Bundling for Profit: The Science of Strategic Packaging

0:00 The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are solely those of the hosts and their guests and not those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services, or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W FOURCY Radio. Welcome to Powerful Business Strategies, where you will find out that everything you have ever learned about growing your business is wrong. Finally, a show where you'll learn the right way to grow your business by learning business and financial strategies that your competition isn't doing. And now here's your host.

0:47 Resident of Next Step CFO Michael Barbarita and joining Michael for today's show as an executive moderator is chooky obia. Yes, this is chokey, and I believe that gratitude is undefeated and growth is about the next step. It is an honor for me to moderate today's discussion with my good friend Michael. Michael, how are you excellent? How are you, Choky? How is your thanksgiving? Well? My thanksgiving was full of gratitude. How is yours? Likewise? But full of food? That's the problem. There you go against my doctor's wishes. Well, thank you, Chocky. My name is Michael Baberria, President of Next Step CFO, and next Step CFO is a fractional CFO and strategic implementation firm and our vision is to ensure overwhelmed business owners achieve the time, freedom, and consistent profits to build a legacy and live the life they desire. And our mission is dedicated to guiding small business owners to leveraging their time, exploding their profits, and building a meaningful legacy. This show, Powerful Business Strategies in our book of the same name, is a step toward accomplishing that vision and mission. So with that, I would like to hand it back to my co author and moderator for the show, Choky Obio.

2:09 Yes, so. It's quite energizing, right Michael. I mean you mentioned being full of food. I believe today's episode is going to be full of a lot of food for thought. How about that? Right? There A lot of people thoughts. So folks, you know we have a number of people listening Coast to Coast. I mean, we'll continue to really grow the audience for this show. And look, Michael and I were both affiliated with a number of different organizations. I currently serve as a managing director of business development for Vetterprice, a global business focused law firm. In addition to that, it's truly an honor to collaborate with Michael to moderate business roundtables coast to coast and just document the best practices from those roundtables. That's part of what informs our book called Powerful Business Strategies. But please, folks, note that the views expressed on this show are our personal views based on our successful experiences and my mission as a fearless moderator to ask the right questions to help you the listener, learn the best practices and best business strategies that the competition isn't doing.

3:19 So with that, I'll toss it back over to Michael. Thank you, Jucky. So we're going to talk about something that's causing you thousands in profits and law actually in lost profits, and that's your approach to bundling and packaging your products or services. You know, just last week I was working with a client who runs a successful HVAC company. And he looked at me frustrated and said, Michael, everyone in my industry offers the same maintenance packages. We're all just competing on price. Does that sound familiar. Well, I've got news for you. Everything you've learned about bundling and packaging your services is wrong, and I can prove it to you today. Did you know that most businesses actually lose money on their bundles and they because they think they're creating value, but they're really just discounting themselves into lower profits. But here's what's fascinating. The most profitable companies in any industry who are bundling and packaging aren't the ones with the lowest prices or the biggest discounts. They're the ones who understand the science of strategic packaging. And over the next forty minutes or so, I'm going to share specific strategies that have helped business owners increase their average transaction value by forty to two hundred percent using what I call strategic value bundling. And I'll show you exactly how one company went from selling eighty nine dollars service to nine hundred and ninety seven dollars premium packages

4:54 and their customers thank them for it. And I'm going to reveal what I call the bundle profit formula, a systematic way to create packages that your competition can't copy and your customers can't resist. And the best part, once you understand this formula, you can repeat it over and over and over again in any business. So grab a pen and paper, because I'm about to share strategies that will completely change how you think about packaging your products and services. And if you're driving, don't worry. You can catch this episode again at our podcast at but Powerful Business Strategies dot com. So if you're just joining us, we're going to talk about strategic value bundling and I promise to show you exactly how to do it. So let me tell you about Tom. Tom runs a successful auto repair shop, and like most shop owners, he was offering the standard oil change package that included an oil change filter, basic inspection, maybe a tire rotation thrown in.

