Company Identity & Services Strategy
For a business to be successful it needs to get a lot of things right! The branding, marketing, customer service, the list goes on. Two fundamental elements that we will focus on here are the Company Identity and Service Strategy.
Company Identity
A company’s identity is it’s overall image and what it stands for. It should clarify the companies reason for existence, it’s beliefs, philosophy and values. Here is a good description of what company identity is:
"Every organisation has an identity. It articulates the ethos, aims and values and presents a sense of individuality that can help to differentiate the organisation within its competitive environment."
How you position your company is very important. It will define how potential customers perceive your business and how you will be able to price your services. How you decide to position your business should impact all elements of your business including the content you produce including the text and images on your website, Instagram posts and brochures.
For example, if you would like to be perceived as a high end detailer that only works on supercars then posting images of washing a ‘standard’ saloon won’t portray the image you are looking for.
The vice versa is also true. If you would like to be perceived as a business that provides good quality valeting services at reasonable prices then posting images of supercars won’t do you any favours. It might make potential customers think that your pricing will be more on the premium side and not reach out to you for a quote.
Services Strategy
For a business to be successful the services strategy it has is fundamental to it’s success. What services to offer might sound like a simple questions but when deciding the following items should be taken into consideration:
What is the demand for this service?
There is little point in offering a service if there is no demand for it. Promoting a service that no one wants is a quick way to waste time and money.
How will it affect the business’ image?
If you want to be seen as a high end detailer then you might consider not offering mini valeting services.
What is the profitability of the service?
Some services will be more profitable than others allowing the business to make more money. While some services might be highly profitable there might not be enough demand to focus solely on that so that needs to be taken into consideration.
What’s the competition?
Consider your competition. If there are multiple valeters offering cheap low quality valeting services in your area you could look to differentiate yourself by promoting a high quality service. Or offer services which the others don’t.
Pricing Strategy
Pricing is a fundamental element to your product strategy. If your pricing is too high you will struggle to get customers. And if the pricing is too low you won’t be able to make enough money to pay your bills.
The pricing of your services should be in line with the overall company identity outlined above. If the pricing doesn't match the overall image of the business customers will get confused which will stop them buying from you.
When pricing a service it is more than just the time and cost of the products used that need to be taken into consideration. All the overheads (rent, insurance, etc) need to be absorbed into the workings to ensure the company will make enough money to be sustainable.
Pricing Calculator
When deciding on how much to charge for a service it can be very difficult to get an understanding of what the profitability of a service is. This is because multiple elements including rent, insurance, cost of the products used, etc need to be taken into consideration.
To simplify these workings we have put together a worksheet that will allow you to enter in all your details and it will calculate how much you should charge for a service based on how much you would like to earn.
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