Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
|
 List Price: $10.99 Sale Price: Too low to display. Availability: unspecified 
|
Product Description
The transformation from a manufacturing-based economy to one that's all about service has been well documented. Today it's estimated that nearly 75 percent of Americans work in the service sector. Instead of producing tangibles--automobiles, clothes, and tools--more and more of us are in the business of providing intangibles--health care, entertainment, tourism, legal services, and so on. However, according to Harry Beckwith, most of these intangibles are still being marketed like products were 20 years ago.
In Selling the Invisible, Beckwith argues that what consumers are primarily interested in today are not features, but relationships. Even companies who think that they sell only tangible products should rethink their approach to product development and marketing and sales. For example, when a customer buys a Saturn automobile, what they're really buying is not the car, but the way that Saturn does business. Beckwith provides an excellent forum for thinking differently about the nature of services and how they can be effectively marketed. If you're at all involved in marketing or sales, then Selling the Invisible is definitely worth a look.
Details
No features available.
Rating
Harry Beckwith has boiled down the art of marketing into many small and easy to understand words of wisdom.
If you are in business you have to read this book. Whether you are an owner, CEO or department head, Beckwith lays out the essential tools to market your company, and sites fresh examples to illustrate. He says “Marketing is not a department” and he’s right–it is your front line (sales people) to your CEO and everyone in between. Everyone at your company is involved in marketing your company-and the author makes sure you get the message. Stop wasting time with ploys that don’t work. COMMUNICATE with the consumer and you will see increased sales and market share.
“Selling The Invisible” serves as a “renewing of vows” for those well into their careers. It provides a way to go from a jaded attitude to a fresh perspective and look at your company from the outside. If you think you’ve heard it all before, you haven’t heard it like this. A clear a concise “handbook” for modern business.
Rating
If you are looking for hand holding in creating a marketing strategy or definite step by step instructions in marketing success than this is not the book for you. But if you would like some very interesting insight and examples of the principles of marketing a service than read this book. I found myself remembering times when I experienced these principles and how i reacted in both positive and negative ways. And then I realized my company was doing several things wrong and we are on our way to changing them. Sometimes you need someone else to help you see what’s starring you right in the face…. (Ever lose your keys and they’re right there in front of you the entire time? Well Beckwith will help you see the keys right there on the table.)
Rating
As others have written, this book is not about creating a complex marketing design or plan. What it does offer is quick, a page or so, USA today-like snippets of insightful observations about marketing in general, and service marketing in particular.
As the title indicates, selling and/or marketing an intangible service is a different process than tangible product marketing. As the author writes, most people cannot evaluate the skills of an accountant, or lawyer, or any number of professional services. We often look for tangible proxies that indicate the professional’s level of expertise and success (e.g., fancy offices, degrees on the wall, presentation, etc.).
If you read this book in its entirety in one session, you are bound to remember nothing in the sea of facts and tidbits (click on the table of contents link to get a feel for the topic areas). I’ve found the best way to read the book is to ponder on a few points every night and/or week, while attempting to apply them to a salient situation in your life. Overall, this book has some interesting and useful insights, and is a good read when you have a few minutes to spare.
Rating
Actually, this book is less about “selling” than it is about establishing and then nourishing relationships, not only with clients and prospective clients but also with almost everyone else within a given marketplace. For example, vendors, service providers, and strategic allies. Moreover, it is one of the few books I have read which focuses almost entirely on the marketing and sales of services which are, paradoxically, both “invisible” and experiential. (Schmitt has much of great value to say about this in Experiential Marketing as do Pine and Gilmore in The Experience Economy and Wolf in The Entertainment Economy.) Beckwick shares an abundance of information and advice, duly acknowledging various sources from which he has obtained some of the material. I do not damn him with faint praise. His own contributions are first-rate. In “Summing Up”, he provides a brief but precise discussion of various sources which he commends to his reader. This has much greater value than does the standard bibliography. And there is a value-added benefit, his sense of humor, which is indicated by some of the section titles such as “Anchors, Warts, and American Express”, “Ugly Cats, Boat Shoes, and Overpriced Jewelry: Pricing”, and “Monogram Your Shirts, Not Your Company.” Throughout the book, he includes more than 100 of what I characterize as “business nuggets” which are directly relevant (indeed illuminating) within the context in which he inserts them.
