Business services are an increasingly important sector of the European economy. They face relatively low average productivity and persistent legal barriers, but EU Internal Market legislation and policy actions aim to stimulate their competitiveness.
In order to provide their clients with value and convenience, businesses offer a range of specialized services. These include travel, information technology, and security services.
Service Pricing
Unlike retail store products, the price of a service is not simple. It depends on many variables and will vary from customer to customer.
The price you charge customers for your services should be reasonable and fair for the value you deliver to them, but also profitable to your company.
Service pricing is similar to product pricing in that you need to consider markup and overhead in addition to the cost of the service itself. You also need to consider how much it costs you to produce and supply the service, how long it takes you to perform the service, and whether you have any profit margin left over after all of that.
Getting Four Things Right
There are four key elements of service design that you must master in order to be successful: the service definition, service marketing, service delivery, and the management of service operations. These areas must be unified and interconnected so that your whole service operation runs smoothly and effectively.
A key advantage of service-oriented businesses is that they are more difficult to define and understand than product-oriented companies. In product-oriented companies, the physical reality of the product provides a clear basis for building the company’s identity and image in the mind of potential customers.
Another advantage of service-oriented businesses is that they can build a reputation for the type and quality of service they deliver, which can serve as a barrier to entry in the market place. For example, a business that offers consulting services would need to develop and brand itself as a leader in the field of management consulting.
The key challenge in developing and delivering a service is that it must be different from other services offered by other companies. Moreover, the service must be of high quality.
Some of the services that businesses offer can help a business boost its morale and make employees more productive. For example, construction crews are hired by companies to renovate or expand their workplaces. They bring their own equipment and do the job safely and efficiently, reducing the company’s need to buy expensive construction tools. Pest control professionals also work on behalf of companies to keep their facilities and property safe and healthy.