Are you holding onto services that no longer serve your business—or worse, are draining your time and profits?
Many founders face this dilemma, unsure of when and how to pivot without losing clients or momentum.
In this week's episode of Automate Your Agency, Alane Boyd and Micah Johnson dive into the art of strategically evolving your offerings when it’s clear that something’s got to change.
In this episode, you'll learn:
If you're ready to streamline your offerings and focus on what truly grows your business, this episode is packed with the guidance you need.
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In today's fast-paced business environment, adaptability is a crucial skill for sustainability and growth. As business leaders, running a company comes with the responsibility of knowing not only how to launch new offerings but also when to stop those that no longer serve your mission. This article dives deep into discussing how to effectively pivot and implement change, drawing insights from experts in business efficiency and scalability, Alane and Micah. Their discussions highlight real-world challenges faced during business transitions and offer valuable solutions to address them.
Key Takeaways
When it comes to sunsetting a service, one of the first essential steps is to communicate effectively with your clients. Service changes, particularly those involving withdrawal of an offering, necessitate clear, strategic communication centered on client benefits rather than business logistics. As Alane aptly pointed out, “The world is small. You don't want to burn bridges.”
By ensuring clients understand how these changes benefit them directly, businesses can ease the transition and minimize disruption. Alane and Micah recommend providing at least a 60-day notice for major changes. This lead time allows clients to make necessary adjustments. Reflecting on their own experience, Alane shared, “...we even recorded a video explaining to our customers that were on an older package... why we were changing and how it was going to benefit them.”
This approach not only respects clients' planning needs but can also foster loyalty, strengthening the professional relationship. Making it easy for clients to transition by setting a clear timeline and understanding their perspectives are key strategies.
Just as important as strategic communication is the regular evaluation of service offerings to ensure they align with your business's scalability and profitability goals. Micah noted, “...then it'll fix it. Or if we get the right person, then maybe this offering will work better.” Recognizing where you are spending time and resources inefficiently is crucial.
The challenge is to balance current offerings with those which could be more lucrative in the future. Questions like, “What are the profit margins? Can it scale?” should always be at the forefront of decision-making processes. As Alane explained, you might hold onto a service for too long due to the sunk-cost fallacy—invested time and money—overlooking more promising opportunities.
Focusing on what truly works and offers the highest returns is vital, even if it means sidestepping current favorites or passion projects. Assessing this balance isn't just about cutting costs but enabling your business to refocus on innovation and maximization.
Client relationships are the bedrock of successful businesses, especially when sunsetting services. Alane advises that even if a product or service is no longer offered, it is crucial to provide alternatives, demonstrating ongoing responsibility and care for client needs. “I would recommend having an option, a referral partner or something in there…” she suggested, as a way to ensure clients feel supported.
Micah highlighted the importance of these continued relationships, sharing how his first client over 25 years ago remains a valuable network connection. “There's clients that maybe they won't be a client for your next business, but that's part of your personal network...”
This approach not only maintains goodwill but also secures potential referrals or future collaborations. As industries evolve, the professionals within them often cross paths in unexpected ways, making it prudent to leave every relationship on a positive note.
Across industries, leaders must navigate the complexities of change with foresight and tact. By leveraging strategic communication, maintaining an optimal profit margin and scalability focus, and nurturing client relationships, businesses can adapt to market shifts more gracefully. Alane and Micah's insights illuminate the power of these strategies, offering tried-and-true methods to steer through changes effectively while safeguarding client loyalty and ensuring long-term success.
Alane Boyd is a serial entrepreneur, passionate leader and a high growth founder (2x SaaS Exit and published author 3x). She is an Enneagram 3 with a Driver leadership style. She a visionary that believes in impact-driven, result-oriented leadership. Her skillsets focus on operations, sales, marketing, and technical skills. Alane has been featured and spoken at major events, including SXSW, Entrepreneur, Huffpost, and Goldman Sachs.
Micah Johnson is a serial entrepreneur, advisor, and support-driven leader (3x successful exits). He has successfully scaled businesses (and failed a couple of others along the way, for good measure). Micah is skilled at translating business requirements into requirements a technical team will understand while being able to provide clarity on design and the user experience. He is a visionary who can identify gaps in systems and markets and an implementor who can build and execute a plan to fill those gaps. His skills include operations, systems, automation, design, software development, and UI/UX design. Micah has worked with large billion-dollar brands and manufacturers, and has been featured in newspapers, business journals, and trade publications throughout the US.
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