For whom will this book be of greatest interest and value? Obviously, those now involved in marketing, sales, and other areas in which there is direct and frequent contact with customers. Beckwick reveals himself to be an astute observer of human nature. What he suggests can be of substantial value to any organization in which business relationships, including those which are internal, are less than desirable. Everything he suggests combines common sense with a sensitivity to others’ needs and interests. Indeed, almost everyone in almost any organization (regardless of size or nature) must constantly be “selling” various services to others within and beyond that organization. First, they must establish credibility, then trust, and finally obtain agreement to cooperate, if not collaborate. Almost all relationships succeed or fail because of intangibles. Beckwick examines them within a business context but, in process, suggests wide and deep implications relevant to all other areas of human experience. This is an immensely practical as well as thoughtful book.
Rating
I bought this book because I thought it might be relevant to “gold collar workers”, those who manufacture and sell knowledge that is quite “invisible” or intangible. What a great book this is! Every person that relys on their brain for a living, whether as an employee or consultant or teacher, can double their *perceived* value by reading and applying the lessons of this book.
A few of the author’s well-discussed and well-illustrated ideas are offered here to complement the many other favorable reviews:
1) Simplify access to your work! [Learn how to create executive summaries, tables of contents, hyper-links, etc.--don't assume that everyone knows your value and is willing to spend time digging into your work.]
2) Quality, speed, and price are *not* in competition, they must be offered simulaneously and at full value.
3) What is your promise or value proposition? Are you just showing up, or does every day offer a chance for you to show your value in a specific way?
4) Don’t just be the best in your given vocation, *change it* for the better and redefine what “best” means!
5) Sell your relationship (and your understanding of the other person’s needs), not just your expertise in isolation. Your boss or client has three choices and you are the last: to do nothing, to do it themselves, or to use you. Focus on being the first choice every time.
6) Execute with passion–and if you are a super-geek or nerd that does not have a high social IQ, form a partnership with a super-popular person and put them in front.
There are many other useful thoughts in this book. If you want to know how to sell the invisible, the intagible, the value propositions that revolve around knowledge and insight instead of bending metal and assembling things, this is absolutely the best book one could ask for. Really nicely presented.
Rating
Most marketing books are aimed at businesses that sell stuff, which makes them fairly inapplicable to the NonProfit world. “Selling the Invisible” comes the closest I’ve seen to helping market what NonProfits do. That’s because “Selling the Invisible” focuses not on marketing products, but on marketing services, which makes it a great book for NonProfits.
“Selling the Invisible” is not a how-to book. Instead, it is a thoughtful guide, providing insights on how marketing works and how prospects think. The chapters are short – more like snippets than chapters – each with a single thought that moves you towards the next thought. I have read this book a number of times, and I can never get past 3 or 4 of its tiny chapters without stopping to scribble down notes, or to consider just how our clients (and our own organization) are currently doing things. I have even found it helpful in thinking about different ways to market my own book on NonProfit board recruitment.
The book starts by asking first things first: Are you sure what you have to market really is worth telling people about? Have you surveyed clients to find out if your service really is a quality service? Are you really providing what the community needs? Beckwith aims right for the heart.
Once you are convinced you have a quality organization to talk about, he moves you through all the thought processes that should go into that marketing. But don’t expect to move quickly. Expect your brain to light up in thought. Keep a note pad handy.
Here are just some of the things I love about this book:
Under the heading ‘Fran Lebowitz and Your Greatest Competitor,’ comes this quote:
“Your greatest competitor is not your competition. It is indifference.”
And under the heading ‘The Value of Publicity,’ you will find this:
“There are six peaks in Europe higher than the Matterhorn. Name one.”
The last chapter is a discussion of other books that can help round out the reader’s understanding of marketing. Because Beckwith takes a systems approach to the subject and not a ’sell-the-widget’ approach, many of these books are applicable to the NonProfit world as well.
As someone who spends a lot of time combing bookstore shelves for business books that translate well to the NonProfit world, “Selling the Invisible” is one I would strongly recommend.
Rating
“Selling The Invisible” by Harry Beckwith is a great book for those who market services. Beckwith tells us selling a service amounts to selling a promise. Beckwith says prospects want to minimize the risk of a bad experience and are often incapable of evaluating the quality of a service. For example, few people know if the tax advice they receive is the best advice possible.
So, improving your skills at your service often doesn’t lead to enhanced profitability. Being better at what you do won’t lead to more sales. (Beckwith says flatly that in money management, for example, investment skill ranks lower than the skill in acquiring and retaining assets to manage. Clients, too, actually rate money management skill lower than desire to build a relationship, which is surprising. That clients rate trust high isn’t surprising.)
Some of the advice I especially liked in “Selling The Invisible”:
* Improve your points of contact. Beckwith says we should evaluate every point at which our company interacts with a client-phone calls, business cards, meetings, etc. Beckwith says we should aim to make a phenomenal impression at every point of contact. And, this isn’t difficult to do, given that most organizations have relatively few points of contact.
