Marketing a service business

All business is a set of transactions between two parties and this implies a relationship. The relationship involves the exchange of benefits; the provision of benefits by the supplier to the customer in exchange for reward to the supplier. There is always an element of service in the provision of benefits, whether the supplier is providing hard goods or some softer and less tangible benefit. The better end of the manufacturing industry has already recognised the necessity of supporting the provision of goods with adequate service. Such service performance covers care of the product in transit, timely delivery to suit the buyer and product support. The suppliers of less tangible benefits, outwith the production of goods, has become known as the service sector. Companies in this sector concentrate on providing added value to their customers through their services. Businesses in this sector range from quite capital intensive companies like utilities and transport through to the pure services of the professional firm. The author inclines to a rather narrower definition of services which excludes companies who deliver a quasi-product such as electricity, gas or lorry capacity, and concentrates here on the more pure professional service. However, whatever the business, it involves some level of service to the customer. While this paper concentrates on the professional practice, many of the precepts are applicable in manufacturing services support