For an Olympic figure skater, the compulsory events are simply a stepping stone to the medal round, where champions distinguish themselves. Similarly, for service providers, basic credentials and capabilities are the table stakes to get to where decisions on winners and losers are made. Too often, however, service providers mistakenly assume that the “compulsories” are enough to win deals. They’re not.
Indeed, service providers today face the increasingly formidable challenge of standing out in a crowded marketplace. Services are becoming commoditized, and more players are competing for the same work. While providers will claim they are different, too often these claims merely underscore how similar they are to their competitors.
Four differentiating criteria are central to client buying decisions:
Relationships: Having a relationship with an individual or an organization allows you to understand their perspective and speak to it. Too often, providers push their capabilities from their own point of view, forcing the client to inhabit the provider’s world. A provider that can understand the client’s problems and priorities and address them directly has an edge.
Reputation: Most service providers have established reputations. These reputations may not be deserved, and may not represent the current reality. Regardless, the reality is that clients are aware of those reputations. Successful providers address their reputations proactively. They use the positives to their benefit, and work to correct false or negative perceptions – rather than pretending they don’t exist.
Communication: Mark Twain once said, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” Service providers should take that bit of wisdom to heart. I often see providers deliver a core dump of information to a potential client, who doesn’t have the attention span or interest level to sift through and synthesize all that information into something that is relevant and meaningful to their problem. The art of communicating and synthesizing information to define key points is essential.
Creativity: While it’s hard to define, clients recognize creativity when they see it. Creativity involves looking at solutions differently, responding to a question in an unexpected way or by posing a new question the client hadn’t thought of. Creativity shows a client you can solve their problem.
These attributes are more important than ever in today’s market, which is headed down a path of increasing fragmentation of the services supply chain. Each piece of that supply chain is being hotly contested, and providers who can stitch together supply chains and orchestrate a range of offerings will have a clear edge.
I’ll be discussing these and other issues with industry leaders at the Outsourcing Institute’s Service Provider Summit series in New York and Boston in August, as well as at ISG’s Sourcing Industry Conference in September in Dallas. These events give providers valuable insights into industry trends and go-to-market strategies. I look forward to seeing you at these events, and welcome your thoughts and insights regarding the key challenges and opportunities you’re facing in today’s marketplace.
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