开发了一个好产品，下一步该咋办？

以下内容摘自埃德·麦克劳克林和维恩·里德克尔的新书《目的即利润》（Purpose Is Profit），其中详尽描述了麦克劳克林辞去高管职务，创立一家蓬勃发展的新公司，并最终被《财富》100强公司收购的过程。作为一位连续创业者，麦克劳克林目前是房地产和投资公司Blue Sunsets创始人兼首席执行官，该公司总部设在康涅狄格州达里恩镇。

确立收入模式的关键一步是决定贵公司收入的类型和来源。收入类型包括产品销售收入、服务费、广告费、数据访问费、授权费或佣金。

每一种收入都可以有多个来源。比如说，服务收入的来源可以多种多样，具体取决于客户类型和所属领域，后者包括在线、移动、消费者、企业、机构或政府。此外，每个收入领域都可以跨越多种来源。比如说，企业销售可以包括大客户、主要客户、垂直市场、地区、合作伙伴和一次性销售。

我们公司的收入模式相当简单。我们向企业提供不动产投资组合管理和交易管理服务。客户就特定资源或交易向我们支付手续费或佣金。随着公司的成长以及服务的延伸，我们建立了一套更复杂的费用结构来对应客户使用的服务类型。

你怎样确立收入模式结构？

- 你是否会提供服务或产品，直接从客户那里获得销售收入？

- 贵公司是否会充当中间人，帮助买卖双方走到一起，然后收取相应的服务费，或者按其交易额收取佣金？

- 贵公司是否会发布内容或者建立在线社区，然后对内容或社区访问者收费？

- 你是否会提供内容或在线社区收费，并从瞄准贵公司受众或用户的广告主那里获得收入？

- 你是否会通过允许他人使用自己的产品来收取授权费？

- 你是否会收集数据并向营销人员收取数据访问费吗？

- 贵公司会综合采用多种收入模式吗？

确定贵公司的收入类型和来源是实现利润的第一步。

产品定价：你的产品要多少钱？

定价的途径是确立收入模式，并充分考虑自己的竞争地位以及理想的利润目标。各种收入模式很可能都有可供研究的市场基准，这有助于你确立有竞争力的价格。

基于以前公司的销售经验，我对房地产服务的传统定价模式有深刻的理解。通过聚合不动产投资组合管理和交易服务，我知道自己可以覆盖成本，并通过以量为基础的侵略性定价在竞争中获胜。如果你很了解自己的行业，你或许也可以这样做。

你需要考虑如下问题：

- 你会建立一种崭新的定价模式吗？

- 你的价格会和传统基准保持一致吗？

- 你的价格会有竞争力吗？

- 你会销售优质产品，进而可以确立高于竞争对手的价格吗？还是会进行低价竞争呢？

- 你应该通过简单加成定价来覆盖单位成本吗？

- 如果你是内容供应商，你推出的那种广告的主流费用是多少？

- 如果你是数据供应商，营销人员一般会为访问类似信息付多少钱呢？

- 你的价格会覆盖成本并为实现合理利润留下空间吗？

弄清自己的基本收入模式和定价后，你就可以估算自己会有多少客户，每位客户可能带来多少销售额，以及你实现这些销售额的频率，是每天？每周？每月？还是每年？综合考虑下来，你就可以通过这些信息来预测自己的总收入。

生产和经销：创造、生产以及向客户交付产品，需要花费多少成本？

就一件制成品而言，你需要全盘考虑并量化自己在原材料、劳动力、机器、库存和经销方面的需求。对服务型企业来说，你需要量化服务实施成本，包括人员、差率费、响应时间和绩效报告。

由于我的公司是一家服务型企业，我们关心的是销售额和提供服务的成本。在拿出意向书和尽职调查报告前，我们不存在生产成本。我们的产品主要由客户管理、数据管理、市场信息和谈判技巧组成。我们的费用非常类似于传统咨询公司，而且我们的大多数员工都在客户的总部现场办公。

另一方面，制造和经销企业在精确计算生产成本方面会遇到更大的挑战。要点在于建立完整的生产成本模型，以确保自己考虑到了所有主要成本。

估算生产成本时大家要考虑的因素包括：

- 原型成本

- 你怎样制作原型或样品来确保客户预购？

- 制作原型或样品需要多少钱？

- 生产成本

- 量化生产所需的原料、劳动力和设备的类型、数量和来源。

- 初步估算生产所需的原料、劳动力和设备的成本。

- 就自行生产还是外包生产做出决定。

如果是自行生产，

- 你的原材料成本是多少？

- 你的劳动力成本是多少？

- 你的设备成本是多少？

- 你的设施成本是多少？

- 你的经销成本是多少？

- 你生产产品需要多长时间？

- 你的总单位生产成本是多少？

-如果是外包生产，谁将为你生产？要花多少钱？需要多长时间？

通过权衡二者的定量和定性收益，最终决定是自行生产还是外包。

对制造型企业来说，准确计算生产成本以及所需时间是建立可盈利商业模式的关键所在。请记住，这只是一个高度概括的介绍，目的是帮助大家起步。（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审校：詹妮

The following is an excerpt from Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker’s new book The Purpose Is Profit (Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2016), which recounts how, after quitting his high-level corporate job, McLaughlin started a thriving business that was eventually acquired by a Fortune 100 company. A serial entrepreneur, McLaughlin is the founder and CEO of Blue Sunsets, a real estate and investment firm based in Darien, Connecticut.