5:57 He was competing with every other shop and who offered the exact same packages, and his margins were getting squeezed tighter every year. And then he implemented what he called the value stack method. So instead of just bundling services based on cost, he bundled based on what customers actually value. And by the way, he discovered through a survey of his customers, and I'll say that again, he discovered the following. Through a survey of his customers. He found that eighty five percent were worried about unexpected repairs, seventy two percent hated having to make multiple trips, ninety percent wanted peace of mind about safety, sixty eight percent would pay more for convenience. So what he did is he created what he called lifetime value packages. So he had that basic care package, you know that eighty nine dollars standard oil change that everybody else was doing, with twenty seven point inspection, a fluid top off, tire rotation, all that stuff. But then he stepped up to a Premium Protection package, which was everything that was in the basic plus the annual state auto inspection, brake inspection, battery service, road trip safety check, priorities scheduling, and a digital maintenance tracker. And then he upgraded everybody to what he called the Ultimate Piece of

7:30 Mind package, which include everything in the Premium package plus twice yearly alignments. All included in the package annual brake service, battery replacement program, tire rotation program, twenty four to seven, roadside assistance, which, by the way, he subcontracted out to Triple A or one of those roadside assistance companies, VIP scheduling, and monthly vehicle health reports. And here's how the pricing went. The basic was eighty nine dollars, that was that clone of everybody else. The premium was two ninety seven, and then the ultimate was nine to ninety seven. And what happened is sixty five percent of customers chose the premium or ultimate package, and his average transaction value went from eighty nine dollars to over four hundred dollars. And the cost to deliver these packages only increased by thirty percent, while his revenue increased by three hundred and fifty percent.

8:35 Because he wasn't just bundling services, it's creating value that customers couldn't find anywhere else. Sounds like a position of market dominance to me, actually, So let me show you another example that will really drive this home. So Sarah, who runs a successful house cleaning service. Like most cleaning companies, she was charging by the hour or by the square footage and when she analyzed her business, she found she was leaving thousands on the table. So she created what she called lifestyle experience packages, and there were basically three packages. Again, one was called Essential Cleaning, which was standard cleaning, basic sanitation, surface dusting, and floor care. That was one package. The other package she called the Healthy Home Package, which included everything in the first price point Essential package plus deep sanitization, air vent cleaning, allergen treatment, natural cleaning products, and monthly indoor air quality report. All above and beyond what all the competition was doing, and it was a step up.

9:55 The third was what she called Total Home Transformation Package, so everything in the Healthy Home package plus quarterly deep cleaning, pantry organization, closet organization, garage organization, and a monthly maintenance plan, priority scheduling and season of deep cleaning. Now the pantry organization, the closet organization, and the garage organization she actually subcontracted to a professional organizer, and so she had that was part of her cost of that package. But the results were incredible because her average client value increased by one hundred and eighty percent in the first ninety days, and her customer retention went up because she wasn't selling cleaning anymore.

10:48 She was selling a better lifestyle. But let me show you the real secret to making this work. See, most businesses make these three critical misses stakes with bundling. Number one, they focus on cost instead of value. Two, they bundle what's easy instead of what's wanted. Okay, so what's easy to bundle together they do instead of what's really wanted by the customer. I mean a perfect example is like things like that Sarah did, priorities scheduling and you know, monthly maintenance, seasonal deep cleaning, those types of things that those are what customers really wanted. Now did you have to work to get to you know, to get to that point? You have to do some change a little bit of her mode of operation so to speak. Absolutely, but it paid off big. So once again those three critical mistakes. Number one, they focus on cost instead of value.

