All Companies Provide Services

People Purchase Services Differently From Products

Inseparability of the provider from the service itself challenges clients to make objective buying decisions because experience can only be judged during and after service delivery.

Services buyers are influenced by past experiences and referrals.  They lessen risk by observing early adopters, opinion leaders and trusted mavens.  They listen when raving fans tell stories that help them to visualize how the benefits would apply to them.

Services Marketing: Not The Same As Product Marketing

Attract prospects with high quality content when they discover you through your self-service channels.  Provide photos of radiant facilities, hygienic equipment and well-groomed personnel along with other physical proof such as location, reputation for consistent quality and performance, certifications and efficient, courteous service.

Frequent internal marketing must motivate employees and partners to develop customer-centricity and to have the attitude and skills that ensure sustained customer loyalty.  Standardization and training will create advantages through consistent, high satisfaction touch points and rituals.

Services buyers expect empathy and assurance, so allow them to participate in buying decisions. Then, watch and listen for personalization needs so that you can tailor some aspect of your service for them.

Services can't be inventoried like products, so when capacity isn't used, you'll incur idle time due to demand that fluctuates according to day of week, time of day or season. Adjust pricing and bundle or unbundle features to optimize capacity when demand is low.  Use idle time for training.

All Businesses Operate Within A Services Economy

Even companies that consider themselves only as purveyors of tangible products can differentiate themselves through pre-sale consultative services and post-sale support.

By John Bernardi

Late Bloomers Are Ready To Do Their Best Work

Are You A Late Blooming Business Professional?

When it comes to business, I've often been a late bloomer.  Today I'm a boomer that's been honed into a talented business professional.  At the top of my game I am discretely driven by what's right, not who's right, which gives me the confidence to challenge my clients.

Are you a baby boomer who has been incorrectly positioned by others as having their best behind them? [Senior tour golfers earn more than when they played on the PGA tour].

There are lots of boomers out there ready to do their best work ever.

By John Bernardi

Is Your Fan Base Telling Compelling Stories About Your Company?

Hopefully, you have a large fan base that continuously injects high quality referrals into your sales funnel. Fans are very powerful influencers within their community. Recognize their differences and nurture each type accordingly.  Mavens know a lot about what's going on. Connectors know the key people.

Unlike your sales reps, fans don't have to invest any time learning about your company, so you need to be creative in how you train and motivate them. Drip marketing campaigns teach fans about your company in bite size lessons. Fun learning activities make it rewarding for fans to connect with your business.  Games enable fans to sample configurations and to test different uses before buying them.


Your fan base can be a key member of your marketing team because of its power to influence referrals from their trusting communities.

Comment on this post:

Do you track the # of leads you receive from your fan base?

By John Bernardi

Start With A Market Follower Strategy

First Implement A Market Follower Strategy

Then Become A Market Leader As Success And Resources Grow

Market Leaders create an umbrella under which category members can thrive. They have the highest market share [sometimes as much as 40-50%]. Their product/service portfolio is always evolving.  Their complementary partnerships challenge them and optimize results.  They are low cost leaders whose value proposition makes them best suited to telling their compelling story. 



Market Followers possess a core competency that enables a competitive advantage but have much less resources than the market leader. Associating with a category led by a prestigious market leader enhances their credibility. Position against the category gold standard in the areas of cost, ease of use, convenience, design, reliability, performance, range of selection, service and location.  A successful follower may eventually become a leader as they build their resource pool and create their own compelling story.

Begin by narrowcasting to build a high share of your defined niche market. Always innovate - products, services and processes. Build complementary partnerships that help you to sell a total solution. Your pricing strategy must enable gross margin and cash flow to contribute to the goal of becoming a market leader.

The key to success will always be your strategy for optimizing the customer experience. This is the best way to differentiate your company for the long haul.
 
By John Bernardi

What Role Does Business Development Play At Your Company?

Create A BizD Legacy

Is Business Development just another name for a “sales hunter” who searches for new business or is it inside sales and telemarketing?  Or, do you consider BizD to mean partnerships and alliances or mergers and acquisitions?

At top companies BizD interfaces with marketing, sales, CEM, engineering, R&D, product/service management and production processes.  Only after new BizD ideas are fully vetted for prime time will they be transitioned to the respective operating environment [or a new one will be created]. BizD then moves on to the next prioritized opportunity to continually add significant value to the business.

Continuously Ask Yourself About Your Business

What will your business be like if you continue the status quo for the next couple of years?  What formalized actions are being taken to improve your business?

• How do you nurture most valuable customers to keep buying and referring?
• How do you develop new MVCs?
• How do you find new customers?

Do You Continuously Solicit Internal and External Feedback?

• What do employees, customers and partners think of your business?
• How can you make it more attractive for the best employees to join your company?
• How can you make it easier for customers and partners to do business with you?
• What would it take for targets to want to do business with you?
• Should you offer new or modified products and/or services?
• How do you compare Vs. best in class companies in mission critical processes and programs?