The allure of becoming a one-stop shop for all your clients is powerful: it’s something every business owner has felt at one point or another.
Sometimes it can be an innocent request from a client to help with a new project. Or it could be a job you know for a fact is quite easy, but not a regular service you offer.
Either way, the result is the same: your business ends up offering more than you bargained for and you quickly become pulled in many directions.
Learn how to avoid this business trap below.
Offering Varied Services Is Helpful, In Small Doses
Let’s begin with a simple hypothetical: imagine there are two electricians. One offers general residential electrical services.
Now the second electrician offers this, too. But they also offer a second service: installing and replacing air conditioning units.
In this scenario the second electrician will very likely end up getting more jobs and thus earning more money. In this case, we can safely assume that variety is a good thing.
But what if that same electrician also offers industrial and commercial electrical services, and solar installation, and automobile electronics, and electrical engineering?
It’s very likely he would quickly become exhausted and be extremely inefficient. He would have to carry an enormous amount of equipment in his truck. He would also need to spend a huge amount of time traveling from site to site.
Lastly, many potential clients would be skeptical that he could offer all those services and still do a high quality job. They would probably go with the first electrician who only does residential work!
Now don’t get us wrong: helping your clients in different ways is important. But just make sure you don’t stretch yourself too thin. On average around one to three core services or products that you do extremely well and that complement each other is best.
By doing so, you’ll avoid the traps below:
#1 – More Services = More Time Inefficiencies
Whether you work with software or handheld tools, there’s no denying that swapping between tasks takes time.
You have to mentally re-calibrate to a new task at hand every single time. It interrupts your “flow state.”
Things will go a lot faster and smoother for you if you do tasks that are similar to each other.
For example, an electrician that only installs ovens will work extremely efficiently. He will have the same supplier for new ovens, all the tools he needs in his truck, and will have long-standing relationships with sales reps from retail stores.
However as soon as that electrician starts to offer air conditioning, he will need to find new tools, new suppliers, etc.
#2 Learning Is A Strenuous Activity That Can Quickly lead To Exhaustion
Every new service that you offer represents a new skill that you will have to learn, master, and gain experience in.
This will take up lots of your time: you will either need to take time away from jobs in your business to study, or take time from outside of work. Neither are ideal.
Moreover, learning is a strenuous exercise. If you’re constantly learning new skills every day, you could become exhausted very quickly.
Not to mention that you need to account for mistakes early on as you get a handle on your new skill.
#3 – The More You Do, The HArder It Is To Hire
Lastly: the more different skills that you acquire, the harder it will be to train a new employee or your replacement, should you decide to step back from the business a bit.
This is because having one to three core skills that you do exceptionally well can be picked up by a new team member simply by shadowing you for a few weeks or months.
But if you’re offering dozens of services, then that new hire will take years to train up.
Furthermore, the new hire will need to have a similar mindset to you and enjoy learning new skills. Unfortunately, this is a rare find.
Don’t Forget To Stay Financially Efficient, Too
At The A Firm, we offer three core services that we have mastered over a combined one hundred and fifty years:
- Accounting
- Bookkeeping
- Business strategy
So contact us today and we’ll help you see if you’re offering too many services that could be holding you back!