Welcome to The Rachel Kurzyp Show

You’re listening to episode 8

Today I’m going to share 5 common mistakes that I see business owners make when they try and create a signature service the first few times.

If you’ve made any of these mistakes yourself, don’t feel bad. I’ve made every one of these mistakes too. And dare I say it, multiple times.

Yep!

Before I dive into the mistakes, I want to quickly define what I mean by a signature service and some of the benefits.

A signature service is when you solve a specific problem for a specific client using your unique process. It’s the last part in my 4-step niching framework. If you want to learn what that framework is, you can go back and listen to episode 7.

Having a signature service will help you sell more with ease because you will be selling one solution to your dream clients and not having to customize every job.

It will help you increase your income because you will no longer be trading time for money. Instead you will be selling a result and transformation. You will also be able to automate your systems and process making the service more efficient and therefore profitable.

And finally, you will become known for one thing, helping you to establish yourself as the respected leader in your niche. And your clients will be lining up to work with you as a result.

Let’s look at mistake #1 – raising your prices without justifying or increasing the service value

I see business owners making this mistake a lot because the internet and Insta coaches love saying that raising your prices is the key to working less and making more money.

And while many of my clients do need to raise their prices, and you might too, tripling your rate overnight won’t guarantee that you can work with fewer clients and meet your income goals.

What actually happens for a lot of business owners is that they get less clients and make less money because they haven’t correctly justified their value to their clients and now their dream clients don’t see why they should pay $5,000 for a 4-page website when yesterday it would have cost $2,000.

Pricing should be a strategic decision and you shouldn’t be only basing your prices on what you want to earn.

mistake #2 – creating tiered packages based on price

When business owners start hearing the ‘your too expensive’ objection, they often create tiered pricing for their offers. It’s quite common to see a standard + VIP option on a sales page.

And while there is nothing wrong with this, tiered pricing can become an issue when clients keep booking the standard package but the business owner ends up delivering a VIP service because they can’t actually do the work without completing the VIP process. This happens a lot because the offerings have been created based on price and not the results and transformation.

As an example, a creative entrepreneur is looking for a copywriter and comes across a sales page. They look at what is included in the standard package and it doesn’t come with SEO, brand tone and voice guidelines or any discovery calls. Things that you’d expect in a copywriting service. But it meets their budget and they are told they will get web copy they want so they book.

The business owner is faced with the dilemma of trying to write copy without going through their process because if they do they will lose money. They can’t so they provide the VIP option at the standard price.

Not only have they made the sales process more complicated they have now set the precedent that clients can have high-quality copy for a lower cost when this isn’t actually the case.

mistake #3 – Not solving an urgent and specific problem

Normally by this stage, business owners are getting frustrated by this process and feel it isn’t working because they still aren’t getting clients and the ones, they do have want customized offerings.

So, they decide to create a signature service based on what work they want to do and not what their clients are asking them for.

And while I understand the frustration, the problem with this approach is that when they launch no one wants to buy it because they haven’t included the client in the process.

Which means in most cases the news service isn’t solving a specific problem their clients have right now. Instead, it’s addressing a perceived problem or a problem they wished their clients had.

As you know from episode 7, it’s important to create a signature service that is aligned with your strengths, values, and skills BUT if it’s aligned with what is needed by the market then it’s worthless.

mistake #4 – Investing in the wrong assets

I see business owners investing a lot of money into visual assets like logos, assets, profile pictures and cute graphics because they want to look the part. Branding is a particularly important for building the know, like and trust factor that is needed if you want your dream clients to buy from you.

However, branding is more than looking the part. You need to sound and act the part too and that’s where your messaging, positioning, visibility, values, mission and so on come in.

Business owners waste a lot of money branding and rebranding themselves because they think this is the reason why no one is buying or enrolling in their services. Instead they need to invest in their business foundations.

mistake #5 – working with b-grade clients

Getting people through the door isn’t enough. I know there is a lot of pressure to get clients and testimonials, but I see a lot of business owners offering their signature services at below cost price or for free.

And this can have a negative effect on your business because you will attract b-grade clients who don’t do the work, don’t get results, and don’t advocate for your program.

Brand advocates are one of the most valuable assets because they will go out and sell your service and the results for you. If people are going through your service but you don’t have anything to show for it, it’s going to be hard to marketing your business, justify the investment and attract your dream clients.

It’s better to work with 3 dream clients than 15 b-grade ones just so you can say you’re booked out for the next quarter.

There you have it, the 5 common mistakes I see business owners making when they create their signature service on their own.

Now you know, you can invest your time, energy, creativity and money into the right strategies for your business.

If you’re ready to learn how to find your niche, price and name your services, create content that draws your high-paying, high-quality clients to you and sell with ease, then my 12-week 1:1 coaching program TCFM may be perfect for you.⁠

Head to rachelkurzyp.com.au/TCFM to sign up to the waitlist.

Thanks so much for tuning into today’s episode.

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