The danger of leading with bespoke: why more options can mean fewer sales.

Hot take: (are we still saying that..?) when it comes to landing corporate customers at scale, the thing that gets a "yes" over the line isn't always a better story, but a clearer offer.

OK, be honest - does this sound familiar? 

You find yourself connected with a key decision maker at the perfect partner. You’re chuffed - this could really be a good one - and after a bit of back and forth you set up a call. 

You get the necessary preamble out of the way (“how are you managing in this rain/cold/heat…?’ Etc) and then you get into it. You talk about why you started, how you started and, most importantly, the impact you’re having. Your contact loves what your organisation is about and asks "so how would this work for us?" 

Knowing that you’re willing to be flexible to land this relationship, you launch into "well, it depends…".

Ten emails and three scoping calls later, the momentum is gone. 

I am not saying that there’s no place for bespoke projects - there absolutely is - but if you're selling to anyone lower than C-level, you would need to find a manager with an unusual amount of budgetary freedom for bespoke to be a safe bet. And when it comes to securing b2b relationships at scale, safe bets are pretty key. Bespoke work forces the corporate buyer to become your co-designer, which slows sales and pushes risk onto them. A defined package with a clear scope, price, and outcome lets a champion say yes and defend that yes internally. 

Productised services differ from custom consulting precisely in that the deliverables and the problems they're solving; as well as the client fit, the timeline and the price - are clear (if not explicit) before the sales conversation begins. An example of this done well? Oxfordshire Mind, part of the mental-health charity federation, sells corporate training as named, fixed-price bundles - with each workshop's length and content spelled out - via its training packages for organisations. A buyer can put that straight into a budget request; they don't need to include multiple stakeholders in a scoping call to establish what they're getting, or what it costs (reference).

Bespoke pricing also anchors you to day rates, while packaging lets you price the outcome and build in tiers, which raises perceived value and protects margin as you scale. A repeatable, tiered offer becomes an asset you can sell many times, renew, and grow, which is how mission-led organisations turn commercial revenue into durable impact. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation runs its corporate engagement as a tiered network: Member, Partner, and Strategic Partner, rather than as one-off projects. The offer is standardised so members can renew easily - and they do! This stable recurring revenue funds the foundation’s work driving the transition to a circular economy, and diversifies reliance on gifts and grants (reference). 

So, a challenge to anyone out there who feels like accepting it… This week, take your single most-requested piece of work turn it into one named, scoped, priced package. Don't wait until it's perfect, just get it down - then tell some people about it and see if they understand the impact of your work more quickly than they do when you'e leading with bespoke.

Good luck out there fellow humans - let me know how you get on.