If you present all your services a la carte at varying price points, you run the risk of confusing your customers. And if you expect your customers to proactively buy your services, you run the risk of leaving money on the table.

By creating packages that are easy to buy and that cater to your customers' varying needs and budgets, you can sell more services and keep your customers engaged in the process of doing business with you.

For instance, let's say you sell cars and offer pre-paid maintenance plans. Then you might create a high-end package that includes:

?P Picking up the car for service

?P Providing a loaner car for the day

?P Changing the oil

?P Changing the wipers

?P Washing the car and cleaning the interior

?P Checking hoses, pumps and other moving parts

And then a lower-end, prepaid package that includes:

?P A reminder phone call for service

?P An oil change

?P Wiper blade adjustment

Each of these packages caters to a different segment of your market but gives your clients a choice. When you package service levels, you typically would want to create three product offerings. Often, you'll see these presented as gold, silver and bronze levels (but please, be more creative!).

Begin the process by:

?P Looking at what your competition is offering,

?P Documenting the value you deliver to a client,

?P Talking to customers to assess their needs, expectations and priorities, and

?P Creating logical groups of offerings.

Two important points to consider when it comes to creating service packages: These are not options in the quality of service you offer nor are they just price adjustments to the same service. These levels are differences in the actual deliverables and the total value.

Additional examples of service packages include customer support services for software or hardware products and consulting services for a large business vs. a small one.