Business services are activities that benefit companies without supplying a tangible product. They include a wide range of offerings such as marketing, consulting, logistics (including transportation and waste management), and staffing services. Many of these services are provided by businesses to other businesses, but some are offered directly to consumers as well.
Unlike product companies, service businesses cannot survive if they don’t effectively meet their customers’ needs. Therefore, much of the same management principles that guide successful product businesses also apply to service businesses.
However, service-business managers must undergo an important shift in perspective when they’re designing their offerings. Instead of focusing on the characteristics that buyers will value, they must focus on the experiences that will create those values.
For example, if a customer at a fast-food counter takes too long to decide what she wants to order, that will affect how quickly the worker at the counter can serve the next patron. It will also affect how quickly the eatery can serve all of its customers.
The business-to-business (B2B) services industry is a huge part of most economies. It includes a variety of services that companies need in order to function, but don’t have the time or resources to do themselves. These include things like financial services such as banking and insurance, technology services such as IT support or software development, facility management services such as cleaning or janitorial, and staffing services such as recruitment or administrative assistance.