Relationships are key.

If you sell vacuums, you make your sale and move on. However, if you provide a cleaning service, you need to build a relationship with your clients so they not only let you into their homes and places of business, but work with you so that you can provide a better service.

Relationships are key to the success of a service business. Without good client relationships, there is no one to provide your service to!

The need to be picky.

When you sell products, you don’t really need to like your customers … at least not all of them. But when you provide a service, you’ll be working with that client over a period of time. If you don’t like your clients, you’ll be miserable in your business.

Objections are red flags.

When you sell a product, your goal is to overcome objections to the sale. However, when you offer a service, this could backfire. Objections are red flags that the service might not be a match for the prospect, or that your service is missing something important that makes it valuable.

Less pricing flexibility

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When you sell products, you have the flexibility to offer bulk discounts. But, when you offer a service, you are selling a commodity that is not so flexible … your time. If you offer a “bulk time” discount, you are devaluing your time and that won’t end well.

Less fixed costs.

When you sell products, you can fairly easily estimate the cost of production and delivery. Your costs are pretty much fixed, and may even go down the more products you produce. The opposite is true with a service. You can only estimate how much time a particular service will take … and there will always be variables outside of your control that will mess with those estimates. Also, time isn’t less valuable the more you use it.

5 Ways Service Professionals Are Different than Those Who Sell Products is a post from Women's Business Gallery

About a year ago I went to a workshop given by David Frey on how to get more referral business. The presentation was pretty much a big sales pitch to join Send Out Cards under him, but there were some really good points he made along the way.

Make referrals an integral part of your sales process.

David recommended putting a sentence or two in your client contract that states if the client is happy with the service you provide, he or she will recommend two to three others who might also benefit from your service. This technique has two main effects:

1. It puts the idea in the client’s head to think of people to refer to you.
2. It makes it easier for you to bring it up later and ask for the referral.

Offer incentives for referring business to you.

There are lots of ways you can do this. You can give clients a discount on future services for each referral. You can offer a cash or in kind prize for referrals. But the idea I really liked was this: Hold a client appreciation event. It doesn’t have to be big. It can be a simple dinner or lunch party. Then, during the event, highlight the client who had referred the most business to you. Thank that client publicly and even plug their business. This is a great incentive for the others at the event, because now they’ll want to be the person being plugged a your next client appreciation party!

Make it easy for clients to refer business to you.

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Tell your clients exactly what you’re looking for in a client. When you ask for a referral, ask them in a way that leads them to think of someone that would be a good fit. Give them referral cards that they can hand out to their friends and colleagues. This card should offer some sort of incentive for the new client so that the person making the referral will feel like they are giving something of value.

Send out referral reminders.

Every once in awhile, send out a reminder that you are always looking for referrals. One idea I liked was the half-birthday card. Basically, on your clients’ half-birthays (6 months before their next birthday) send them a special card celebrating their half-birthday. In the card, remind them to send referrals. You might also call your clients once or twice a year to see how they are doing and ask for the referral during that conversation.

Partner with related businesses for co-referrals.

Let’s say you offer a dog walking service. You could partner with a vet or dog washing service and do a reciprocal referral promotion where they refer their clients to you and you refer your clients to them. Sometimes you can do this sort of arrangement with businesses that aren’t related to you, but are close in proximity. I once saw a pizza parlor promoting the chiropractor next door!

Ask for Client Love — Ask for Referrals is a post from Women's Business Gallery

“Success comes from taking the initiative and following up.”
~ Anthony Robbins

Although a retailer can get by without following up after a contact or sale, a service professional really can’t. Remember, it is far less expensive to keep a client and get repeat business than it is to find a new one. Also, your best source of referrals come from happy past clients.

Kim T. Gordon, the “Marketing” coach at Entrepreneur.com, says that “if you’re not communicating with your customer database at least every four to six weeks, you’re missing opportunities to grow you business.” So how do you keep in touch with your prospects and clients so that you remain top of mind the next time they or someone they know need your type of services?

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The most common way is through some sort of newsletter. This can be in print or electronic form and should include relevant and valuable information. You want to avoid pummeling your list with hard sales every time you contact them. In fact, it is far better for you to become a trusted resource … they’ll be more likely to stay on your list, rather than opt-out.

