Business services are a broad category of businesses that provide non-financial services to other companies. They include advertising, marketing, consulting, logistics (including travel and facilities services), waste handling, staffing services, shipping and administration.

The business of providing services to other businesses is a common and growing industry. Entrepreneurs often establish contracts with customers to exchange work performed for payment.

A service is an activity that creates value in an intangible way – a process, method, or system that produces benefits by changing something a customer owns, uses, or believes. The most important distinction is that services are more abstract than products, which have physical form and can be produced by humans.

Goods, on the other hand, have a tangible form that customers can purchase and use for a predetermined price. That is why many business owners choose to sell products, which they can see and touch and show off to potential customers.

However, there are a few things that make business services different from product businesses. One is that the transfer of a physical or concrete product is incidental in pure service businesses, such as a management consultant who writes a report for a client.

Another is that customers play a large role in the cost and quality of service delivered. For example, a restaurant customer who dithers at the counter affects the efficiency of the order processing process and the quality of service for everyone in line behind him.