5 Strategic Steps to Creating a Product Progression Plan – Darnyelle A. Jervey

What about putting everything you have into one product and not knowing what to offer next?

If you answered yes to either question or you’ve never given it a second thought, chances are you need a product progression plan.

A product progression plan is just what it sounds like: a plan that helps your ideal clients progress from one product to the next to solve their problems so that you become their solution for life. If you’re in business to build customers for life, then you must be committed to creating products and services that help your ideal clients progress from problem to solution over a period of time.

What I found to be true is that as an industry expert, you must become a GPS to your ideal clients and prospects. You must give them one direction (in the form of a product or service) at a time until they reach their ultimate destination (a clearly demonstrated solution to the problem they have that you solve for them).

I have found that most entrepreneurs don’t ask themselves “what’s next?” when it comes to consistently delivering high value products and services to their customer/client base. They just have their one big solution and don’t think ahead to discover what their clients will require next. Or better still, how to break the solution up into bite-sized pieces so they aren’t overwhelmed at any given point in time.

Enter a product progression plan. Creating one can be the difference between being a one- hit wonder or a ROCK Star for life in the eyes of your customers.

Your assignment this week is to begin to create your own product progression plan. Having a well thought out plan for how you will continually serve your clients is essential to growing a profitable business. To begin, be sure to list all of your existing properties that were created to solve the problems of your ideal clients. Ask yourself, what problem is solved with which product? Be sure that every problem or by-problem is solved by a product or service that you offer. Once you’ve listed everything you’ve got and offer out, follow these simple questions to detail your progression plan so that going forward you never have to ask yourself what’s next when it comes to solving problems for your customers:

1. Start with your Irresistible Free Offer. What is the transformation it will provide to your ideal client prospects? What else will they “get” when they subscribe to your marketing list? How can you consistently ensure that value will be provided to them?

2. Ask yourself, after they finish with my IFO, what is the next logical product or service offering for them to consider to deepen their experience with my company? Write that down. Do you already have this product in a sellable format? If not, create it in multiple mediums and package it and make it available as soon as possible.

3. Then ask yourself, how will you tell them about it? What will the service delivery entail? How will I know that I created the right mix for that problem?

4. After that product is created and available, again, ask yourself what will they need once they have solved that part of the problem? What problems have been created by solving that part of the problem? Do you have an offer for that problem?

5. Keep asking yourself these questions until there are no other products or services for you to offer to your clients then go back and add dates to your plan for when and how you will let your ideal clients know about your products and services.

Once you’ve answered each of these questions in detailed succession, create a systematic approach to getting these products into the hands of your ideal prospects by creating a timeline and approach for releasing the information. If you do this correctly, you will have an arsenal of products and services to offer to your prospects for years and years to come.