How To Market Your Services To Small Businesses

1. How To Market Your Services To Small Businesses By Iqbal M Khan President SURE Institute

2. SERVICE SECTOR INDUSTRY • Services are of two kinds of jobs: • Traditional services such as retailers, transportations, utilities, restaurants, beauty saloons. • The Information sector such as teachers, clerks, accountants, lawyers, insurance brokers, advertisers, computer programmers, consultants providing services to small enterprises etc.

3. OBJECTIVES • Marketing Services and its peculiarities. • Unique qualities differentiating the service business from product business. • Important factors in market analysis and marketing strategy for service business. • Promoting your services through advertising and personal selling

4. WHAT MAKES SERVICE BUSINESS UNIQUE? • Service is an intangible product satisfying chosen market segment. • When you market a service, your customer comes away empty-handed from resultant sale. • A product is produced, a service is performed. • Pricing of services also a unique task and charges for services are described as fee or premium

5. WHAT MAKES SERVICE BUSINESS UNIQUE? • Marketing of Services takes more than conventional marketing methods. • Your customers can’t hear, see, smell, taste, or touch your services making it more difficult to market services. • The general practice in service sector is to call customers as “clients”. • Service is created and marketed at the same time.

6. WHAT MAKES SERVICE BUSINESS UNIQUE? • Services cannot be stored and sold according to conventional product. • The performance of a service is usually “person- intensive” leading to seller’s performance as criteria. • Hence Customer orientation is even more important. • The most important raw material for the service sector is usually a novel idea.

7. SERVICES ARE INTANGIBLE • Since your product is intangible your sales effort must concentrate on the benefits to your customer, not on your service. • Service business can promote itself by well illustrated brochures, color photographs, letters of commendations, and video taped presentations. • The reputation and image of the service business become paramount in buying decisions

8. Buyers & Sellers are Interdependent • Buyers usually play major role in the production and marketing of services • There is no transfer of ownership in sale. • The buyer creates demand for your services • The adequacy of services depends on ability of customer to communicate their specific needs • And your skills in perceiving & satisfying.

9. SERVICE AND SELLER INSEPERABLE • This has two marketing implications; • First that direct personal selling –only channel of distribution • Second that your customers are buying “you” as much as your services, • Hence your capacity for supplying service limits scale of business.

10. THE MARKETING CONCEPT IN SERVICES • Customer orientation more important for the service business. • Most think of themselves as creators, producers, professionals, or specialists-not “marketers” of services. • They take pride in performance. • Recommended –you be expert in the services you provide.

11. THE MARKETING CONCEPT IN SERVICES • Special problem facing small service providers: • Consumers often believe they can do it themselves. • So they have to be convinced they will be better off letting you do it for them.

12. OPPORTUNITIES FOR MARKETING IN SERVICES SECTOR • The consumer’s desire for personal attention is often the dominant need satisfied by a small service business. • Unique position to cultivate consumers feelings and loyalty towards your services. • If seen significant value from personal attention—there is great benefit to your business through referral. • Leading to sales call and potential client.

13. CAPACITY BARRIER • Capacity problem for services is not easily solved, as time of service provider is involved: three ways of dealing • Become expert in management of your own time. • Carefully schedule service work, be selective; avoid being overcommitted and do a good job, build your reputation. • Select and train staff to be proficient and reliable in performing services you offer.

14. PROMOTING YOUR SERVICES • Your options for promoting your services. • Communicate with potential customers through advertising, publicity, or personal selling. • For service industry your strategy should be geared towards promoting three key factors of your business:

15. PROMOTING YOUR SERVICES Availability: Consumers in your target market must know where and when you are available and how you can be reached

16. PROMOTING YOUR SERVICES Image or Reputation: Consumers must become acquainted with your capabilities– the quality of performance of your service.

17. PROMOTING YOUR SERVICES Use Benefits Intended customers must understand how the results of your service will benefit them.

18. PROMOTING YOUR SERVICES • You may use all forms of Promotion advertising, publicity, and personal selling to communicate these three features.

19. PROMOTING YOUR SERVICES • Remember you should insist on a consistent theme in advertising, personal selling, and publicity messages. • If your techniques of service performance are unique, they could serve as unifying theme for promotion

20. PROMOTING YOUR SERVICES • If you have key personnel who have established reputation in the services you offer, you could highlight this in promotional messages. • Or stressing the benefits already gained by satisfied customers.

21. ADVERTISING • If catering to local market use media just for local market. • E.g. Yellow pages, direct mail, chamber or association members. • If your services are to be purchased only on “as needed” basis awareness of your availability is vital.

22. PROMOTING YOUR SERVICES ADVERTISING • Develop a symbol it becomes part of your image. • The symbol is to some extent a substitute for having a physical product to display.

23. YOUR ADVERTISING PHILOSOPHY • In a marketing society that emphasizes acquisition of things, the service sector must create a message that appeals to the buying of experiences, achieving a better future, avoiding inconveniences.

24. PERSONAL SELLING • Personal Selling should concentrate on reducing pre-purchase uncertainty of customers. Stress • Your unique techniques performance of service. • Skills and competence of your employees • Significant benefits to customers. • To sell your services you need to sell yourself.

25. PERSONAL SELLING • Goal: Maximum exposure in your target market. • Methodology: Professionally acceptable practice is through presenting speeches to target audiences, professional associations. • Use Press releases to announce new product, services, staff hired, and specialized articles. • Make use of “Give-aways”

26. END OF SESSION ALHAMDOLILLAH