Productization (Again)

Okay, so take us back.

Let's get through the phases first.

January 2018, what happened here?

So I released Pricing Creativity, now out of print, and in that book, I strongly suggest that you should resist the urge to productize your services.

Is that why it's out of print?

[laughs] Among other things.

[laughs]

Okay.

That book has made a lot of people a lot of money, including me, and it's jam-packed with valuable advice, but it does need updating, and that's why I pulled it.

Okay, so that was January 2018.

Fast-forward six years to December 2024.

Do you want me to talk about why I had that position in 2018, though?

No, I just wanna lay out the facts-

[laughs]

... before we call the jury in.

[laughs]

Okay.

Yeah, so January of 2018, I say, "Yeah, you should resist the urge to productize." And then December of 2024, I published the Four Conversations, and I say, "Productization is just fine, so is customized service is still just fine.

Just be aware of the trade-offs." And I had this two-by-two on standardized versus customized across the two different dimensions of your delivery and your pricing.

So on the delivery domain, standardized services would be productized, and then customized would be...

Well, it would...

Really, it's a form of consulting.

Mm-hmm.

So that's December of 2024.

Right, and on this pros and cons theme, let's just remind people one of the main cons of productizing your services is around what happens to pricing when you productize your services, right?