Products are consumed, but services are experienced.
Why is that important?
A product will have certain specific features and will be priced accordingly. If you and I buy the same phone with the same specs from the same store at the same time, we will pay the same price. It makes no difference if you use your phone for work and I use mine for photos. We’re both paying for the same exact tangible product.
Scaling a product business relies a lot on supply and distribution channels, manufacturing, sales, etc. Services are mostly intangible, so they must be scaled differently.
With services you must consider two factors:
The nature of the solution—its complexity and specialization—should drive what resources and which staff you allocate.
A useful way to allocate is to first categorize any service you might offer on where it lies in the following dimensions:
After analyzing the complexity and required specialization, you should have an idea of the value your solution provides for clients and on whom you should focus your attention.