11:52 Number two, they bundle what's easy instead of what's wanted. And number three, they compete on price instead of customer experience. Interesting. So Michael, let's pause here and just take a couple of questions and comments from the audience. I do you have just a minute for that? Sure? Brilliant, So look This is a really interesting I believe this particular business owner tuned into one of our last episodes, so they referenced this point about how you recommend every one hundred and eighty days to have sort of a customer relationship review conversation. Right, right, great, So part of the frame for their question on this, Michael, is to really know what's wanted as part of a bundle or package.

12:39 Do you think it makes sense to have that as part of the customer relationship review conversation, you know, once every six months or so. Yeah, it's really important because understanding what the customer really wants, and you know, I think it starts with the business owner thinking outside the box. Okay, and by the way, you can use it for this. You know, what are some services that I can offer as an HVAC company or as a cleaning service that go above and beyond? And then you take that list and then you ask the customer during those reviews. I mean, now, you know, I don't want to take the creative thinking away from any of the business owners out there, because if they could come up with their own, fine, But a lot of people get stuck on this because they can't think outside of what they do in the ordinary course of business, and AI can help them with that, especially if they train the robot about their business. So yeah, that would be that would be my answer to that question. And if they could come up with those different things, or if their AI robot could come up with those different things, they can present them to the customers and see if there's real value there.

13:58 That's brilliant. And this is also another business owner who I believe is listened to some of our last episodes, Michael. They ask does this relate to the customer avatar? So, in essence, can they reference their customer avatar process as part of figuring out what customers. Wants as part of a bundle or package. Yeah, that's really an excellent it is. Yes, that's an excellent question. Excellent idea that it could be part of, you know, this process of creative thinking of additional services that you can offer in a bundle. That's part of the what the customer goes through, you know what their thought process is, you know, and when you present that idea, will the light bulb go on to the customers say yes, man, yes, I'd be very interested in that, or no, I won't.

14:48 I won't be very interested in that to which would be outside the scope of the avatar. So yeah, so understanding that that avatar is really a great way to really understand what the customer is thinking. And you have to put yourself in the position of that of a customer, that ideal customer, the ideal customer. Yes, so now these are three mistakes that I want to go through again. They focus on costs instead of value. They bundle what's easy instead of what's wanted, and they compete on price instead of customer experience. You know, customer experience. You know, all professional sports teams are really focusing on customer experience.

15:33 So when you go to a game now, it's so different than it was twenty thirty years ago. I mean, it's just like totally completely different. There's more of a customer experience. There's reality events going on, there's all different types of activities, you know, using the Jumbo Tron and all of that stuff. It's the same thing here. We want to improve the customer's experience. So here's how to avoid these mistakes. For every product or service you offer in a package, ask yourselves these questions, Number one, what problems does this solve? Second, by the way, you can ask AI these questions too. By the way, what problems does this solve? What anxiety does this reduce? What convenience does this ad? What experience does this create? What status does this convey? Let me go through this again. So here's how to avoid these mistakes that people make when packaging are bundling. They should add for every product or service you offer, you should ask yourself or the robot or the customer, what problems does this solve? What anxiety does this reduce? What convenience does this ad, what experience does this create? And what status does this convey? That status one's really interesting. So let me give you another example.

17:03 A pest control company that was struggling to compete with national chains. Instead of just bundling standard services, he created home protection zones. He created actually three zones. One was entry prevention, This was sealing entry points, install barriers, monitor activity, and a monthly inspection. And by way, all these first price point package bundles, they're all basically they're brought basically what the competition is doing. For the most part, it's exciting. It gets interesting when you add these other these step ups. So in zone two he had this perimeter protection, which included everything in zone one plus yard treatment, garden protection, and quarterly prevention. And then in zone three he had everything in zone two. It's called the total property shield, and it included attic protection, crawl space care, foundation treatment, annual termite inspection, emergency response, and property protection guarantees. And their average contract value went up three hundred percent, but the cost only one up forty And the rest is your profit because the cost does go up on some of these programs. As I mentioned, you're subcontracting some of these things to others, and so at this at this time, before I get into any other strategies, and before I talk more about strategic value bundling, we're going to take a ninety second break. Hey, their business owners, let me

