They ARE the Product

Your service can be flawless. Delivery on time. Specs met. Budget hit.

And the client still leaves.

Because they didn't like working with your people. Or the thinking behind the work was shallow. Or the craft felt rushed.

In a service business, your employees aren't delivering the product. They ARE the product. The interaction. The thinking. The craft. Every person shapes what the client actually experiences.

We invest in product roadmaps. We skip people roadmaps.

Which raises a quiet question.

If your people are the product… shouldn't you want to improve the product?

This note explores how service businesses reveal their actual priorities through budget allocation. Part of The Doer's Advantage, which examines how actions produce consequences—one of four forces from Shadow Strategy.