Why your MSP business (or any business) NEEDS a ‘value ladder’!

Are you struggling to convert a big percentage of your leads?

Are you getting feedback that you are ‘too expensive’?

Are you losing business to your competition?

When many business owners create and launch their business they have a flagship service, product or offering that they want to sell.

This is fine and all businesses need a service/product that aligns with the goals of the business and brings in the most margin. However, most companies stop there. They create a rigid flat level offering that they try to sell to everyone.

The problem?

Everyone is different, and at different stages of their ‘buying journey’.

Another problem with this approach is you are trying to sell a high-ticket offer, to someone that probably doesn’t know you. Remember:

People buy from PEOPLE they KNOW, LIKE & TRUST.

For example, in a Managed Service provider based business, you may be trying to sell your Fully Managed IT support package with all the bells and whistles to a prospect. You can promote all the features and benefits until your blue in the face, but if you haven’t shown the prospect any value first there is a high chance you will lose the sale, and the prospect forever. If the prospect is looking for a lesser service your also leaving money on the table.

How to improve your conversions and win more business

As mentioned, the problem with offering a flat service structure (ie 1 main offer at 1 price) is that:

1) It won’t fit most businesses and…
2) You haven’t shown the prospect any value, so why should they commit to your high-end service?

A good example of this is a shoe shop. Imagine a shoe shop not offering advice and help with sizing for FREE? Now imagine if they only offered a size 10 in the shoes they sell – How many people would they be turning away that would be smaller or larger than size 10? Again, leaving a lot of money on the table.

You need to think of how you can apply this within your business and to your service offerings.

How can you show value to prospects early on?

So, what’s a value ladder and why do you need one?

A value ladder allows you to create multi-levels for your services, that will apply to many more prospects all at different stages in their buying and trust journey.

The value ladder also allows you to convert business that would have originally been left on the table if they were looking for a lower end service or a higher end service.

In our IT Managed Service provider business example – Instead of offering the x1 flat service at the high price, you will now have a staged set of services or products, each time adding more value.

What are the benefits of a value ladder?

• Increased revenue by expanding offerings to prospects that may have only ever taken 1 service.
  
  
• High Lead conversions because you have more entry points for more prospects at different stages
  
  
• Concentrating on value first, your prospects will become happy clients.

By concentrating on the value you offer to the client first, it will become almost certain that the service offer for the next level will increase the revenue received from the client.

How do I get started?

1. You need to profile your ideal client, and the different stages they have in their business and buying journey
   
   
2. What value does your core offering add to them and their business? This will most probably be the top of your value ladder if you already have a flagship service.
   
   Clients could still ascend further up the value ladder with bolt-on services that will add even more value.
   
   
3. For the bottom of your value ladder, how can you show a prospect value before they have even spent a £/$?
   
   

Could you offer advice via a Blog, Free guides and checklists, X number of FREE hours, a FREE consultancy call, a FREE site survey?

You need to think about the value even though it’s free. Will the prospect gain from having this?

• Now you have the bottom and top of your value ladder, now you need to create the ‘steps’ – you can either start from the top and work down, or from the bottom and work upwards.
  
  

The further up you go, the more value the prospect should receive. In turn, this will naturally mean more revenue for you the further up the value ladder they ascend.

What are you waiting for?

Get building your Value ladder today!