18:34 ask you something. Are you tied of blending in with your competitors, frustrated with slow growth and slim margins? Well, I've gotten news for you. Everything you've ever learned about growing your business is wrong. Don't worry. I'm here to let you in on a secret weapon. Your position of market dominance. It's what sets you apart, makes you irreplaceable, and has customers lining up at your door. My name is Michael Babarrita from Next Step CFO. I know what you're thinking. Sounds great, Michael, but how do I find my position of market dominance? Well, that's exactly why we've created our game changing implementation program called next Step to Market Dominance. In just ninety days, we'll guide you step by step to a position of market dominance by uncovering your unique strengths that competitors can't touch. By crafting a message that resonates deeply with your ideal customer, by building a strategy that turns you into the go to expert in your field. Now this is in theory. These are battle tested strategies that have helped businesses like you as double, triple, and quadruple their revenue. Don't let another quarter go by struggling to standout. It's time to dominate your market period.

19:48 Go to NEXTSTEPCFO dot net forward slash contact. Fill out the form and in the message section put the word dominate or call us at seven eighty one three two six three A two two. That's next STEPCFO dot Net forward slash Contact or call us at seven eighty one three two six three eight two two. So welcome back, and if you're just joining us. We're talking about strategic value bundling, and I'm about to show you something that will transform how you price your packages. So let me introduce to you what I call the bundled profit formula. And this is the exact system a landscaper used to triple his average contract value while increasing his profit margins by eighty five percent. And here's what most business owners get wrong about premium bundles. They just take their basic service and add more stuff. That's a little backward. Premium bundles aren't about more, they're about better. And let me show you how that works. So Micro runs a landscaping company that was stuck on competing on price for basic maintenance contracts, and then he implemented what he called the experience Evalue elevation system, so experience elevation system. So there were once again three levels of service of bundle. And by the way, it doesn't have to be three. It

21:19 could be four, it could be two, but uh, three happens to be the preferential number of levels. So the base level, once again, that core level that basically everybody else was doing, was weakly mowing basic edging, blowing, blowing, cleanup, and seasonal printing. And then the premium level, which he called the Property Enhancement, was everything in the base level, but also landscape design, consultation, seasonal color planning, plant health monitoring, monthly property reports, priorities, cleanup, and organic treatment options. Then he elevated it to what he called the Elite level, and he called it property transformation. Everything in premium plus quarterly design updates, outdoor living consultation, lighting maintenance, irrigation monitoring, water conservation program, seasonal staging, event preparation, and property value protection.

22:31 He priced the premium level, which was that second level, at two and a half times base, and the Elite was five times the base. And what happened was forty percent of new customers chose elite that's the high end. Why because he wasn't selling lawn care anymore. He was selling pride of ownership. That's a customer experience, pride of ownership. But here's what really gets powerful that the cost to deliver elite was only twice that of the base. Everything else was pure profit and he wasn't. And he was charging for expertise, not just labor. And so let me share another example that this example proves his works in any industry. There was a dental practice that was struggling with their membership program. They happen to have a membership program, and like most practices, they offered basic cleanings and X rays for a monthly fee. But when they analyzed their patient data, they found that they something fascinating. They created Smile Journey packages and once again, this was a three three step package process. Number one being Essential Care, which was two cleanings, the early all basic, annual X rays, basic exam, and emergency business. The Optimal Health Step up

24:02 package was everything essential plus four cleanings, yearly advanced screening, whitening service whitening that's a big add on there, priority scheduling, treatment discounts, and family plan options. And then his third package was a total wellness everything in optimal so everything in that second package plus quarterly cleanings, sleep apnea screening. That's really out of focus. I mean, we're talking about dentists here getting into sleep, nutrition consultation, monthly wellness check, cosmetic consultation, treatment financing, and concierge service. And the result was their membership revenue increased by two hundred and seventy percent in the first year and their patient's overall health improved because they were coming in more regularly. And this is what I mean by premium bundle formula. It's not about adding more services, it's about creating transformative experiences that your customers can't get anywhere else. And it generated a customer commitment level to these programs. And so the three critical elements of premium bundling is the expertise factor. Don't just bundle services, bundle your knowledge in consultations, assessments, and

