Episode 120: Power Move: Creating Your Signature Service

Want to make more money and uplevel your business? You need a signature service! In this episode, I’m sharing what this is, where to start and everything I’ve learned about how this can transform your business.

The idea of creating a signature service can feel overwhelming, but, Boss, it’s so powerful. If you already have packages in your business, a signature service is the perfect way to step up your game.

And before you think: What, me? Who am I to do this? There are no special qualifications to have a signature service; you just need to get your booty in gear and make it happen.

Why You Need a Signature Service

• There are so many reasons WHY you need a signature service — but here’s the big one: having a signature service showcases you as an expert.
• Formalizing your processes, and creating a signature service says to the world you’re a total boss who knows what they’re doing. People pay experts — so it’s time for you to act like one.
• Your signature service sets you apart in the market by showing how you’re different.

What’s a Signature Service?

• Think of it as a package on steroids or a next-level package built around a formalized process or a set of steps with a defined result.
• If you have a package, this is a new version that helps you make more money. Think premium.
• The key is that you have a “secret sauce” in the form of some type of method, process, or system baked into your package.
• Here’s a hint — you may feel like your “method” isn’t all that special. That’s entirely normal as many times it’s something you’ve been doing so long it feels like second nature. Which is a good thing — don’t overthink it.
• When I created my signature service, The Story Distillery, I remember telling a friend that it felt too easy. Designing a signature service doesn’t have to feel hard — it should actually come easily to you! In this case, I created a framework that I followed for how to define stories for small/solo business owners to use in their business around four pillars.

Get Started with Your Signature Service

• Start with what you already do. Pick one of your packages or something you’re delivering to clients today, and figure out how to uplevel it into a signature service.
• Don’t just create something to create it. Take something you’re already doing and formalize it. The goal here is to give form to the intangible work you do.
• Things to look for in your method or process as part of your signature service:
  • What steps do you do for a specific package?
  • What items can you better document?
  • What accompanies your service? (workbooks, intakes, frameworks, etc.)
• Naming is important — give things names! Intake doesn’t sound fun, but a Discovery Workbook sure does! Name the steps. Name all the things so there’s cohesion, and your signature service feels substantial.
• The key is naming and packaging your signature service in a way that’s easy to understand, and you can easily explain it.
• We recently created a signature service around case studies for our corporate clients on the agency side of things, and we gave the service a simple name but laid out all the steps in the process so people can see we know our stuff. Items like our interview guide were named, and while they’re the same for most clients, we emphasize that we customize our proven framework to meet their needs.
• Finally, look for ways to make your signature service feel premium so you can offer up something compelling that people will pay extra for.