To improve their international competitiveness, industrial marketers must develop more proactive marketing strategies. Such strategies must include services. Industrial marketers must develop their understanding of and sensitivity to customers' needs. To achieve this, they must understand that services need to be classified as presale and postsale, and decide which type of service is more important under what circumstances. Organizing and classifying services along the lines suggested in this article will give companies a competitive edge at almost no cost. A model is presented to demonstrate these ideas.