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Selling the Invisible summary

Name: Selling the Invisible
Rating: 4.2 (41 reviews)
Author: Harry Beckwith

Harry Beckwith

A Field Guide to Modern Marketing

4.2 (41 ratings)

22 mins

What is Selling the Invisible about?

Services represent a significant and growing portion of the modern economy, yet marketing them remains a mystery. Selling the Invisible (1997) serves as a guide for promoting the intangible. It outlines how to set up a marketable service company, and how that business can then be advertised and promoted.

Table of Contents

Selling the Invisible
summarized in 13 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 13

Services are playing an increasingly important part in the economy.

These days, the American economy is going through some profound changes. Jobs that were seen as secure just a few decades ago have all but disappeared and new industries are springing up in the place of old ones.

One prominent shift is the staggering growth of the service industry, especially that of service companies: companies that sell services, such as banking, legal representation and even haircuts, rather than tangible products.

Over half of the companies in the Fortune 500 (Fortune magazine's list of top American companies) are service companies, and more than 75 percent of the working American public is employed in this sector, a percentage which continues to grow.

Yet it is not just the service sector itself that is growing; services are playing an increasing role in other sectors of the economy too, especially when it comes to products:

Retail sales have always been strongly supported by customer service. A department store such as Dayton's, for example, sells physical products like clothes, but at the end of the day its revenues depend on the salespeople and how much they sell.

Likewise, McDonald’s success relies on offering excellent customer service along with its popular fast food.

What’s more, the services provided are ever expanding. Products themselves are now often accompanied by value-adding services. When you buy computer software, for example, you rarely get the program alone; it usually comes with a number of services such as technical support and upgrades.

Another good example can be seen in Levi's popular Personal Pair jeans. After the customer has visited a Levi's store to have her measurements taken, Levi’s uses these measurements to create a custom pair of jeans that fit her perfectly, and the finished product is couriered directly to her home. The extra level of service makes the product particularly desirable.

It’s difficult to market services because they’re intangible and their quality varies.

In many ways, services are very different from physical products. For example, they can't be seen or touched, nor can they be mass-produced. This makes them very difficult to market effectively.

Traditionally, the product being sold plays a large role in marketing, but in the case of services the "product" is largely invisible. Marketing is easier when there’s a physical product to sell, as customers like to see what they are able to buy. This is why companies with easily identifiable products – for example, Porsche – concentrate on image-heavy advertising where the product takes center stage.

Ensure your service exceeds customer expectations.

Customers today expect better services than they did in the past. Companies like McDonald’s raised the bar by being cleaner, faster and more consistent than their predecessors. Likewise, it is vital that your service is up to the standard in your industry. If you fall behind your competitors or have constant quality issues, you’ll lose customers. To be competitive, you need to ensure customers see your service as high-quality.

But how do you evaluate the quality of your service?

Make your service stand out by being different, bold and innovative.

When a customer shops for a physical product like a car, it’s easy for them to see the differences between models: each one looks completely different.

Services are a different story: Because they lack these visual elements, it's harder to tell them apart. Therefore, in order to distinguish your service from your competitors, it's important to set yourself apart in other ways.

Don’t get stuck in the planning phase – instead, be proactive and be ready to take action.

Many businesses, both large and small, practice strategic planning. This means that they carefully define both their future goals and the path they'll take to get there. However, despite its popularity, this planning can only take a business so far.

In fact, obsessive planning has many limitations.

Make sure that every area of your business, from employees to branding, forms part of your marketing strategy.

Companies typically spend huge amounts of their resources on researching, planning and implementing the perfect marketing strategy to get customers interested in their business.

Yet, this careful marketing strategy is often undone by problems in other areas. For example, a single rude shop assistant in a retail chain can have a huge effect on sales, regardless of the company's advertising, pricing strategy or the products themselves.

Customer choices aren’t always rational – irrational factors like prestige and familiarity can also influence behavior.

How do people choose what products and services to buy?

You might think that purchases are driven by reason and logical factors like price and quality, but in fact customers often choose their products based on irrational factors.

Position yourself for success by narrowing down the focus of your service.

For your service to be successful, you need to build yourself a specific focus and position. It is perhaps best to think of these in the following way: think of position as how people perceive you, or, in other words, the external view of your business; think of focus as the internal view, or how you perceive and understand yourself.

But how do you build both of these?

Low-cost and middle-market pricing are risky strategies to take; high-end pricing is often the safest strategy.

Price is a strong communicator about the quality and value of a service. There are few things more important in marketing than pricing, but how should you price your service?

Logic would dictate that customers always go for the lowest price. However, this is rarely the case.

To be successful, turn your company and the service you provide into a brand.

Imagine you are hungry after a long day of driving and you enter an unfamiliar town in search of somewhere to eat. Instead of choosing the first restaurant you see, you – like many of us – would probably continue driving until you spotted a branded service like Burger King or McDonald’s. This is because certain brands promise a high standard of service; a brand is something like an insurance against poor quality. People feel more comfortable choosing recognizable brands as they know what to expect.

If you want to be successful, you should develop your service into a brand. But how do you do this?

Stories are powerful and convincing things – turn your message into a compelling story about your service.

A story isn't always a work of fiction; in fact, a story can also be a message that creates a picture of your brand. Just as lawyers will use stories to vividly illustrate complex arguments in trials, marketers can use them to build up a positive picture of a brand for customers.

Yet, to create a good story, marketers must ensure that the message follows certain key principles.

Final Summary

The main message in this book:

Marketing services can be challenging, but it's very important in today's economy. The heart of any service-marketing effort is the service itself, as well as its focus and position, as these empower things like branding and reputation. As services are not tangible, they are best promoted through clear and consistent messages that tell a compelling story about the company.

Actionable ideas from this book in blinks

Work on making your service great before you start anything else.

Service quality is very important to service marketing. It is hard to promote or advertise a service that's lacking in quality.

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Key ideas in Selling the Invisible

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About the Author

Harry Beckwith had a successful marketing career before going on to become an influential speaker on sales and marketing topics. He gives lectures to employees at large national companies as well as to students at Ivy League universities, and is considered one of the best public speakers in his field. He has written five best-selling titles, including Selling the Invisible and Unthinking.

Who should read Selling the Invisible?

Anyone who provides a service
Anyone who owns a service-based business
Marketing or advertising professionals
Anyone interested in marketing or advertising

Categories with Selling the Invisible

Marketing & Sales Communication Skills Management & Leadership

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