How do you introduce new business services?

1 Identify the opportunity

The first step in creating or expanding your business services is to identify the opportunity. This involves analyzing your current services, customer feedback, market trends, competitors, and industry standards. Additionally, you should consider your business vision, mission, values, and objectives to ensure that the new services are aligned with them. Questions to consider include: what problem are you solving or what value are you adding with the new services? Who are your target customers and what are their needs and preferences? What are the benefits and risks of introducing the new services? How do the new services fit into your existing portfolio and brand identity? What resources and capabilities are required to deliver the new services? Answering these questions will help you determine if introducing new services is a viable option.

2 Design the service

The next step is to design the service, which involves defining the features, functions, processes, and standards of the new services. You should take a customer-centric and collaborative approach, focusing on the customer journey, experience, and satisfaction while involving stakeholders such as employees, partners, suppliers, and customers in the design process. You should be able to answer questions such as what outcomes and benefits the new services deliver to customers; how customers access, use, and pay for them; what activities, tasks, roles, and responsibilities are involved in delivering them; how you measure and monitor their quality and performance; and how you ensure compliance with relevant laws, regulations, and ethical standards.

3 Test the service

The third step is to test the service, which involves validating and verifying its design and delivery. To do this, you should use a prototyping and piloting approach, creating and testing a minimum viable service (MVS) with a small group of customers or users before launching it to the wider market. Additionally, you should employ a feedback and improvement approach, collecting and analyzing data and feedback from the test users, then making necessary adjustments and enhancements based on the results. You should be able to answer questions such as how well the new service meets customer needs and expectations, how easy it is for customers to access, use, and pay for the new service, how efficient and effective the delivery process is, how reliable and consistent the quality and performance of the new service is, and how profitable and sustainable it is for your business.

4 Launch the service

The fourth step is to launch the service, which involves introducing and promoting the new service to the target market and customers. You should create and implement a marketing plan and strategy that showcases the value proposition, benefits, and features of the new service. Additionally, you should provide and facilitate training and support for your staff, partners, suppliers, and customers on how to use and deliver the new service. To ensure success, you should consider questions such as how you will communicate and advertise the new service to your potential and existing customers? How will you differentiate and position it from competitors? How will you price and package it to attract customers? How will you train staff, partners, and suppliers to deliver the service effectively? And how will you support customers during and after service delivery?

5 Evaluate the service

The final step in introducing a new business service is to evaluate its performance and impact. This means defining and collecting key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics that reflect the objectives and outcomes of the new service. Additionally, you should identify and implement opportunities for improvement and innovation based on the evaluation results. You should be able to answer questions such as how well the new service achieves its desired outcomes, how satisfied customers are with it, how competitive it is in the market, how efficient and effective its processes are, and how compliant and ethical it is with relevant laws and regulations. By following these steps and best practices, you can increase your chances of creating a successful service that meets customer needs, market demands, and business goals.