A key step in developing your revenue model is determining the types and sources of revenue your business will generate. Revenue types include product sales, service fees, advertising sales, data access fees, license fees, and/or commissions.

Each type of revenue generated can come from a multitude of sources. For example, sources of revenue from service sales can vary depending on customer type and category, including online, mobile, consumer, corporate, institutional, and/or government. Additionally, each category can expand into multiple sources. For example, the corporate sales category can include major accounts, named accounts, vertical markets, geographic territories, partnerships, and one-off sales.

My business had a pretty simple revenue model. We sold real estate portfolio management and transaction management services to corporations. Our customers paid us fees for dedicated resources and commissions on transactions. As the business evolved and our service lines expanded, we developed a more complex fee structure suited to the types of services our customers consumed.

How will you structure your revenue model?

— Will you collect sales revenue directly from customers in exchange for the service or product?

— Will your business act as an intermediary, helping to bring buyers and sellers together and collecting a fee for the service or a commission on the resulting sale?

— Will your business be a publisher of content or the creator of an online community that charges for access to the content or community?

— Will you provide content or community for free and collect revenues from advertisers who want to target your readers or users?

— Will you give permission for your product to be used in exchange for a license fee?

— Will you be a collector of data and charge fees to marketers for access to that information?

— Will your business use a combination of these revenue models?

Determining the types and sources of revenue your business will generate is the first step toward realizing a profit.

Product pricing: What will you charge for your product?

Determine your price by selecting your revenue model while factoring in your competitive positioning and your ideal profit target. Each type of revenue model will most likely have market benchmarks you can research to help you price competitively.

From my previous corporate sales experience, I had a firm understanding of traditional pricing models for real estate services. By aggregating portfolio and transaction services through a single source, I knew I could cover my costs and beat the competition with aggressive volume-based pricing. If you know your industry, you may be able to do the same.

Consider the following questions:

— Will you be developing a radical new pricing model?

— Will your price be aligned with traditional benchmarks?

— Will your price be competitive?

— Will you be selling a premium product, enabling you to charge more than your competitors, or will you undercut the competition?

— Should you use a simple markup to cover your unit costs?

— If you are a content provider, what are the prevailing rates for the type of advertising you are selling?

— If you are a provider of data, what do marketers typically pay for access to similar information?

— Will your price cover your cost and leave room for a reasonable profit?

Once you can explain the basic revenue model and your pricing, you can estimate how many customers you expect to have, how many sales you’ll likely make to each one, and how often you will make those sales—daily, weekly, monthly, or annually. Taken together, this information will enable you to project your total revenue.

Production and distribution: What will it take to create, manufacture, and deliver your product to your customers?

For a manufactured product, you will need to think through and quantify your requirements for raw materials, labor, machinery, inventory, and distribution. For a service business, you will need to quantify your service fulfillment costs including staffing, travel costs, response times, and performance reporting.

Since my business was a service business, we were concerned about sales and service delivery costs. Beyond the production of proposals and due-diligence binders, we did not have a manufacturing cost. The key components of our product were account management, data management, market knowledge, and negotiation skills. My company’s expenses were very similar to a traditional consulting business, with most of our employees situated on-site at our customers’ headquarters.

On the other hand, a manufacturing and distribution business has a more significant challenge in accurately estimating production costs. It will be important to develop a thorough production cost model to ensure you have considered all of the major costs.

Some of the factors you will need to address to estimate production costs include the following:

— Prototype costs

— How will you create a prototype or samples to help you secure preorders?

— How much will it cost to create a prototype or sample products?

— Production costs

— Quantify the type, amount, and source of materials, labor, and equipment needed to manufacture your product.

— Generate a preliminary estimate of costs for materials, labor, and/or equipment needed for your product.

— Determine whether you will make your product or outsource its production.

If you make your product,

— What are your raw material costs?

— What are your labor costs?

— What are your equipment costs?

— What are your facilities costs?

— What are your distribution costs?

— How long will it take to manufacture your product?

— What is the total unit production cost of your product?

— If you outsource, who will make your product, how much will it cost, and how long will it take?

Finalize the make vs. buy decision by weighing the quantitative and qualitative benefits of each.

Determining accurate production costs and time frames for a manufacturing business is critical to the development of a profitable and reliable business model. Please keep in mind that this is merely a high-level outline designed to get you started.