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One of the biggest challenges in selling professional services is that what you are offering is intangible. Your product can't be seen, touched, or tasted. Until your prospective clients experience what you do, they have no way of knowing if it will turn out, whether they will like it, and how well it will work in their situation. To make a buying decision, the client must first trust that your work will produce the result that they need.

The most common way to package professional services is by the hour or day. The client pays for your time, and they keep paying until the project is declared complete. But clients are often resistant to this. You will hear them say, "I don't want to leave it open-ended," "That seems high for an hourly rate," "I'm not sure my budget will allow for this," or even "I'm not quite clear what it is I'd be getting."

You can overcome these barriers to making a sale by "productizing" your services. This awkward term simply means that you make your service look more like a product, so that it becomes easier for your clients to buy. You give it a defined scope, fit it into a limited time period, assign it a definite price tag, and attach a distinctive name.

Let's say you are an image consultant, and you've been selling your time for $75 per hour. Instead, you offer a "One-Day Makeover" at a price of $495, and include a wardrobe assessment, color consultation, and shopping trip. You're giving your clients a defined result with a clear timeframe and set price, making it easy for them to buy. Plus, you are able to let clients experience a range of the services you offer and suggest additional ways they can work with you.

A market research consultant working with corporate clients at $150 per hour could instead provide a "Market Position Blueprint" for a flat fee of $2500 The package would include a comparison matrix of three key competitors, qualitative data from interviews with six loyal customers, and recommendations for improving the client's market position, all to be delivered with 30 days. Clients know in advance exactly what they are paying and what they will get for it.

When buying your services in a package, the client runs less risk. They don't have to worry about cost overruns or getting an unexpected result. They know how soon the result they are paying for will be delivered. There's also an emotional comfort factor in buying a package. Purchasing something with a name attached makes it feel much more tangible than simply buying hours.

For you, offering a package helps you get your foot in the door. Once you show a client what you are capable of, more business will often result. Even if you price your package at slightly less than what you would earn for working the same amount of time at an hourly rate, you will probably profit more because more of your time will ultimately be sold.

Many consultants find that fixed-price contracts are much more profitable than working by the hour. In a survey quoted by the late Howard Shenson in "The Contract & Fee- Setting Guide for Consultants & Professionals," consultants working exclusively on a fixed-price basis had 87% higher profits than those working on a daily or hourly basis.

To determine which of your services would be best to turn into a product, consider what your target market most often wants from you. Is there a specific set of steps you usually follow when first working with a new client? Activities that you perform repetitively with many people give you an opportunity to create templates, worksheets, and other tools that you develop only once and use over and over. This effectively allows you to charge for the same work more than once.

Be sure to spend some time on coining a unique name for your product. You want a memorable results-oriented name that will help you to stand out from the competition, and perhaps even allow you to trademark it.

To launch your first product, you may not need to do much more than develop a standard format for what you are already doing, set a price, and name your new invention. Taking this critical step toward making your services more tangible can result in easier sales, more repeat business, and more profitable engagements.

C.J. Hayden

A few weeks ago, I read an interview in the local newspaper with the CEO of the Wicaninnish Inn, a world-class hotel on Long Beach, Vancouver Island's West Coast. To describe how he approaches marketing, Charles McDiarmid said, "People don't want vanilla ... today, it's evolved. People want surprises ... if one person out of 100 notices a single touch, it makes it worth it to incorporate it."

I've been thinking about that image ever since ... about how NOT to give my customers vanilla service. Or, for that matter, how not to BE vanilla in a business world that seems to be offering only 'vanilla' services. And half-baked, at that.

There are several ways I try to offer double-fudge maple walnut service to clients in my boat charter business. It doesn't hurt, for starters, that the Wind Walker is solid handcrafted Philippine mahogany wood, while the other charter boats in the area are manufactured fiberglass. And having been built in 1965, she's a classic beauty. These are non-vanilla details with which we began when we bought the boat, and we've been building our service in the same manner since.

From the moment our clients come aboard, they know this is no ordinary boat. As I'm giving the 'tour,' before we ever leave the dock, I make a point of weaving in details about the history of Chris Craft, the manufacturer who built this legend. The fine, detailed craftsmanship is evident throughout the vessel, and by the time folks are seated on the upper bridge for our departure, they understand, perhaps, a little more about an era of first-class boat-building that no longer exists.

