Corey Reed — February 23, 2020 Everyone always wants something fresh, exciting and new for the sake of new, it seems! However, what if you operate a business that offers a clean-cut experience and purposely doesn’t expand their suite of services, all in order to make their established customer base happy while raking in more relevant leads? Is it worth the risk?
Yes.
Not every business needs to deck out their offerings with the latest trendy deliverables, especially if doing so could hurt growth potential through spiked-up operating costs and more inconsistent quality control. The short and sweet of it? Pace yourself, then expand once the risk and reward of doing so come as close to balanced as possible. This is especially true if you operate a large business with a healthy following and customers already know what to expect from you, whom you don’t want to drive away like lemmings over a cliff. Change may be all well and good, but many companies are excelling and even thriving by sticking to what they know – after all, isn’t knowing half the battle?
In actuality, it’s how these services are managed that can make the most significant impact more than anything else. Focus on what your business does best and stand out from the rest!
Too Little Butter, Too Much Bread
Let’s say that you run an ice cream shop in the heart of town. Business is booming, customers are happy that you fired the guy who sampled all the flavours behind the counter, and your new raspberry swirl is a huge hit. Then comes Bob from down the street who runs the same type of business… and starts selling double-tall, keto-friendly almond milk mocha lattes. What is this madness?
Wait, you say his customers are buying in droves? Well, you don’t want to be left behind, do you? Surely this new service isn’t that difficult to add to your offerings – just fill a cup and try to not scald your eyebrows off, right? You could also take on new, cheap hires with basic experience to accommodate accordingly. And hey, don’t stop there – Bob just bought the burger bar next door to add even more services while you were busy making that first change. Then comes the next change. And the next.
Eventually, you’re serving burgers, fries, and coffee that could double as rocket fuel. Your ice cream offerings that were adored by so many dwindle down to vanilla and vanilla lite to compensate for meeting all this other demand you invented – and that’s before considering that every other order is coming back demanding a refund due to poor quality control.
See what’s happening? It’s not pretty. After a while, the two companies start to blur in terms of differences, and you’re effectively gambling away your business’ potential by merely keeping pace in the race. It’s like scraping too little butter across too much bread. There are several problems with such decisions, assuming you haven’t carefully mapped things out in advance.
Healthy Investments, Healthy Growth
Is your team sufficiently trained and experienced not only in performing these new services but also doing them well? While any monkey will write something if plunked down in front of a typewriter for hours, it’s more than likely going to be utter gibberish. Analogy aside, the standout flaw in this plan is that your workers are far from incapable – they’re unique, skilled, and dedicated folks who shouldn’t be made to bear the burden but rather be prepared to face appropriate changes as new challenges. In fact, you selected them for their existing skillset and abilities from the outset, so it’s a good idea to spotlight what they bring to the table and see where you can help them grow.
A combination of sensibility and proper dedicated training is critical here. There’s nothing wrong at all with adding a great new service at a competitive price to undercut the competition – after all, it’s good to keep things fresh and entice your target demographic – but you need to be strategic about implementing it.
This is where the benefit of simplicity comes into play, which is ironically not an easy thing to define. It’s important to be aware that a balance needs to be struck. While oversaturating your suite of services is a risky move to make, so is doing the bare minimum and not offering something competitive enough. It’s a real head-scratcher, isn’t it? This is the struggle that almost every business faces when it comes to tweaking their offerings, whether you’re a newbie or have been around the block and want to breathe new life into your operations to remain a top contender.
Optimize and Strategize
Simplicity refers to choices that are sensible and not overindulgent – the most critical must-haves, boiled down to their essence almost like a fine wine so their true functionality is made clear. Now, let’s apply this approach to that hypothetical business from earlier: Sure, you might not offer all the incredible services that Bob down the street goes on about and could therefore potentially lose a few leads, but consider the big picture instead: What you do offer is a more refined selection of roles delivering superior results that your team excels in. Anyone can “do everything,” but doing something meaningful, personalized, and as an experienced specialist in that area is really the key to the hearts and minds of customers. This translates to happier employees, happier clients, and, if you’re careful about how you spread the word, happier budget forecasting. This also helps to, should you wish to expand your offerings, do so methodically without sacrificing customer satisfaction or quality control. The public appreciates your maintaining a higher standard now more than ever, so don’t give it up!
In fact, many businesses go further with this “less is more” approach, complementing their online presence with the same digital marketing strategies that are employed by larger competitors. These include SEO optimization, a user-friendly, clean website, a compelling paid social ads strategy, and uniquely written, engaging web copy – all of which serve as core components of proper digital optimization.
Many businesses run themselves ragged by trying to do too much with too little in hopes of spiking their click-through rate and monthly lead count, but you probably won’t fare much better by joining them at what we like to call the “service circus.” Instead, take a good hard look at what’s working, what’s not, and where there’s sensible room for expansion.
Don’t Have an Identity Crisis!
Consider this: Have you ever looked at the selection of services made available by a business and wondered whether they could actually provide them all and still deliver great results? Mr. and Mrs. General Public don’t wear rose-coloured sunglasses, either – it’s easy to spot a company that’s biting off more than they can chew. Plus, too much choice can be confusing or overwhelming when poor Marge just wants to get her patio pavers cleaned and doesn’t want to rifle through pages of other services – winter could be here before she finds the info she needs!
With that said, what if simplifying your operations meant developing a deeper understanding of what your business represents? It’s not as flashy as marketing a shiny new service, sure, but it can be more effective at boosting growth potential and retaining the customers who took you this far. Folks will notice when a brand is too big for its own boots, offering non-personalized and copy-paste services – in other words, talking the talk but not walking the walk. Don’t just settle for “meh.” Your company is much more valuable if you at least settle for the minimum established standard, but that doesn’t mean you need to stop there and go, “this is fine.” If you can do better with more refined operations, then that’s your ticket. In short, don’t have an identity crisis, especially if you already know what makes your team so great!
Zeroing in on what makes your business unique, particularly in the form of which services are going over well and what your new and retained customers really want, is often the best course of action. With smart planning, simplified operations, and more breathing room in the quality control department, you can become a big fish in a shrinking pond – often because the competition is preoccupied with flopping around and splashing water out.
This is why we’re proud of every one of our clients – they know to just keep swimming and take advantage of the busy sea they occupy. They’re extremely knowledgeable and diligent about best practices when it comes to brand reputation. That requires a very firm understanding of their businesses, employees, and target demographics, and it makes working with them to refine their online presence that much of a pleasure. This takes years of practice, trying and failing followed by forward thinking, so don’t worry if you’re having a hard time at first.
Never compromise your vision or change for the sake of change and see how far it takes you! Best of luck in your endeavours, and don’t forget to reach out to our team if your business could use an extra hand with that digital marketing strategy.
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