I don’t know about you, but I’ve been obsessed with adding physical products into my digital, service-based business lately.
Why? Because I’m looking for ways to stand out as well as surprise and delight my prospects and clients.
This could be swag like stickers, pens, etcetera. It could be putting together physical products and doing a pop-up shop at a local event. Or it could be something else entirely to market your services and your products.
Here are five tips for successfully adding physical products into your service-based business
First things first, keep your capacity in mind. Do you have time to start an entire online store? Or is adding a bit of swaggy gift things more reasonable? Something in the middle? And also do a self-check that this type of strategy aligns with your larger business goals. Alright, let’s proceed.
Find a reliable partner for physical products
As your business matures, you may need help with managing products—design, manufacturing, logistics, inventory, shipping, and more! Products can be complicated! A DIY approach may not work long-term, depending on how big you take things. That’s where working with fulfillment services becomes invaluable. This both ensures a smooth supply chain and allows you to focus on what you do best.
Invest in the right tech
Let’s say you design a product that takes off. As your demand increases, it can become difficult to ensure quality customer service and product fulfillment. Make sure you’re up-to-date on your
Here, a few tech tools can help including:
- Automated order tracking
- Inventory management software
- Follow-up funnels
Technology with automation tools helps you uplevel your service and operations and even improve your quality and service. And don’t underestimate the importance of parcel tracking for both businesses and customers!
Keep an eye on your inventory
If you’re giving swag away, maybe this isn’t such a big deal. When you’re out, your out. But if you are selling products on the side, managing inventory effectively will make a big impact in all aspects of your business! It’s a symphony of managing cash flow, having enough product on hand to ensure timely delivery, and not carrying too much stock at any one time. It’s important to understand seasonality, buying patterns, and trends.
Find ways to add value
There are so many ways to add value and delight your customers, and yes this goes beyond meeting the bare minimum expectations for last-mile delivery. Aside from shipping orders on time, finding ways to add value allows you to stand out and build relationships. This could include using premium packaging, including freebies or promo products, and adding personalized notes or discount coupons.
Ask for feedback
Asking your customers for reviews can be a double-edged sword. The good reviews are amazing and the negative reviews are tricky. But reviews make the Internet go around…and you do need them in order to continuously improve. It will benefit you to develop a system for getting feedback—and as soon as you can automate it, do it! And once you get feedback, act on it! Fix what’s not working, improve what could be better, and use positive feedback everywhere!