After we are certain everyone is comfortable (and if that means finding the softest seats for the elderly, producing crayons for the young and restless, serving up nachos and dip for the teens, so be it!), I serve coffee. And this is no vanilla coffee - I've ground the fresh dark roast French beans moments before our guests arrive. The finger foods we provide have come, not from the local corner store, but for only a few dollars more, from the local exotic deli. And the serviettes are those 'silk-textured'ones you can only buy in specialty stores.

As Michael, my co-captain, begins to maneuver the Wind Walker away from her berth, I become a Tour Guide, explaining the folklore, history and culture of the area around us ... going all the way back to the Native Canadian Coast Salish inhabitants of over 5000 years ago. Sometimes other charter boats are leaving the dock at the same time - revving their motors, cracking open the 6-pack of beer, skippers shouting obscenities at the seals in the water. Being vanilla.

Meanwhile, I am calmly explaining the medical and safety features available to our guests during our cruise – the Wind Walker more than complies with Coast Guard regulations in every category, ensuring that we instill confidence in even the most skittish of the people who come aboard. Once, when we were on the dock at a neighboring resort and our clients had gone ashore for a walk, another charter boat came flying in to the berth next to us - there were probably 20 people aboard, and neither a life jacket nor lifeboat could be seen. Another vanilla service.

Throughout our cruise, I am on my feet ... serving coffee, making sure they see the porpoise in the bay, tidying up after children who don't even know they've left a trail of crumbs, explaining what a nudibranch is, pointing out the bald eagle overhead.

By the time we arrive back on the dock at the end of a cruise, our clients are relaxed, refreshed and perhaps a little more knowledgeable about the marine environment -- thanks to our 'put-your-feet-up-we- are-here-to-wait-on-you' attitude, and first-class food and beverage service (which doesn't include alcohol, by the way - that would be a vanilla thing to do)!

Add to that our respect for the world around us ("No, please don't throw that overboard - here is a trash receptacle"), for the wildlife that shares this water ("Let's not get too close to that sea lion, we don't want to startle it"), and for the human beings who have honored us with their presence on our bridge deck -- what we've done is provided a double- fudge maple walnut experience, in a vanilla world.

Did I say 'honored?' Yes, that's how we try to treat the people who pay to come aboard the Wind Walker -- like the honored guests they are. THAT'S how not be vanilla!

What do you do, how do you approach service, what single 'touches' do you add, or can you add to your business to NOT be 'vanilla?

Marilyn Guille

A business card makes a statement about who you are and what your business is about. It needs to convey the quality of your business and an insight into your personality. I have been handed business cards and the first thought to go through my mind was - "Cheap" A tacky design - low quality paper - doesn't feel good in the hand and looks cheap to the eye. That then becomes my overall impression of the business.

Here are some general rules: *Use color - black and white is too boring but don't use "day-glo" colours - too cheap *Depending on your business type Put your photo on - it will help people remember you and make that important human contact. The photo needs to face into the text, not away and be of good quality - not a "mug shot."

*Quality paper - my business cards are made from a really durable card, that doesn't get "dog eared" easily and are difficult to tear up

*Put your logo on - make the logo small, you've a lot more important information to put on your card. Get a graphic designer to produce one for you. If you don't have a logo you could utilise a drawing, caricature or a picture - as long as you're consistent.

*Do something different - have a card that stops people in their tracks and makes them want to find out more

*Have benefit statements and/or your USP (Unique Sales Point) prominently on the card - tell customers what you can do for them - how you can help solve their problems. Your name and your business name should be much less prominent.

*Use both side of the card - if you have a photo, benefit statements and all your business details then you'll need both sides of the card. Business details can go on one side and benefit statements on the other.

*Don't squeeze too much in - it can start to look messy

*Contact information - your business name, address, phone, email and website. I would avoid putting your mobile phone number on. You can always write it on for "special" customers, letting them know that you only give this number to certain people.

*Your name - put your name on as you'd like to be addressed when a customer calls you. You don't need all the middle initials. Also avoid all your qualifications, the majority of people aren't impressed by all the exams you've passed; they only want to know if you can solve their problems and they could even be put off by a whole string of letters.

*Make the text easy to read - don't use all capital letters and not too many typefaces. Fancy fonts can look really cheap

*Change of details - if your details change, don't score out the old and write the new stuff in - order new cards. Putting little stickers on with your new information is another no-no; it makes you and your business look cheap.

Alan Fairweather