Product-Style Marketing Will Not Grow Your Services Business
TLDR: Top 3 Takeaways from this Post:
Product Marketing Principles Fall Short for Services Companies: Marketing and selling services requires relationship building and trust, not just capabilities lists and pricing.
Branding and Reputation are Key: Thought leadership, personal branding, and showcasing expertise are critical to success.
Longer Sales Cycles Bring Challenges + Opportunities: Selling services requires customized proposals and a focus on building trusting relationships.
Too many founders and CEOs, when growing a services business, fall into a common trap: they apply product marketing principles to their services marketing strategy and expect success.
It makes sense—after all, product marketing is everywhere, and it feels like a familiar playbook.
But trying to sell your services like a product is a surefire way to hit a wall. Why? Because what works to market a product rarely works for services.
Relationships Are Your Real Product
While product marketing leans on the 4 P’s (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion), services marketing is about building relationships and establishing trust.
Imagine a software startup trying to market consulting services the same way they promote their product—focusing solely on pricing tiers and features. No way, friend.
The companies that pull ahead of the competition realize that prospects want more than a capabilities list. So, stop selling features and start selling trust.
When someone is looking for a trusted resource, a Google or LinkedIn ad alone won’t do the trick. Instead, focus on networking, referrals, and relationship building; this is the beating heart of a professional services growth strategy.
How do you build trust? Transparency, consistency, authenticity, credibility, quality, social responsibility, security, and generosity.
Clickbait won’t convert this kind of buyer. Relationships will.
Brand Reputation Matters Above All Else
In the professional services biz, nothing tells your story better than your brand. And to customers, the reputation of the individuals delivering your service is pretty indistinguishable from the company brand.
That’s why everyone needs to be a leader with services marketing. Are you sharing thought leadership content, speaking at industry events, publishing whitepapers, and using case studies to demonstrate past successes? You cannot rely on a scannable list of features and benefits to build your reputation like you can with a product.
Dusten Carlson, Co-Founder of Zenpost had this to say:
“Customers want to see your executives out front. The C-Suite is the public face of a company, whether we’re talking about an established enterprise or a startup. CEOs should be investing in their own personal brands just as much as they invest in the ‘corporate’ brand of their business.”
Take Staypineapple, which has transformed its leadership team into a veritable speakers bureau. The team not only promotes the Staypineapple brand within the hospitality industry, they also bring their personal leadership missions to the forefront. A standout is Dina Belon, who skillfully helps owners navigate the complexities of boutique hotel operations while encouraging more women to enter these typically male-dominated spaces. (Follow Dina on LinkedIn here.)
Buckle In for a Longer Sales Cycle
Aside from plumbers, professional services are rarely contracted on the spot. These decisions take time.
The average sales cycle varies by industry, and the most common length for new professional services customers is four to six months (and can extend to as much as 18+ months!) Compare that to SAAS products that are sold in 40 days if they are less than $5,000 – and then of course there are online consumer products, which sell in about 19 seconds.
Since solutions need to be highly tailored, a quickly pitched one-size-fits-all approach simply won’t fly. I’ve helped services companies double their close rate by slowing down to customize proposals with thoughtful client research and relevant insights. This personalized approach builds trust and shows that you genuinely care about meeting the client's needs.
The sales cycle is going to take longer either way, so you should use that time to strengthen your relationship with your prospect.
Open up the last five proposals you’ve delivered – can your customers tell that you produced it just for them and their situation? Or is it a cut-and-paste job?
Conclusion
I don’t want to see another founder or CEO fall into the product marketing playbook trap. Embrace the unique relationship + reputation nature of services marketing, and you’ll be on your way to building a thriving business.
If you are trying to grow a professional services company and want to avoid the common product marketing pitfalls, let’s talk.
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