25:33 expert guidance. The convenience factor make it ridiculously easy for customers to say yes by handling all the planning, coordination and thinking for them. The status factor, which gives premium customers benefits that make them feel special like priority service, exclusive access, and VIP treatment. Those three things were critical elements of putting together premium bundling. And the key is understanding that people don't buy services, they buy better versions of themselves or their businesses. Let me say that again.

26:14 The key here is understanding that people don't buy services, they buy better versions of themselves or better versions of their businesses. And let me share something that's even more powerful about premium bundles. An HVAC contractor completely transformed as business using seasonal solution stacks. So instead of selling standard maintenance contracts, he created year round packages once again for even though there's four seasons for three seasons, so it causes basic, the four seasons Basic, which is seasonal tune ups, filter changes, and basic maintenance. Again, probably it was it was a it was a clone, an image of what the other competitors were doing. But then he had these step ups what he called Premium four seasons Premium, so you get everything in basic plus India indoor air quality monitoring, smart thermost, smart thermos status so you could use your phone to adjust the temperature, energy efficiency tracking priority, emergency service, and monthly systems analytics. And then his third step up was what he called four seasons Elite, so everything in Premium plus humidity control, air purification, equipment, life extension program,

27:46 energy costs guarantees, comfort temperature guarantee, home comfort councierge, and system replacement credits. You know, when customers could see the entire year mapped out with these clear benefits and guarantees, fifty five percent of them chose either the Premium or the Elite package and revenue for customers increased by three hundred and forty percent, while delivery costs only went up by eighty five percent. Now, some of those services once again he had to farm out. I think it was one. I think was air purification. He had to get an air purifying company to do it, but the markup was there.

28:26 And then he added future value credits, so for every year customers stayed on the Elite, they earned credits toward future equipment replacement. And this solved two problems. It reduced cancelations and it guaranteed future large ticket sales because they had these credits that were built up for a bigger ticket. And the customer retention went from sixty to ninety three percent, and equipment sales doubled within eighteen months because everybody was using their credits to buy equipment, probably a little earlier then they then they had to. It's remarkable. So this, yeah, so this is this is the power of strategic bundles design.

29:06 You're not just selling services, you're creating long term customer relationships that generate predictable revenue and profit. And so let me let me share another example, different industry. This is a computer repair shop that really transform their business by creating what they called technology success packages. And once again there were three. There were three packages. The Essential Care which is the basic again basic repairs, virus removal, data backup. Then what they call the step up was the Total Protection plan which included everything in essential. And notice how all of these packages, all these successful packages are including everything that's in the basic, so that and everything that's in the previous level. And because it just increases the value.

30:05 Because if you think the total protection is good, then the technology Transformation, which is the next package, which includes everything in protection, it's going to be just so much better. So once again, total protection is the second one where everything in essential plus remote monitoring, monthly maintenance, security updates, priority service calls, and data recovery. Insurance which was which once again was a program that was found out and then and by the way, that might be part of people's standard insurance policy. I don't I'm not sure. You know, it's a general liability policy for businesses. I don't know.

