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Book
Summary: Selling The Invisible - A Field Guide To Modern Marketing
Printed
with permission from TCI
Management Consultants. A group of senior-level management
consultants, offering strategic planning and marketing services
to a wide range of public and private sector clients.
Selling the Invisible - A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
by Harry Beckwith
Warner Books, New York, 1997
This is a highly readable, quite enjoyable, and very insightful
book about all aspects of service marketing. Harry Beckwith
is the founder of a marketing and advertising company located
in Minneapolis, and has advised several Fortune 500 companies,
as well as many small and medium-sized service-oriented
businesses.
Beckwith's
style is to present essentially mini-essays ranging from
half a page to maybe a couple of pages. These deal with
different topics having to do with the selling of services
to clients who often don't quite know what they are getting
into. The language is simple, straightforward and often
irreverent, but each little piece contains a nugget of marketing
truth. An example:
The Value of Publicity
There are six peaks in Europe higher than the Matterhorn.
Name
one.
Get
Ink.
(p.202)
A key
point that Beckwith makes is that selling services is fundamentally
different from selling products. When a customer buys a
product that he or she is happy with, the physical existence
of that product acts as a constant reminder of how satisfied
they are, and what a good choice they made. Think of someone
who has bought a luxury car - every time they see the automobile
sitting in their garage they are satisfied, every time they
hear that comforting clunk of the car door they are reassured,
and every time they start the motor they think what a good
choice they have made.
In contrast,
services are invisible, and they don't therefore act as
a constant positive reminder to the customer in this way.
Beckwith makes the point that many purchasers of services
aren't even sure what it is that they are buying, since
it hasn't typically been delivered yet. Clients typically
cannot evaluate expertise (which is what service marketers
are selling), since they lack the technical skills with
which to evaluate the expert. In most cases, they cannot
tell whether a doctor's diagnosis was correct, whether a
tax return was filed properly, or whether a marketing plan
was crafted well. Accordingly the customer's motivation
may be as much or more risk avoidance (i.e. minimizing the
consequences of a bad decision) than trying to get the very
best service that might be available. Good service marketers
will understand this and try to provide assurance that there
will not be problems.
Most
service marketers suffer from what Beckwith calls the 'Lake
Wobegon effect' - that is, overestimating themselves, and
assuming that the market shares their perception. (This
is named after Garrison Keillor's radio show sign-off from
the fictional Lake Wobegon, where "the women are strong,
the men are good-looking, and the children are all above
average".)
Another
implication of services being invisible is that what service
providers are really selling is a relationship - one that
needs constant attention and nurturing if the client is
to be retained. And Beckwith provides plenty of advice on
how to do this - as well as many other observations along
the way that may be useful to the marketer. These include:
Regarding
Your Basic Service
Assume
your service is bad. It can't hurt, and it will force you
to improve. (p.6)
Let your clients set your standards. (p.8)
Ignore your industry's benchmarks, and copy Disney's. (p.9)
Big mistakes are big opportunities. (p.12)
Don't just think better. Think different. (p.17)
The first rule of marketing planning - always start at zero.
(p.18)
Create the possible service; don't just create what the
market needs or wants.
Create what it would love. (p.20)
Regarding
Market Research
Always
have a third party conduct quality satisfaction surveys.
(p.24)
Survey, survey, survey. (p.25)
Beware of written surveys; it's far better to conduct oral
surveys, as you have a chance to clarify any misunderstandings.
(p.27)
Beware of focus groups - they often reveal more about group
dynamics than about how individuals think. (p.31)
Every
act is a marketing act. Make every employee a marketing
employee. (p. 38)
"In most professional services, you are not really
selling expertise - because your expertise is assumed, and
because your prospect cannot intelligently evaluate your
expertise anyway. Instead you are selling a relationship."
(p.42)
Before you try to satisfy "the client", understand
and satisfy the person. (p.43)
Often, your client will face the choice of having you perform
the service, or doing it themselves. Therefore, often your
biggest competitors are your prospects. (p.45)
Make technology a key part of every marketing plan. (p.50)
Study each point of contact with your client - your receptionist,
your business card, your building, your brochure, your web
site, your invoices. Then improve each one significantly.
