Should You be Selling a Product or a Service?

I'm having this conversation with an employee of a very large company. They sell access to a database of information. As an outside observer watching this company make the transition from U.S. call centers to a move overseas, it is clear that this company is shortsighted AND short changing it's employees.

This company sells a product. If properly trained on the use of the product, the product can save the end clients who use it hours upon hours. The job of this particular person is to call the clients and train them on the use of the product. The feedback is always one of kudos and admiration. But what happens when this person gets off the phone after training his client?

His client forgets everything he just showed him! The bigger client companies can afford to have a person on staff specifically dedicated to the use of the product but companies with fewer than a handful of people don't have that luxury. They still need the product and they suffer the loss in work hours because the product still saves them time and gives them the information they need.

Like many companies, the bean counters have basically decided that this company could be making more money if they moved their call centers and phone support overseas. It hasn't happened yet, but it is happening (which is why I can't name the company I'm referring to).

Being an outside observer, I have to admit that I don't know all the nuances of this company or its challenges. But it appears to me obvious that this company has missed the boat in one huge opportunity. Many of their clients need a service, not a product. Yes, their clients still need the product. But they don't use the product so often that it would justify hiring a full time individual. What if this company started to utilize its training force in a way that is much more valuable to their end clients. What if their end client had access to personnel within this company that could use the product on their behalf. What I've learned in just speaking to this one individual is that his knowledge of the product is not something you teach, it's something you acquire over time. The end client would LOVE to have that as a resource and would pay for the services associated with using that person. Instead, what I see happening is a static company model that ignores the value of its employees and will instead drive its resources overseas to save a buck. If this company did not have competition, that strategy might just work. In this particular case, there is nothing they are doing that the competition can't do. The value in the organization rests in the personnel that they inevitably will let go.