SaaS 2.something... "SERVICE as a Service"

Poll ten random Joe and Josephine B2B sellers, and I predict you’ll hear ten different opinions on the keys to sales success.?

Right up there is?“ask smart, probing, and strategic questions," followed appropriately by "talk less than you listen".?

What you probably?won’t?hear is the word “service”.?

Because this is your lucky day, you've earned an?effective selling?Top Secret that has taken me an entire career to understand and develop.

Service is the killer app.?(BOOM! ...there it is.)

Oh...is that right...you’ve heard it before???Ok.

• Account Managers: how do you provide "white-glove" service...and?creatively remind customers of your company's value??(...and your value too?)
• Sellers: how frequently do you proactively talk about?service?in your selling conversations??(And, how effective and articulate is your presentation?)
• Managers: how much time do you spend training your sellers on how to handle the contextual nuances and variations of your service proposition?
• Revenue Enablers: how helpful are you supporting the sales org with case studies and polished examples?of what?service?actually means?
• Higher-ups: how engaged are you making sure the revenue operation knows?how?to service customers?and also?articulate this ephemeral concept as an actual value proposition??

I believe so strongly in this concept that I’m starting a hashtag to promote “SERVICE as a Service” instead of that familiar?“Software as a service” thingie we throw around.?(Not sure I’ll get very far as I don’t even do that tweet thing the cool kids do.)

The advanced speed of digitization, software-ization, Big Data-ization, and AI-ization has meant, for most of us, that our offering differentiators are heavily marginalized.?

Enter: service.?

It's not enough to?say?you provide good service, you have to articulate what it means in a strategic and customized manner.? For differentiated?service?to become a strong pillar to your core value proposition, B2B sales orgs have to spend more attention on training so all know?how?to talk about it.? (Especially because every customer wants something different from your service.)

The point of this post is not to suggest cutting the time you talk?about your cool bells and whistles, it's to get you to realize that your clients don't care as much as you think about your software…about how your turbines spin, about how your gears move, about how your pistons fire…whatever.? They only care about what it all MEANS for them!? But they most?certainly?care about how you respond when the turbines?don't?spin and grind the way they should.?THAT'S when service emerges as a strong differentiator!? (Newsflash: your turbines and gears and whatever else are gonna break down.)

Step one: talk more about service.??

Step two: hone your?talk?so that it matches what the customer cares about.

Step three: match?how you talk?about service against how you?provide?service.? (Kinda important, eh?)

The tricky part is getting your org to learn HOW to talk about service.?

Well, mama didn’t raise no fool…I gave you a Top Three secret, and some other golden morsels, but yer gonna have to make an effort to learn where to go next.? So...pick up the phone and call me.?I guarantee?you’ll get to talk to a real live person!? That's only one dimension of what service means, but it's a good place to start!