(p.51)
Be professional - but, more importantly, be personable.
(p.54)
You'll
never know the future, so don't assume that you should.
Plan for several possible futures. (p.59)
In successful companies, tactics drive strategy as much
or more than strategy drives tactics. Do anything. (p.62)
Execute passionately. Marginal tactics executed passionately
almost always outperform brilliant tactics executed marginally.
(p.63)
Do it now. The business obituary pages are filled with planners
who waited. (p. 65)
Have a healthy distrust of what experience has taught you.
(p.73)
Don't let perfect ruin good. (p.76)
Appeal
only to a prospect's reason and you may have no appeal at
all. (p. 88)
Familiarity breeds business. Spread your word however you
can. (p.90)
Take advantage of the Recency Effect. Follow up brilliantly.
(p.91)
The best thing you can do for a prospect is eliminate their
fear. Offer a trial period or test project. (p.98)
Stand
for one distinctive thing that will give you a competitive
advantage. (p.103)
To broaden your appeal, narrow your position. (p.105)
In your service, what's the hardest task? Position yourself
as the expert in this task and you'll have lesser logic
(the idea that if you can do the hardest thing well, you
must be able to do everything well) in your corner. (p.
107)
Don't start by positioning your service. Instead, leverage
the position you have. (p.112)
Positioning statements should address the following six
points:
1. who
2. what
3. for whom
4. against whom
5. what's different
6. so...? (p. 114)
Choose a position that will reposition your competitors;
then move a step back toward the middle that will cinch
the sale. (p.119)
In positioning, don't try to hide your small size. Make
it work by stressing its advantages such as responsiveness
and individual attention. (p. 120)
Setting
your price is like setting a screw: a little resistance
is a good sign. (p. 133)
Beware the deadly middle. If you price in the middle, what
you are saying is "We're not the best, and neither
is our price, but both our service and price are pretty
good." Not a very compelling message. (p.134)
Don't charge by the hour. Charge by the years (of experience).
(p.138)
In services, value is a given. And givens are not viable
competitive positions. If good value is your best position,
improve your service. (p.139)
Give
your service a name, not a monogram. (p.143)
Generic names encourage generic business. (p. 145)
Never choose a name that describes something that everyone
expects from the service. The name will be generic, forgettable
and meaningless. (p. 145)
Be distinctive - and sound it. (p.146)
In service marketing, almost nothing beats a brand. (p.
151)
A service is a promise, and building a brand builds a promise.
(p.154)
Invest in and religiously build, integrity. It is the heart
of your brand. (p.155)
A brand is money. (p.160)
Give your prospects a shortcut. Give them a brand. (p.161)
Communicating
and Selling
Your
first competitor is indifference. (p.171)
Say one thing. (p.171)
After you say one thing, repeat it again and again. (p.175)
Don't use adjectives. Use stories. (p.176)
Attack your first weakness: the stereotype the prospect
has about you. (p.176)
Create the evidence of your service quality. Then communicate
it. (p. 178)
Seeing is believing. Example: even when people know the
tricks used by the grocery industry to make ripe oranges
appear orange, they still are buy fruit with the most orange-looking
peel exterior. Check your peel. (p.188)
If you are selling something complex, simplify it with a
metaphor. (p.194)
You don't listen to clichés. Your clients won't either.
(p.197)
In presentations, get to the point or you will never get
to the close. (p.198)
Tell people - in a single compelling sentence - why they
should buy from you instead of someone else. (p.199)
You cannot bore someone into buying your product. (p.201)
If you want publicity, advertise. (p.203)
Make your service easy to buy. (p. 209)
Above all, sell hope. (p.214)
Nurturing
and Keeping Clients
Watch
your relationship balance sheet; assume it is worse than
it is, and fix it. (p.219)
Don't raise expectations you cannot meet. (p.220)
To manage satisfaction, you must carefully manage your customer's
expectations. (p.222)
Keep thanking your clients. (p. 223)
Out of sight is out of mind. (p.229)
All
in all, the book contains some very salient advice for those
in the services marketing game. Definitely worth a read.
The
above summary has been provided to you compliments of TCI
Management Consultants
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