41 % of the surveyed companies concentrate on services of high added value or focus on the personal relationship with customers. Over 50 % of these companies foresee more than 10 %, revenue growth with one third expecting more than 20 % revenue growth in the next years and nearly 40 % of these firms estimate their annual margin growth to be more than 10 %.
"Our research has identified six different strategies applied by these firms. But only two strategies seem to lead to profitable growth and
sustained success", explains Steve Downton. "Executives of service organizations can gain from our research insight, and can learn from
companies implementing these winning strategies. "
The respondents indicated they deploy one of the following strategies:
- 18 % focus on brand driven, high value added services
- 23 % focus on people driven, relationship-based services
- 31 % focus on feature driven, high performance services offering
more benefits
- 16 % focus on price driven, high performance services at the
lowest possible price
- 8 % of service-organisations remain as a cost centre
- 4 % are moving from a cost centre to a profit centre strategy
"Successful companies wanting lasting success do not enter into price wars with competitors, but concentrate on understanding the needs of their customers", diagnoses Steve Downton. "Firms developing innovative service propositions with their clients can go far beyond break-fix."
The study was designed together with senior executives in round-table meetings and 180 companies in Europe and North America participated.
