Selling Techniques for Industrial Products and Services: Are They Different?

Abstract

AbstractAlthough much marketing literature exists pertaining to whether products should be marketed differently from services, little attention has focused on whether product selling differs from service selling. This article reports the results of an empirical investigation that examined whether salespeople selling industrial products use different selling techniques than those selling services. The results suggest that product sales personnel prefer techniques that can use tangible aspects of the product to advantage, while service sales personnel prefer techniques that stress the personal assistance of customers. The implications of the results are also presented.