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Abstract
Like services in general project execution services ought to be marketed and sold based on the value they add rather than the cost they accrue. Project services are typically complex and abstract, and hence their benefits are difficult to directly explicate. The aim is to investigate how contractors and suppliers can overcome this dilemma and exercise value-based selling in terms of the typical services they provide. A design science inspired study was used to create a service configurator addressing the dilemma. At the same time the configurator provided a means for studying the value identification and communication process in six sales projects. It is concluded that contractors and suppliers ought to approach customer value by looking for problems that create uncertainty in the underlying investment and to match them with suitable services. Key in communicating the value of the services is to focus on creating certainty as to the parties’ ability to cope with the uncertainty in the investment with the help of these services.
Acknowledgements
This research has been conducted within FIMECC Ltd’s (Finnish Metals and Engineering Competence Cluster) REBUS (Towards relational business practices) programme. Funding from Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, is gratefully acknowledged. We also want to thank the editor and three anonymous reviewers, whose thoughtful comments and recommendations certainly helped to improve the quality and argumentation of the article. We also want to thank the practitioners from industry involved in the research project for their commitment and collaboration. As always, all the remaining mistakes are the authors’ own.