* The greatest value in a plan isn’t the plan that results. It’s the thinking that went into it.
* Focus groups aren’t good, because the results are dependent upon group dynamics. Rather, seek independent, oral surveys from your customers.
* Ask: What are you good at? Beckwith says too many companies define themselves by their industry, which tends to pigeonhole their thinking. Beckwith suggests doing something, learning from it, and then adjusting appropriately.
* Service companies are selling a relationship. The prospect must feel valued and comfortable.
* Sell hope and happiness. People like hope and happiness. But, for professional services, never be gimmicky or use trickery, because service businesses must always build trust. And, trickery implies you trick clients. However, service companies must be careful not to overpromise. Client expectations must be managed. If a client expects a miracle and only gets very good service, he won’t be happy.
* Don’t aim for greatness or being best. Aim to be positively good. In marketing, most clients aren’t looking for the very best, which probably will be too expensive. They’re looking for worry-free and good service. Beckwith suggests avoiding braggery and puffery and consider using understatement.
* Risk yourself. Don’t fear rejection or failure.
* When in doubt about what to do, Beckwith suggests, “Get out there. Almost anywhere. Let opportunity hit you.” Beckwith tells us many strategists procrastinate, because they don’t want to see their plans fail. But, that will get you nowhere. You need to execute tactics to learn and improve.
* Don’t overgeneralize. Beckwith writes, “have a healthy distrust of what experience has taught you.”
Beckwith makes a convincing case that we can’t rely upon memory, experience, authority, and even common sense to know what will work in marketing. For example, about authority, Beckwith writes, “Ideas do not follow the good thinking in an organization; ideas follow the power.” And, he points out that power often goes to those who look and sound like they should have power. In fact, he tells us the strongest predictor of an MBA’s starting salary is height, not academic or business performance.
Beckwith tells us that in today’s world people are looking for shortcuts and the best short cut of all is a brand, because a brand implies a name that is trusted to deliver. Branded products and services tend to be most profitable. Beckwith writes: “In service marketing, almost nothing beats a brand.” (Another good book about branding is “Fusion Branding” by Nick Wreden.)
“Selling The Invisible” also has great advice about naming a company, publicity, and communication. The book’s one weakness is its discussion of positioning, which I found a bit boring and skipped. In another section, Beckwith needlessly repeats himself about the need to thank people. Overall, I enjoyed and recommend “Selling The Invisible.”
Peter Hupalo, Author of “Thinking Like An Entrepreneur”
Rating
There are several hundred books available on the market about selling. Most of these books are based on tangible products, something the consumer can see, feel and recieve an almost immediate satisfaction after the purchase.
This books is one of the few available about selling services. When a consumer purchases a service from you or your company, they are paying for your promise to deliver someting in the future. This is especially true in the world of finance and insurance industry. A financial advisor sells a fund and the buyer expects to recieve x amount of interest on his in vestment at a later date. In the insurance industry, a client buys an automobile insurance policy but will probably never see the benefits of the sinsurance policy until he or she has an accident. How do you sell something that has no immediate benefit to the client? Read “Selling the Invisible”.
There are twelve very easy to read chapters with many short examples (lacking a little bit on the proof side). I do believe it is an excellent book but it is too North American oriented to be carried over one to one for european, asian or middle-eastern markets. There will have to be a few cosmetic adjsutments made to be able to adapt to other makets but it is still a catalyst to start doing things differently.
The chapters and some of the main messages of those I recieved from the author Harry Beckwith:
Planning – 1.) Accept the limititations of planning 2.) Don’t value planning for its result;the plan 3.)Don’t plan your future plan your people. 4.)Do it now. The business obituary pages are filled with planners who waited. 5.)Beware of focus groups; they focus on today and planning is about tomorrow. 6.)Don’t let the perfect ruin good. 7.)Don’t look to experts for all your answers. Ther are no answers, only informed opinions.
How Prospects Think – 1.) Appeal only to a prospects reason, and you may have no appeal at all 2.) Familiarity breeds business; spread your word however you can. 3.)Take advantage of the recovery effect. Follow-up brilliantly.
Pointing and Focus – 1.)Stand for one distinctive thing that will give you a competative edge. 2.)To broaden your appeal, narrow your position. 3.)No company can position itself as anything, your prospects and customers put you there. Positioning is something the market does to you. You can only try and influence your position. 4.) Your position is all in the peoples minds. Find out what that position is. 5.)Focus. In everything from campaign for peanuts to campaign for presidents, focus wins.
