In the eyes of many business prospects, all service firms look alike. These services are viewed by increasingly sophisticated buyers as a series of well-defined commodities that are available from a plethora of companies. Because many service providors have not updated their offering to meet the evolving needs of their business clients or communicated their unique value to each client, buyers have focused primarily on price in their acquisition process.

To avoid this commodity trap, companies must become adept at diagnosing their clients' business problems, developing targeted solutions, and communicating this value to the client in terms relevant to their business.

Simply stated, the sales manager must become a trusted advisor to the client, partnering with the client to deliver greater and greater value to their business operations. Absent this relationship, clients will view low-cost as the only value delivered by their commodity provider and will be happy to let multiple vendors duke it out with low prices.

Research and years of working with clients tells us that the most productive answer is to move up the value chain with solutions based on effective value propositions.

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