Exporting Your Services
Marketing: Services vs. Goods
Because services cannot be inspected ahead of time, your approach to potential customers needs to be different. Traditionally, product marketing courses stress four steps:
- Present the product
- Talk about the features and benefits
- Overcome objections
- Close the sale
With services marketing, you need to link your ability to create a service to what it is that the customer needs – creating the following four steps:
- Build rapport
- Probe the customer’s services needs
- Present the service, shaped around customer need
- Seek commitment
Marketing services is actually relationship marketing: building a trusting relationship with potential customers to make a sale. Even how products and services are sold is different. Products can be sold at trade shows and in stores instantly because customers can handle them and try them out. This makes it possible for a distributor or sales agent to represent a manufacturer in an export market. But services cannot be inspected ahead of time. Usually, potential customers want to meet the service provider (not an agent) to judge for themselves whether or not they think the service provider can actually deliver the service.
This also means service firms face different marketing challenges than goods firms and need different types of market information and support:
Challenge |
Consequence |
Sell a promise to deliver, not a product that can be inspected |
Marketing must focus on building credibility and confidence in capacity to deliver |
Cannot patent most services |
Stay competitive through continuous innovation |
Service is usually created in interaction with the customer |
Interpersonal and problem-solving skills are critical, especially in front-line staff |
New customers of professional services want to meet the service provider |
Most professional services cannot be marketed by agents or sales reps |
Profit is linked to addressing needs of customer |
Promotion must focus on capacity to customize rather than on services previously provided |
Usually customers will not switch to a new service provider until a relationship has been built |
It usually takes 2-3 trips into a new market before a sale is made |