Service providing services can be divided based on the complexity and rate of tailoring. Complexity means the number of successive steps that need to be taken and the rate of tailoring means the rate at which specific client needs are fulfilled. Based on these two components, four types of service can be discerned:

Simple standard (example: gas station)
Complex standard (example: company security)
Simple tailored (example: babysit service)
Complex tailored (example: software development)

Subject of the Service

Services can generally be used to elicit changes in the condition of people, possession or information. Based on this three types of services are:

People processing: the client has to be physically present (example: public transportation).
Possession processing: here, one of the client’s possession is the subject of the service (example: cleaning service).
Information processing: this is the fastest growing service type, and the most immaterial one (example: consultancy).

Nature and Function of the Service

Based on the nature and function of different services, the following division can be made:

Knowledge and skill services: here, delivering knowledge and skill is the primary activity. These services are most often offered by specialists (example: consultancy or surgery).
Outsourced services: this sort of services takes over certain activities that the client could have done himself, but for economical, technical or emotional reasons these tasks are not performed by the client (example: maintenance).
Facilitating services: these services mainly make a facility available, mostly at large scale (example: recording studios).

Company Class

Lastly, the commercial service sector can be divided based on company class, which results in five groups of services:

Tourist and recreational services: these services, aimed at the spare time of potential clients, are people oriented and relatively immaterial (example: hotels, restaurants and bars).
Personal services: specifically aimed at the caring for people (example: hairdressers and beauty institutes).
Maintenance services: relatively strongly focused on objects and companies and fairly material (example: cleaning services).
Delivering services: mainly focused on companies (example: insurance companies).
Distributive services: these services complete the function of transporting and distributing goods, people and information. This type of service constitutes the delivered service of over half of the service providers (example: all transport services and communication companies).