{"id":1356,"date":"2018-07-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demandzen.com\/services-marketing-importance\/"},"modified":"2018-07-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-18T04:00:00","slug":"services-marketing-importance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demandzen.com\/services-marketing-importance\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Services Marketing in the B2B Sector"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biggest mistake you can make when selling in a B2B tech space is to go around and try to \u201csell products.\u201d You have to realize that if you\u2019re selling high-ticket items to large businesses, you\u2019re dealing with high-powered decision makers. Hence, you’ll do much better if you approach these high-level players and \u201coffer them your services.\u201d This is where services marketing<\/strong> comes in.<\/p>\n

What is services marketing though?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Services marketing is simply a concept that came about through evolution. In the early day marketing was almost entirely about helping manufacturers sell more physical goods, and hence most traditional marketing concepts were based on this assumption. One day, however, marketers realized that marketing services is different than marketing traditional products. It involves a different approach and a serious shift in how you approach the customer.<\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, if you look at the definition, services are intangible things where consumption is inseparable from production. The thing is being produced and consumed at the same time. This is unlike a physical product which can be produced, shipped to a warehouse, and consumed many years later.<\/p>\n

And this actually gets at the core of what selling a service entails<\/h3>\n

Selling a service is about selling a set of\u00a0experiences, activities, and processes<\/strong>, all of which are intangible. Services marketing itself is about marketing these same intangible things, whether they represent the bulk of a product, or are merely delivered in connection with a purchased good.<\/p>\n

Now, if you operate in the B2B tech world like most of our clients, most, if not all of your products are probably a service of some kind, so all of this should probably resonate with you quite easily. Switching to a services marketing strategy just means that you focus on selling the experiences, activities, and processes that a potential customer will get access to.<\/p>\n

That’s the easy part though, and most of your competitors are going to figure this one out as well. The\u00a0real secret\u00a0<\/strong>lies in an untapped source that allows for some amazing services marketing. And this something which most of your competitors are leaving on the table. Many marketers in B2B tech forget is that there are a lot of additional services that are tied to their products. And that is things like customer support and training.<\/p>\n

It is very often these additional services that get a decision-maker to go for your solution over another. So ideally, you should focus on marketing those just as much as (or even more than) the core product\u2019s main features and general benefits.<\/p>\n

Customer support <\/b>in Services Marketing<\/b><\/h2>\n

You probably already have a customer support team with the proper training and resources to assist your clients. If this is the case, why not advertise this amazing service to your potential customers?<\/p>\n

Think about it this way. A decision maker seeks assistance in growing their business. If you do things right, you can present your customer service as a \u201cteam of people that can help their business become more productive and grow faster.\u201d Obviously, the specifics will depend on your exact product or services, but in general, this is the angle you want to take.<\/p>\n

Focus on the customer service a business gets access to when they become a customer. Think of this customer service as an ally that\u2019s there to help them reach their business goals.<\/p>\n

How to market your customer support<\/b><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s always good if someone else is talking about the quality of your customer support. Make sure that your promotional materials include a lot of customer reviews and testimonials. This is especially crucial if some of the feedback is coming from well-known companies that you work with. Businesses generally take into consideration the opinion of big and successful players.<\/p>\n

Ideally, you want to demonstrate that your customer service is an integral part of your brand. When a business strikes a deal with you, they are paying for access to your amazing customer support. It’s almost like they get to outsource a big chunk of their hassles to this great external team that solves things for them.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, don\u2019t forget to mention any unique selling points you might have. If your customer services differ from the competition, be sure to mention it. Some simple examples include:<\/p>\n