30:49 I know that there's something to that in there, but I'm not I just could be an additional coverage on top of that Technology transformation everything in total protection plus equipment lifesile, life cycle management, technology, roadmapping, business IT strategy, Quarterly business Reviews, advanced cybersecurity, employee training, and digital transformation consulting. I think you should note too, that every time we do a step up, there's more things in it. If there was five things in the second level, there's six or seven things in the highest level. And their average customer value increased one hundred and eighty dollars to seven hundred and fifty dollars a month because they weren't fixing computers anymore. They were providing business technology solutions. So before I talk about another bundling strategy, we're going to take a ninety second break. Hey, their business owners, let me ask you something. Are you tied of blending in with your competitors? Frustrated with slow growth and slim margins. Well, I've got news for you. Everything you've ever learned about growing your business is wrong. But don't worry. I'm here to let you in on a secret weapon. Your position of market dominance. It's what sets you apart, makes you irreplaceable, and has customers lining up at your door. My name is Michael Barbarrita from Next Step CFO. I know what

32:21 you're thinking sounds Greg Michael, but how do I find my position of market dominance? Well, that's exactly why we've created our game changing impleitation program called Next Step to Market Dominance. In just ninety days, we'll guide you step by step to a position of market dominance by uncovering your unique strengths that competitors can't touch, by crafting a message that resonates deeply with your ideal customer, by building a strategy that turns you into the go to expert in your field. Now this is in theory. These are battle tests strategies that have helped businesses like you as double, triple and quadruple their revenue. Don't let another quarter go by b struggling to standout. It's time to dominate your market. Period.

33:05 Go to NEXTTEP CFO dot net forward slash contact. Fill out the form and in the message section put the word dominate or call us at seven eight one three two six three A two two. That's next Step CFO dot net forward slash Contact or call us at seven eight one three two six three A two two. Welcome back. And if you're if you're just joining us, we're talking about strategic value bundling. And by the way, I just want to mention my phone the phone number again because that commercial cut off at the last two, so it's seven eight one three two six three eight two two.

33:46 So uh, if you're just joining us, we're talking about strategic value bundling. And now I want to show you how to create what I call solution stacks. These are bundles that solve multiple problems at once. So let me tell you about Jennifer who runs a successful IT services company, and like most IT firms, she's offering standard service packages monitoring and maintenance and helped US support. But she discovered something fascinating when she analyzed her client's needs. The biggest problem wasn't technical issues, it was business risk. So she created business protection stacks. So and that was what I call a solution stack. So she called it business protection stacks.

34:35 And the first and once again there's three stacks. The first stack is the foundation stack, which is system monitoring, basic maintenance, helped US support, and even virus protection. Then she had what she called a business Community Continuity stack. That's a business continuity stack. So everything in Foundation plus disaster recovery, cloud backup, business continuity planning, security training, monthly risk assessment, and a quarterly strategy review. Then the step up to that was what she called an enterprise protection stack.

35:18 Everything in continuity plus twenty four to seven monitoring, advanced threat protection, employee cybersecurity training. That was interesting, compliance management, technology, roadmapping, virtuals CIO services that's chief Information officer services, and quarterly board presentations. And here's what's powerful. She priced these based on business risk, not technical service. So the enterprise stack was priced at five times the foundation. So the third level was priced at five times the first level. And then but the delivery cost was only two and a half times more. And then the rest was pure profit because they were she was selling peace of mind, not just it services. And then a home improvement services contract that completely transformed his business, using what he called life stage bundles, so instead of selling individual services, he created packages based on life events. And these three packages were first what he called the new Home package, so it included deep cleaning, paint touch up, fixture updates, state the inspection, and home organization. That was the first level. By the way, he went one step deeper with paint touch up versus

36:50 some of his competitors on that first level package. Usually the first level package is a clone of the competition. The next level up was Growing Family. Was called Growing Family Package, so that's childproofing, storage solutions, air quality upgrade, safe room creation, and monthly maintenance. So this was all about having kids. Then his next level up was Aging in Place, what he called the Aging in Place package, which included everything that was in the Growing Family package plus accessibility modifications, safety upgrades, smart home integration, monthly check ins, and emergency response system. So the result here is his average project value went from twenty eight hundred to twelve thousand because he wasn't selling home improvements anymore. He was selling life solutions. That's what we business owners need to focus on customer experience, life solutions. But here's where the real magic happens because the bundle stacking. This is when you create bundles that build on each other. For example, home evolution, so this is a home what it would be called a home evolution plan. Year one was foundation, basic updates, safety improvements, efficiency upgrades, once again a basic package.

