Increasing Your Earning Potential, Part 2 of 3: Two Types Of Products, by Leanne Palmerston

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In my previous article examining how you can increase your earning potential, we examined the importance of diversifying our product offerings. In this article, we will look at the two different types of product offerings you can add to your doula business to increase profits.

Adding multiple products to your offerings results in new earning potential. You can attract clients who might not want to purchase Service A but who do want to purchase Service B. You can also sell both A and B to clients who originally intended to purchase only a single service or who are interested in multiple services.

This often happens with childbirth education. A woman and her partner hire you to provide their private childbirth education. They build a relationship with you over the course of a few weeks and decide that your birth support services would be perfect for them.

The reverse also happens often. A couple hires you as their birth doula. Discovering that you provide private childbirth education, they decide that having you provide them with their prenatal education would be a good fit for them and they purchase this service from you, as well.

Each of these services, childbirth education and birth support, are stand-alone products. This is one type of product. It can be sold independently as a single product offering or in tandem with complementary services. Essentially, though, each is a single offering.

The other type of service is the value-added service.

A value-added service is not something you sell separately but something that you add to your regular offerings to increase their value.

By adding value-added services to your offerings, you can increase the amount you charge for the offering and (or) distinguish it from the other similar offerings of doulas in your local market. Potential clients will see your services and know that choosing you means they are getting more than from other service providers.

Bottom line: To increase your earning potential you must offer multiple stand-alone products and add value to the products you currently offer to clients.

In the next and final installation of this three-part series on increasing your earning potential, we’ll investigate different types of stand-along and value-added services you can add to your offerings. I will give you lists of products and value-added services you can add to your product line, making your services more attractive to clients and increasing your chances to earn income.

Leanne Palmerston is a doula, childbirth educator, and placenta services provider in Hamilton, Ontario Canada. You can get in touch with Leanne at her website Hamilton Family Doulas.