But, you can mix it up, too. In between newsletters you can send a variety of other types of messages:

• Recommendations – these are often products and services that are related to yours and you get an affiliate commission from
• Case studies – these serve several functions. They reinforce the value of your service; provide ideas of how others are using your service; and offer solutions that your clients may not have thought of before, thus bolstering your expert status.
• News announcements – these can be mentions of new products or services you are offering or commentary on local, national or world news that affects or is related to your service

You might also want to mix up the media a bit, too. Some of your communications can come via email, but others should come via the postal service, too, in the form of postcards and other mailers. You can even use text messages and recorded telephone calls … just be careful that you have permission to do so. These last two methods are much more intrusive and can backfire if they are unwelcome.

Keeping In Touch Is Crucial for Service Professionals is a post from Women's Business Gallery

• An auto dealer offers a test drive.
• An ice cream shop offers a taste.
• A computer store lets you play with computers on display.
• A pet shop lets you visit with the animals.
• A book store lets you browse and even read the books.

But how do you offer samples when what you are providing is a service that requires the time and expertise of a service provider? How do you let prospects “sample your wares” without taking away the time you need to serve paying clients? Here are some suggestions:

Gather testimonials and case studies

These are especially important for service professionals because it not only provides social proof (which a product will need, too), but offers a way for prospects to vicariously experience your services through the eyes of one of your past or current clients.

Publish a newsletter

This works especially well for those who offer an expertise-based service. By offering valuable content, prospects and get to know how well you know your stuff. This fosters trust, which can lead to a sale.

Publish special reports and white papers

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This is another way to showcase your expertise. You wouldn’t publish these as frequently as a newsletter, but you would go into the topic more deeply than you would in a newsletter. Also, special reports and white paper appeal to a different kind of person than a newsletter, so if you do both, you won’t miss out on potential clients.

Speak up

Speak on teleseminars and at live meetings and events. When someone experiences you through public speaking, two things happen. 1. They automatically view you as an expert. Otherwise why would you be asked to speak? 2. They get to feel like they know you. Your personality comes through your voice much better than it does your writing. These two things together can build the “know, like and trust” factor much more quickly than the methods listed above.

Give out samples

There are many ways you can do this without over-committing your time.

• Limit the sample of your service to only 15 minutes, and only book these sessions on pre-established days of the week.
• Hold a group session and allow plenty of time for Q & A
• Provide a sample audio or video of you providing your service.
• Offer a probationary period where they will get a 100% refund if not satisfied.
• Offer a graduated refund policy (e.g. 100% after 1 day, 75% after 2 days, 50% after 3 days, etc.)

You’ll see, if you are creative you can come up with many ways to give your prospects a sample of your service without discounting or devaluing your time or expertise.

Marketing Products and Services with Samples is a post from Women's Business Gallery

That gave me pause. For on some instinctual level I knew that marketing services and products was both the same and different, but I had never articulated this before. So I did a little research to help me focus my thoughts and what I found is that the experts are pretty much divided on this topic.

There are those that believe marketing is marketing, regardless if what you offer is a service or product. And then there are those who beg to differ. But here’s how I see it: The basics of marketing apply to both products and services, just the specifics need to be tailored to what you are offering.

Let me explain.

Products are tangible goods. You purchase a product … a soccer ball, a cup of coffee, a book, a trash compactor … and you get something that you can touch, see, feel.

Services are intangible. You can’t touch a diaper delivery service. You can’t see coaching. You can’t feel concierge services. At least not in a direct way.

And this is the key difference between the two: tangibility.

With a product, it is easy for the consumer to evaluate what they are about to purchase. They can look at it. Kick the tires. Taste it. Listen to it. Experience it in a way that doesn’t really cost the seller much. But with a service, the service provider would have to give up valuable time and energy to give the client a similar sampling experience.

So, marketers of services have come up with a number on low-cost, ingenious ways to offer a “free taste” or “test drive” of their services. Some are free, others are at a nominal cost.

• Newsletters
• Special Reports
• White Papers
• Seminars
• Teleseminars
• Workshops
• Group Sessions

Of course, marketers of products use these techniques, as well, but with a different emphasis and intent. What I plan to talk about in this month’s Monday posts is how to use a variety of marketing techniques to market products and services and how you might use them differently, depending on what you market.

Marketing Services vs. Products: Is There a Difference? is a post from Women's Business Gallery