Why We Stopped Selling Platforms as an Agency
If you feel boxed in by your offers, this blog will change how you think about what you sell.
We’ve built an entire industry around selling tools and platforms instead of results as social media managers. Then, we are the FIRST to get backlash for an "proof of ROI" when we are running organic channels with unlimited resources.
Platform-based focus creates room for micromanagement, add-ons, and major scope creep.
Instead, we've changed our perspective on this over the years as a social media agency, and here's how you can too!
Outcome-Based Selling
Now, this doesn't mean we are leaning into a commission based pay or anything too crazy, it's more of how we are structuring our proposal process for clients.
Platforms are tools. Outcomes come from how they work together. Think of it this way:
Instagram → visibility
Pinterest → discoverability
Email → retention
Blogs → authority
If your client is a local tool rental company, who's audience is contractors for example, blogs for SEO traffic when their audience is searching is probably a great place for you to show up.
When you are building out a marketing strategy for your client's, you're likely thinking more in terms of systems, not platforms. When we sold platforms, we often caught ourselves saying, "I wish they would add on our email services, I think we would see so much better results," Or "they definitely need to be on Pinterest, but they only pay us for Instagram."
Selling on outcomes builds not only your expertise, but trust with your client's, too. Because you aren't just selling them another platform, you are leading them towards the right one. When client's recognize that you aren't selling them just to sell, I.e. essentially lighting their money on fire, they see you as the trusted authority figure you are.
Beyond that, selling outcomes can actually mean:
Clear ownership of results
Strategic confidence
The ability to say "no" to misaligned asks, because we're working towards the outcomes, we need to measure the results/goals/KPIs and adapt to get there.
If you’re pricing based on how much you’re doing instead of what you’re accountable for, you’re undercutting yourself. Use your hourly to create package costs, and go up from there to land on the "value" of each package vs. the exact trade of time for dollars.
Have questions on this? Meet us in our Facebook group for social media managers.