Pricing – 1.)Don’t assume that logical pricing is smart pricing. Maybe your price which makes you look like a good value, actually makes you look second rate. 2.)Setting your price is like setting a screw. A little resistance is a good sign. The reason 10% of the population are chronic complainers of price. 3.)Beware of the deadly middle in pricing. You communicate that as well… We are average. 4.)Beware of the rock bottom in pricing…you communicate we are substandard. 5.)Value is not a position.
Naming and Branding – 1.)Give your service a name, not an abbreviation 2.)Generic names encourage generic business. 3.)In service marketing almost nothing beats a brand. 4.)Building a brand doesn’t take millions. It takes imagination.
Communicating and Selling – 1.)Make the service and the prospect feel compfortable 2.)Saying many things usually communicats nothing. 3.)Good basic communicating is good basic marketing. 4.)If you think your promotional idea might seem silly or unprofessional, it is. 5.)Prospects do not buy how good you are at what you do. They buy how good you are at who you are. 6.)Far better to say to little than too much. 7.)People hear what they see. Watch what you show. 8.)Give your marketing a human face.
Nurturing and Keeping Clients – 1.) Watch your relationship balance sheet, assume it is worse than it appears and fix it. 2.)Don’t raise expectations you cannot meet. 3.)To manage satisfaction, you manage your customers expectations. 4.)Out of sight is out of mind. If you are not meeting regularly, you are not in their mind.
Overall an excellent book that contains a lot of reasons as to why service marketing is different and how to keep yourself visible amongst the competition.
Rating
Personally, I wouldn’t limit this book to only apply to sales. In fact, Harry Beckwith’s information in this book could be applied to literally ANYTHING that involves communication with another human being. As he does in his other books, “The Invisible Touch” and “What Clients Love,” Harry gives simple anecdotes to clarify otherwise complicated methods. He shines a comforting light on the intimidating shadow of “sales” and “marketing” to make it far easier to imagine yourself able to do whatever you are using your communications to accomplish.
At the end of each section he even has little one to two sentance “summaries” in bold, so you have a quick understanding of each point he is making.
In short, he has packed 1000 pages of priceless information, into a 250 page, easy to understand, and apply, book.
I strongly suggest not only buying this book, but the other two that I mentioned as well.
No matter if you want to be a sales and marketing success, a communications master, or simply someone who wants to better understand what inspires and influences people, this book is one you will be glad that you bought.
That’s My Opinion But You’re Welcome To It
Rating
Communications make services more tangible and visible and give clients something firm to grasp. Marketing communications for services haul a heavier burden than communications for products. We trust products but we are far less trusting of services. So communications about services must make the service more tangible and real and must sooth the worried prospect.
People are interested in themselves. Turn the attention away from “I’m an expert”, “I’m the smartest”, “me, me, me” and turn the attention to the client. Indifference is the worst enemy not competition. When you do speak say one thing. Saying many things usually communication nothing. Your prospects have one question “What makes you so different that I should do business with you?” So give them one good reason to do business with you then repeat it again and again. Don’t use adjectives to explain your reasons, use stories. Work one good basic communication; the communication must be vivid and not unclear, concrete and not abstract, familiar and not unfamiliar, and proper nouns not adjectives. Create evidence of your service and then communicate your service quality. Don’t use silly or unprofessional promotional ideas. Prospects don’t necessary want to buy the best, they just don’t want to buy bad; so, help assure the prospect that you have weakness, you are good enough, and they can be comfort with selecting you. Convey that you are positively good. The client will continue using your service, if the client feels comfortable with them. The golden rule of marketing applies: “It is far better to say too little than too much.”
People hear what they see. When people watch commercials they don’t hear words, they see pictures. For example, an attorney climbing a mountain caused people to say that “First Banks were strong and solid, like the man climbing the mountain”. People will trust their eyes far before they will ever trust your words. Make the invisible visible by using visual symbols to look for clues about what the business is about: Prudential has it’s Rock of Gibraltar, Travelers is umbrella, Allstate is good hands, TransAmerica its tower, and Wausau its railroad station. Make sure people see who you are. Make sure your visual communications are consistent and reinforcing through out your company, it make you look more organized and professional and easier to remember. If your selling something complex, simplify it with a metaphor. Metaphors can quickly define your concept and your uniqueness.
If you want publicity then advertise. Prospect believe advertising is publicity and creditability. Advertising is the source by which people come to know the companies mentioned in the ad. People do not believe in companies they have not heard. Write articles and if you want editors to help you then give them something interesting. Give them a story worth publishing. Look deeply there are interesting stories to be told.
Focus on Buying and not selling. Think of the opposite side ask the customer “What do you want; what do you need; who are you”. Make buying easy for the customer. Talk with the prospect about them and not you.
People want to smile. The most important thing you can sell is hope. Hope makes people feel good and customers that feel good will continue to give you business.