38:19 What the competitors offered. Year two we called the Enhancement, so he had style updates, comfort improvements, smart technology, thread was transformation, major renovations, luxury upgrades, custom features, and each phase built on the previous one, creating a clear upgrade path that kept customers engaged for years instead of months. And it was really the key to making all this work is understanding the psychological triggers that makes bundles irresistible beyond the general customer perception that bundles are compelling. There is a customer perception and that when you put things in packages and bundling, it is value. But we can't think of it like that. We got to think more of the psychological triggers than the customer experience that goes beyond the actual perception that bundles are compelling. So let me give you these five These five points the key to making all this work. So number one is progress monitoring.

39:25 Show clear advancement from one level to the next step. So from one level to the next level, show clear advancement. Second, what we call future pacing, help customers envision their improved future. Third, rice reversal make higher tear bundles feel like the safe choice. Fourth is status evaluation, create exclusive benefits that make customers feel special. And then value stacking, adding elements that cause do little but mean a lot to customers. And so let me show you something powerful about solution stacks that most business owners completely miss. There was a commercial cleaning company that transformed their business by creating what they called healthy Workspace bundles. So this is commercial cleaning now, not residential, but it included a basic clean which was standard cleaning, trash removal, surface sanitation. Then they had a wellness protection everything in basic and then air quality monitoring, advanced disinfection, monthly deep cleaning, employee health protocols, which was something that was very creative contamination prevention, and then the total environment management package which included everything in wellness plus indoor air

40:57 quality guarantee, allergen control, productivity optimization, sick day reduction, TAC tracking, health compliance, maintenance management, environmental certification, and monthly health metrics. Once again, you know, the first package started with three things, the next one went to five things, and then one after that went to seven things. So he's always adding the adding value as you progress up the stages of packages. Now their average contract value increased from twenty five hundred to eighty seven to fifty because they weren't selling cleaning anymore they were selling employee health and productivity just a different plant, and the real power came from result documentation, where every month clients received air quality metrics, contamination prevention statistics, employee sick day training tracking, productivity impact reports, cost savings analysis.

42:03 This turned the commodity service into a strategic business investment and clients could see exactly how the service impacted their bottom line. So here's the key to making solutions stacks work. They must solve multiple problems simultaneously while creating measurable results. That every component should either solve an immediate problem, prevent a future problem, create measurable improvement, reduce business risk, and generate provable return on investment. When you bundle this way, price becomes totally secondary to value and customers focus on results rather than costs. And so let me share one final example before we go to compliments that brings all this together. So they're a financial advisor who is struggling to different differentiated services. Instead of selling standard investment management, he created legacy building solutions. Now once again, he had three stages of packages. He called the wealth Foundation, which is a basic investment management, basic financial planning, and an annual review. Then Wealth Acceleration, which included everything in foundation plus tax strategy, estate planning, business succession, risk management, quarterly reviews, and priority access. Then he stepped it up to what

43:36 he called Legacy Mastery every everything in Acceleration plus what he called family office services, which is a higher level of investment for credited investors, next generation planning, philanthropy excuse me, philanthropic philanthropic strategy, business advisory, monthly strategy sessions, concierge sessions, and private events. His average client value increased from three thy to twenty five grand annually. Wow. Yeah, he hit a ninety eight percent retention rate with his customers because he wasn't just managing money anymore. Through these bundles, he was helping create generational wealth. You know, the key to understanding that every business, regardless of the industry, has the opportunity to create solution stacks that transform the transactional relationships into long term partnerships. And when you do this right, you don't just increase revenue, but you create predictable, sustainable profit growth. Remember, it's not about adding more services, it's about creating more value through strategic through a strategic combination and careful orchestration of your offerings. Wow, it's now time for compliments, Chicky.

