How To Sell The Invisible: Selling the Invisible Book Review

 

If you are a marketer, there’s a good chance that you might have problems reaching your customers. You might tell your boss something like, “we just need a bigger budget and more advertising space.”

But what if the real problem isn’t the lack of money, or some outside factor, but rather something defeating you from the inside? What if your view of the world is the real marketing problem? Or maybe your product/service isn’t setup correctly to meet the needs of the customers?

There’s a saying that we “see what we believe,” and I think there’s a great amount of truth to it. In order for marketers to really understand the work, they need to understand not only the customer but also the underpinning beliefs and assumptions that they have about how customers think.

So what is the first step in course correcting your marketing and identifying any false assumptions that you might have? Harry Beckwith, the author of Selling The Invisible,  says “start at zero.”

How To Sell The Invisible: Be Remarkable

Harry Beckwith’s view of marketing reminds me a lot of author Seth Godin’s approach to marketing. Beckwith says, “The first step in service marketing is your service.” Beckwith and Godin are both basically saying build a “purple cow” before you even consider the marketing aspect. If your product is terrible, no marketing in the world will save you. Beckwith calls this process of evaluating your service, “starting at zero.”

Beckwith illustrates what makes organizations remarkable by categorizing them into three different service levels that lead up to what he calls the “possible service.” This instantly made me think of Seth Godin’s hierarchy of value.

1.Stage One: Meeting acceptable standards

“Get a basic, acceptably reliable produce. Buyers accept this minimal product — the first car, the first VCR, and the first fast-food restaurant — because they desire the unique benefits it offers.” This is where most status-quo and unremarkable organizations stand. There are no real incentives to innovate here — not a place you want to be. 

 

2.Stage Two: Competition and Product Differentiation

“In stage two, competitors enter.” This is where the marketers come in and start asking the customers questions about preferences and needs. The focus here is around delivering customers the desired product. A lot of companies get to stage two.

 

3.Stage Three: The Possible Service

“In this stage, clients’ expectations and expressed needs no longer drive the market. Surveys asking ‘How could we improve?’ no longer produce useful data; the customers have run out of ideas.” These are the Disneys and Lexuses of the marketing world. Most companies never get here. Surprising the customer is the driving force here; it relies on imagination and creativity to deliver the “possible service.” Beckwith says this is where “glory, fame, and market share lie.”

Create the possible service; don’t just create what the market needs or wants. Create what it would love.

 

These Fallacies Are Keeping You Invisible

One thing that really stood out about Selling The Invisible, is a chapter regarding different fallacies. These fallacies address several faulty mental models that keep marketers from getting to the “possible service.” Among the multiple fallacies included in the book, these four really stood out to me:

1.Fallacy: Strategy Is King

“But in successful companies, tactics drive strategy as much or more than strategy drives tactics. These companies do something and learn from it.” All the plans in the world mean nothing if you don’t test them out. Beckwith encourages marketers to do anything. 

2.Fallacy: Patience Is a Virtue (The Shark Rule)

“Most people believe that organizations work on the principle of inertia: Organizations tend to stay as they are, either at rest or in motion. But it appears that organizations are subject to the law that governs sharks. If a shark does not move, it cannot breathe. And it dies.” BE A SHARK

3.Fallacy: The Fallacy of Focus Groups

I found this one to be very interesting. The author really hates focus groups, and for good reason. Beckwith asks, “Could a focus group inspire the personal computer, personal copier, cellular telephone, electronic digital assistant, fax machine — or anything like them?” Ditch the focus groups, they run off of group dynamics.

4.Fallacy: The Fallacy of Common Sense

“Common sense did not inspire the great marketing innovations of this century — the L.L. Bean boot, personal computer, overnight delivery, or any other. Leaps of imagination created them. “Common sense will only get you so far. For inspiring results, you’ll need inspiration.”

 

Marketing isn’t A Department: It’s Your Business

Everything that touches an organization is a piece of marketing. As soon as someone walks in the door and sees the receptionist, your first marketing encounter has occurred. Every piece of mail, every interaction — all of it. Selling The Invisible really stresses the minutiae of marketing by emphasizing the importance of understanding human psychology.

Beckwith emphasizes how every business is now a service business. The age of manufacturing is dead, and what exists now is the “experience economy.” This shift requires different thinking. This means “starting at zero” and asking some potentially difficult questions such as:

• What value does my product or service bring?
• Where am I in the stages of service?
• What faulty mental models am I operating under?

These are the simple, yet seemingly hard questions that most marketers probably don’t take the time to answer; and this is what makes Selling The Invisible such a great book. The most important lesson I took away from reading  Selling The Invisible is that Marketing isn’t a department: it’s your business. 

Rating: 10/10

 

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