FEAR AND THE SERVICE SALE

Fear and the service sale
25 June, 2007
By Robin Robins

Part 1 of 2
You can't see them. You can't touch them. And most of the time, we don't even know if we got a good one when it's delivered. What is it? A service.
Services are invisible, intangible things that we all spend a HUGE amount of money on, both in business and in our private lives.
In this country, there is a revolution going on in the way businesses operate. Almost every single company is now a service based business.
Even traditional manufacturing companies that produce tangible goods are quickly finding out that, in essence, they ARE in the service business after all.
For example, industrial giant General Electric generates over 40% of its revenue from services. Starbucks, presumably a coffee company, does not really make coffee; they only package, brew, and sell it. Starbucks is a service company. Software companies create and sell software, but a critical part of that manufactured product is the services of documentation, training, support, and upgrades.
Computer resellers who focus on product sales are now being FORCED into a service model in order to stay alive. Anybody can buy a computer anywhere. Computer hardware is a commodity, and like all commodities, it's shopped mainly by price. What consumers want now is help choosing the right products to support their core business functions, installation, set up, and maintenance. They want service, and that's what they are willing to pay for.
The problem is, most computer resellers and manufacturers are stuck in a product marketing model because that's all they know.
But marketing a product is far different than marketing a service. A product is tangible. You can see it, touch it, taste it, or smell it. You can highlight its characteristics. You can hear the hum of the engine or see the speed of the machine.
A service is intangible. It doesn't even exist when you buy it.
When you buy a service you are actually buying trust; you trust the company or individual you are hiring will do the right thing and deliver what you are expecting.
That's the single biggest challenge with selling services.

You are trying to convince a person to trust you to deliver some type of work or result sight unseen. As if that isn't hard enough, we live in a world chock full of shady politicians, scams, spin doctors, rip off artists, and bad service companies that only add to the challenge.
That's why most companies choose a computer service provider based on word of mouth referrals. At least if you didn't screw Joe over, maybe there's a good chance you won't screw me.
In addition, your average customer is completely techno-phobic which just adds to their fear and distrust. If you were selling a service they were familiar with and understood like coffee or a cleaning service, they would feel safer.
They could tell whether or not you did a good job. They know what the job entails. Ultimately, they could taste the coffee or see the cleanliness and know whether or not it was up to par.
Trusting someone to do the right thing or to give you the best advice when you haven't a clue what that is becomes an anxiety filled decision.
This all adds up to a very fearful, very timid consumer who doesn't believe a word you say and holds you guilty until proven innocent.
In many cases, the prospect may even feel it's safer to do NOTHING rather that trust your recommendations even when they desperately need the solution you are proposing.
So what is a service company supposed to do? You take the fear out of the buying decision.
More specifically, you have to go to work on building that new prospect's confidence to the point where they feel as though they cannot lose by hiring you.
If you can do this effectively, another really magical thing happens: you can easily charge more for your products and services.
Most customers would be willing to PAY MORE for a service or a product they didn't have to worry about than a cheaper service that they were unsure of. This is true in practically every business or industry.
Robin Robins is President of TechnologyMarketingToolKit.com. With more than 14 years experience in direct sales and marketing, which include business to business and business to consumer sales Robin Robins runs an elite sales and marketing coaching program for computer resellers, solution providers, and technology service companies focused on helping them to significantly increase their revenue and profits while reducing the number of hours they work in their business. Author of the new e-book and marketing system called, "The Technology Marketing Tool Kit", she can be reached at http://www.technologymarketingtoolkit.com or e-mail your questions to ask@technologymarketingtoolkit.com.