45:00 I mean just brilliant stuff. Took a lot of notes and I imagine, by the way, folks, as you digest all of this good information, if there are any follow up questions that you have, let us know, as Michael has provided some contact info. So, Michael, we've got a number of solid business complements spotlights that we want to highlight today. So and by the way, these are business owners coast to coast. The first is Christina and Kareem macsud with Macshue Productions. That's spelled Maak s Chu Productions, and they are a full service video production and animation company in Florida. They specialize in local business projects, really supporting small business and medium sized business owners. They both studied Get this, Michael, they both studied motion design, which yeah, right, I mean fascinating. It takes the principles of animation, graphic design and cinemata graphy and then they combine that to create really powerful pieces of content. And as a business owner, you could reach out to them to help move audiences literally to motion design and move audiences in your direction to the growth of your business their website mak sh.

46:21 M ak sc hu dot com, maxew dot com. The next business owners Paul Stanley with Granted Bay Wealth Management. Paul was actually recently recognized on the list of Forbes Best in State Wealth Advisors. He's based in New Hampshire and this is really interesting Michael. From Paul, here's what he believes. One of his belief statements. We believe that achieving your financial goals requires diligent research, proper asset allocation, and the courage to stay on course in tough times. Not incredible. That is granted. Bayw is the website, so it's granted. Bay wm dot com is a website. The next business owner is Josh Harriet with Harriet Creative. This is a family owned and operated business since two thousand and eight. They are independent and professional in how they approach graphics design and they specialize in logos and publications and branding.

47:23 I love this headline. Ideas made Visual is their headline and when you ask clients about Josh, here's a client say, Josh is talented, reliable and easy to work with. You can check them out at Harrietcreative dot com. And then the last business owner to spotlight in today's business compliments segments is Svan Gatte who's with Leader Trip Business Coaching. He's a certified coach and check out this belief statement from Svan. Every human being has been blessed with unique talents and abilities, and we all have excellence in us. People are naturally creative and resourceful. Think about all the items around you that were once invented by men and women who followed their passion and changed the world.

48:15 This is what's been and his team believe right. It's really incredible. They bring together people to solve complex problems and provide new solutions. Great teams go far. You can check them out at leader Trip, Hyphencaching dot com. Michael, I'll toss it back over to you. Thank you, Chokey. I just want to close with giving specific action steps that our audience can start tomorrow of regarding bundle creation. So here is what I call the bundle creation formula. Step one is value discovery. Survey your best customers and ask what results are they trying to achieve, what frustrates them the most, what would make their lives easier, and what would they gladly pay more for. Step two is solution designed so create three distinct levels. A basic that solves the immediate problem, probably like the competitors or like you have now, second premium, which is prevent future problems.

49:13 Third Elite, which is transform their situation. Then step three is value stacking for each level, add core services that solve problems, convenience factors that save time, status elements that make them feel special, expert guidance that provides peace of mind. And then step four price architecture use use what at the two five to ten formula. Your basic is your standard price, your premium, That second level is two and a half times to basic, and your third level is five times to basic. This will multiply your revenue two five and ten and step five marketing framework for each individual bundle clearly communicate the problem, it solves the results.

49:57 It delivers unique benefits, removers and status enhancers. Ladies and gentlemen. To get a copy of the book Powerful Business Strategies, simply go to our website www dot NEXTSTEPCFO dot net. It's totally complementary and until next Monday at noon Eastern time. For Chucky Obio, I'm Michael Barberita, and remember, don't keep doing what your competition is doing. You have been listening to powerful business strategies, finding out that everything you ever learned about growing your business is wrong. Tune in next week and every week at noon Eastern time on W four CY Radio with your host Michael Barberita of Next Step CFO and moderator chugy Obio