By Scott Manning
Manning Methods, LLC
Perhaps the single most overlooked and/or under-utilized part of any business is upgrade level to a service or product.
This in many businesses is extraordinarily easy to implement or restructure — in many cases, excellent client service firms may already have this component to their business, just not be charging for it!
The concept goes like this; let’s take 1000 future clients (“Future clients” is our new word for prospect, lead, etc.):
Out of 1000 future clients, let say you get 500 to do business with you at your normal or ordinary service or product. Now, out of those 500 surely there are half (250) that are really excited about your company and have money to spend and should be pleased to spend it with you; they are candidates for a higher level of service or product, of course at a higher level price.
I’ll set the stage with some basic example and then we’ll discover the obviousness of this gold mine.
Computer Sales / Service
Basic Purchase – Computer System
Upgrade Purchase – Computer Service, monthly package for repair, maintenance, and updates
Hair Salon
Basic Purchase – Hair cut and style
Upgrade Purchase – Hair cut and style, wash, shampoo, color, facial, the total package
Fitness Industry
Basic Purchase – Monthly Membership
Upgrade Purchase – Personal training
Lawn Care Business
Basic Purchase – Monthly lawn care
Upgrade Purchase – mulching, trimming, etc.
Automotive Service
Basic Purchase – routine maintenance
Upgrade Purchase – Annual Service Plan, vacuum every time, etc.
In no more than 15 minutes, you can take any business anywhere and conceptualize at least one if not two or three levels of upgraded service or product sales.
Important clarification:
Add-ons are a separate item or service which can be combined together at the point of sale or after to any part of a transaction. We will cover this in detail in another section. Basic and/or any level of upgrade can have multiple add-ons with it. Here we are focusing on a much larger concept, quite literally adding levels of business to your business!
Ideal Structure of Upgrade Programs:
Let’s revisit our 1000 future clients; we’ll use a generic “Service Business” model which works just the same for a generic “Product Business” model which will be brought out in my final example.
Out of 1000 people, 500 people now own our service, a basic level or entry level purchase and the ground floor of our business. This service can be categorized in a couple ways depending on your business, market, and industry.
1st – this service could be performed only ONE Time.
2nd – this service could be performed at the very lowest level possible (don’t misunderstand, Highest level of Quality and Service, lowest level of actual transacted service.)
Out of 500 now Basic level Clients, 250 people decide that they really enjoy our service and wish to invest (word you should be using for charge, fee, or spend) more of their hard-earned money into our service. They now move to the second level of our business, our 1st upgrade level of service which usually fits into three categories.
- More of the same, ongoing service, like an annual plan, monthly service, etc.
- Enhancement of the basic level, better, faster, longer lasting level of service
- Access to or inclusion to “members only” type service
Out of 250 now upgraded level one Clients; 25, 50, 100 or more people decide that they want it all. They are the Frequent Flyers, the Priority Members, the people just as passionate or in need of hat
we’re providing as we are ourselves. This “next step” can go on for several levels and is usually significantly more than the basic or 1st level upgrade in price. Premium level upgrades looks like this;
- Best of the Best, treated like the owner
- Inner Circle members, they get all the secrets and specials
- Receive ongoing discounts or perks in additional to their HIGH priced upgrade service Putting it all together
I am sure that you are getting a good grasp on this; after all, we are bombarded with this ourselves when doing business with highly evolved companies. The hard part is not misunderstanding it, it’s making it work for your business, developing the upgrade levels and over servicing. Now, I shouldn’t say HARD; it just takes thought, execution, and constant revision and updates.
Scott Manning
President, Manning Methods, LLC
317 407-3382
sj@manningmethods.com
By Matt Hall