The Biggest Obstacle Salespeople Face when Selling Services
By Chris Peterson

The Biggest Obstacle Salespeople Face when Selling Services

When my wife and I bought our house, we inherited a yard that was about five times the size of our previous yard. I was going to need to purchase a bunch of new equipment to maintain the lawn and landscaping. Or I could hire someone to do it. So, I gathered data and did the math. I shopped for lawn mowers, edgers, blowers, weed whackers, etc. I then asked three companies to give me a price on what it would cost to take care of my yard. The results came back at about $800 for the equipment and $125 per month for a service. The math was clear, wasn’t it? After six months, I’d be losing money with a service. I could mow and take care of my yard and save thousands every few years. I could do it myself, right? Yes, I could do it myself, but should I? I hired the service!

The biggest obstacle most salespeople face when selling services is their own mindset. Salespeople have been told by a million different forums that they should never try to sell someone a product or service they didn’t need. When selling services – whether an extended maintenance agreement, cloud services to host a customer’s video, or managed services of an access control system – most companies don’t need you to do it for them. They can do it themselves. But should they? Most of the time, the answer is “no, they shouldn’t”.

If salespeople are serious about selling services, then they need to get past the mindset of only selling the things their customers need. The value a great salesperson brings is to identify what a customer should be doing to make their situation better.

When considering services delivered by system integrators, below are some things to consider that should help change the mindsets of salespeople.

  • Your company will do a better job than you customer will. In the ten years since hiring a lawn service, they’ve done a better job on our yard than I could’ve done every single time. Why? Because that’s their craft and they get paid for it. The result for your customers will be significantly better if your company delivers your services instead of them doing it themselves. It’s what you do, and you’re getting paid for it.
  • Your clients can focus on their core competence. During the 100 hours per year that I don’t spend mowing our yard, I take my daughter to the movies, play golf, workout, play in our pool, take my wife to lunch, or whatever I want to do. I focus on my core competence and the things I want to experience. If you sell your services to your clients, you’ll give them this gift of time.
  • The total cost of ownership virtually always makes sense. Sure, the up-front math didn’t make sense for my lawn service decision. But I didn’t count the fuel, maintenance, equipment replacement every few years, and the value of my time in that math. Yes, the beauty of a professionally manicured yard and the benefits I gain from doing other things are worth the $125 per month, but it’s not just the value. Even the costs make sense over time. It’s the same with your services when you count the labor, materials, server replacements, space, and other miscellaneous expenses that come with doing it yourself. Yes, the value you deliver is worth it, but when you dig below the surface, the costs also usually make sense.

If you want to sell more services, your mindset must be focused on the improvement of a customer’s situation, not just their needs. Remember, maybe they can do it themselves, but should they?

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Great post as usual Chris. Thanks for always sharing your insights.

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