Selling Products Vs Selling Services, Part 2: Selling Services
By
Welcome back! In Part 1 of this series, we delved into the Buyer's Angle, focusing on the differences between buying products and buying services.
Now, in Part 2, we will navigate the landscape of service companies, exploring and explaining ways to effective ly position, market, and, at the end of the day, sell services.
This guide is crafted to help service providers, whether they offer transactional or continuous services, to thrive in a competitive market.
So, let's start...
Part 2: Seller's Angle
For all the services some First things first. For the purpose of this document, let’s make a general segmentation of the services offered in two groups:
- Transactional – in this group belong all the services provided in a shorter period (anything with delivery time between 30 minutes up to 3 months).
- Continuous – services delivered over a period of time longer than 3 months.
Of course, this segmentation can be worked out in a lot more detail, but as this document is to provide an efficient and practical guide, the segmentation above will serve the purpose.
Transactional services
Anything from hairstylist or oil change service to running an event marketing campaign, delivering courses and training, or even shorter consulting projects.
This type of service will usually have a smaller contract value (compared to similar continuous services), thus less exposure and risk for the decision maker and the buyer’s company.
Directly proportional to the delivery time will be the length of the Buyer’s decision-making process.
So, in order to position properly on the market, we need to think mostly about:
- Of course, as for any service, brand/company/personal authority, but also
- Competitive positioning – where are we compared to other offerings on the market that can satisfy the particular buyer’s need
- Buying convenience – how easy it is to buy the service
- Post-sales customer care – making sure that the Buyers come back
Brand/Company/Personal authority
Here we are mostly talking to small and medium businesses (working without the power of large global brands and their budgets), and in that case, the easiest way to build authority is through personal brands.
The more complicated the service is, the more personal authority is needed. For example, for hairstylists, only the top ones will have a “name” build-out, interviews, and a unique knowledge, expertise, or approach. Most regular ones will rely mostly on other tools in their marketing arsenal to bring in the Buyers (price, location, and such).
On the other hand, coaches, trainers, or marketing and consulting companies will have to work more on authority, the way they see things, thought leadership concepts, and similar.
Competitive positioning
Now this part might sound obvious, but it is absolutely amazing how many service companies completely ignore it, missing out on huge growth opportunities. The important part is that competition is not who you think are your competitors. Competition is ANY way your prospective Buyer can satisfy the need he has.
If you are running a training center, self-guided online course providers are your competitors too, not just similar training centers in the same area. Also, freelance trainers that can deliver the same/similar training on the Buyer’s premises are a competition too.
Spending enough time thinking through this part is one of the most important and powerful things you can do. After all, it can reveal hidden gems and put you in a great spot once you finally have a chance to talk with your potential Buyer.
Buying convenience
My oh my… Please simplify the buying process to the basics! 99% of transactional services can fully automate the digital buying (and payment) process. In 2024 there is absolutely no reason why the Buyer shouldn’t be able to book your training fully online! Or book a haircut appointment or … continue the list on your own.
The most common objection is: “We customize our offer for every buyer, and we cannot simplify it that much.” First off, no one says that all offerings have to be in the fully digital sales process, but at least the ones most often sold can for sure! If you cannot, from the Buyer’s angle it looks like you are trying one of the following things:
- You want to rip them off and calculate the price based on how much you can charge them, or
- You don’t really know what you are doing, and you wait to hear from them what they want to build out the proposal.
The best advice here is if a buyer wants a customized offer, let him choose that option, get in a conversation with your salesperson, and get his personalized proposal. But consider that if you know what you are doing, have experience in it, and have delivered certain services to multiple customers, there is no valid reason why you shouldn’t get your offering digitally available. Again, we live in 2024 and the internet IS the main marketplace!
Post-sales customer care
Now one of the biggest differences between continuous and transactional services is the focus on post-sales customer care. While with continuous ones you actually have time to build relationship with the client, with transactional, beside the quality of the service provided, the way you handle customers after the initial sales are done makes a world of difference.
Continuous services
Consulting, software development, human resources, marketing, and sales services… This is where the game gets a bit more sensitive and complicated. Higher tickets and higher risks for the Buyer bring a lot longer buying process, from the moment when a Buyer has decided to move forward, the provider evaluation process can take months.
OK, so how do we market and sell these types of services?
The first step, the company has to look and feel professional and trustworthy every step of the way!
Website, social media pages, whitepapers, case studies, success stories, pricing strategy… You have to start building the Buyer’s trust from the very first step!
Authority, authority, authority… Who are your best engineers, and why are they the best? Who are your best consultants, project managers… Combined efforts in building authority of the company AND of the key people in charge of the project delivery.
We have already mentioned that a compelling event, the decision to buy, happens without too much direct influence from the seller, but how will the Buyer create his shortlist and choose who to talk with in his purchase process?
Some of the most common, logical, and obvious answers:
- Service providers that are referred to him through his network of contacts
- People and companies that already caught the Buyer’s attention with non-sales content, authority-building content on social media, blogs, podcasts, etc.
- Dark social (direct, non-traceable communication on social media) and
- Expert group referrals
The sales process begins when the buyer raises his hand and informs the provider that he is ready to step into the purchase process.
The only trick here is to put yourself in Buyer’s shoes (imagine you are a Buyer) and you are looking to buy services your company sells. How would you go about it?
If you don’t respond and react to cold messages, your Buyer probably won’t either. If you ask for recommendations from your friends, peers, or colleagues, look for solutions in the groups, or from the people you follow on social media, your Buyer will too.
So, if all this resonates and makes sense, the answer to how to get there is imposing itself.
Before you get in direct touch with the prospective Buyer you will have to:
- Show that you understand the problem/need the Buyer has
- Educate the Buyer about the process of how it’s solved
- Build authority by explaining how you solved it in previous cases
- Get involved and spread your message in the groups (both virtual and in-person)
- Present your knowledge whenever and wherever you can (for free)
- Empower and help your engineers and experts to show off their expertise and knowledge
In selling services, the concept of permission marketing is pivotal in the sales process for continuous services. By engaging potential buyers with valuable content and building trust over time, you position your company as a trusted advisor, ready to provide solutions when the buyer is ready to make a purchase.
Stay Tuned for Part 3
As we continue this series, Part 3 will delve into selling products.
We will explore the unique challenges and strategies involved in product sales, from understanding buyer behavior to leveraging digital platforms and optimizing the customer journey.
Stay tuned for insights that will help you effectively market and sell your products in today's competitive landscape!
