series of autoresponders - anywhere from 5-100 messages - to help entice your customers to consume the product they just bought, to help educate them about other things going on in the area of interest, and to open dialog.

You can use your autoresponders to:

• Give step-by-step instructions on how to complete a task related to your product
• Give industry insights not included in the product
• Reference supplemental materials so customers can better utilize & understand your product
• Ask for feedback, testimonials, and questions

Following Up Systematically

Following up is the key ingredient in your funnel - you can have as many products as you like, but you’re not going to be as successful unless you follow-up using the autoresponder. This is how we generally follow-up in a product funnel:

1. 1. Free Report/Newsletter
   1. 7-message autoresponder series, supplemental tips to free report.
   2. 1 email inquiring for testimonial.
   3. Promote Tier2 Product at bottom of each message
2. 2. Tier 2 Product
   1. 7-message autoresponder series, supplemental tips to product.
   2. Additional 3-5 messages on topical information and interesting links.
   3. 1 email inquiring for testimonial
   4. Promote Tier 3 Product at bottom of each message
3. 3. Tier 3 Product
   1. 7-message autoresponder series, supplemental tips to product.
   2. Additional 3-5 messages on topical information and interesting links.
   3. 1 email inquiring for testimonial
   4. Promote Tier 4 Product at bottom of each message

And so on…

As you can see, with each product, the customer interacts with you between 8-15 times (not including regular newsletter). Each time you give the customer new information, it adds to their ‘rapport’ bank and the closer they get to moving up your list.

The funnel is a win-win situation for everyone involved. You increase the trust level of your clients and move them along the funnel, and your customers get the information they sorely needed as well as solving a problem with which they’d been struggling.

When you began reading this series, you were at the beginning of productizing your service-based business. Hopefully, this series has helped you to not only create products and systemize the process of moving your leads through the product funnel, but it has also helped you gain clarity with your upcoming products and systems.

Tags: audio, aweber, Business, ebooks, how-to, infoproducts, marketing, passive revenue, product, Productizing, service-based business, solopreneur

Like this post? Check these out:

• How to Create Products for Your Service-Based Business – Part 2 (0)
• How to Create Products for Your Service-Based Business (2)
• The Solopreneur’s Guide to Delegation (15)
• Is Your Business The Next ‘Sliced Bread’? (0)
• Solo-press (0)