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Summary: Beckwith Wisdom
Review: Beckwith succintly summarizes marketing for the service industry in such a clear way as to not only convey his message but teach how to convey yours
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Summary: Provocative!
Review: More new ideas on the how-to's of making a business click, than I've gleaned from multiple other texts!
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Summary: Very useful, easy read, to-the-point
Review: The book consists of numerous 1-2 page to-the-point chapters. Highlights understanding a buyer's fear in buying an intangible service. The buyer wants to hear: "I understand your problem" more than "my service is better". The latter is expected. Several useful tips that can be easily and effectively applied to small service businesses.
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Summary: Quantifying the Intangible
Review: 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.
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Summary: Packed With Knowledge!
Review: This book presents the crucial concepts of new marketing. In an age where more than seventy percent of people in the United States earn their living working for service companies, the old product-marketing model is no longer viable. Instead of emphasizing features and benefits, new marketers need to work on developing lasting relationships with their clients. Those who learn this first will be able to attract the largest number of clients, even in a market that is becoming over-saturated with commodities and services. Harry Beckwith's excellent book offers numerous useful tips in a highly readable format. Few chapters are more than a page long, and he offers enough insightful stories and eclectic examples to keep even the most time-pressed reader interested. We [...] recommend this book to anyone trying to market a service and to those interested in ideas about marketing.
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Summary: Excellent book with a lot of tips
Review: I have never read so much from a book in a short span of time. I am running my own services business since 1998 and marketing has been a weak area ever since I started my business. I could never balance spending my time between marketing my services and updating my technical skills. This book really convinces me how much time I should spend for marketing and selling my services. I am also convinced that in spite of my liking to technology development, I should spend more time in marketing my services.This is not a <em> "how to" </em> book and hence it does not teach step-by-step marketing or selling technics. Rather it gives numerous examples from industry what one should do promote his/her brand. As many of the points were already known to me, this book only serves to reiterate my beliefs. I plan to make this book as a compulsory reading for any new persons joining my company so that he/she will realize how much they represent the company to the client. I never believe in miracles or short-cuts to sucess. But, I strongly believe that implementing the tips given in this book will bring success to my business by bringing-in more satisfied customers. For a while I was reading Geoffrey Moore's Inside the Tornado book, which is also my favorite marketing book along with Crossing the Chasm. I can co-relate many points between Moore's books and Selling the Invisible. This is a "must buy" for anyone in the service business.
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Summary: To be smart salesperson
Review: Simply read this book every week.
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Summary: Simple, Practicle, and useful
Review: I read a lot to grow my business. This is one of the best books that have helped me to grow my business. I need straight, to the point suggestions/advice/writing to like a book. This book has all of these qualities. Zafar Khizer, Founder/Owner of an Inc. 500 company.
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Summary: Encouragement to improve the quality of your service
Review: Unless you work for an incredibly progressive company, the most difficult thing about this book will be getting your boss to do anything about it. This isn't a how to manual, and it doesn't suggest any quick fixes. It simply tells it like it is, and tells it in an entertaining fashion. You don't have to be in the marketing department to find value in this book. In fact, "Selling the Invisible" refers to providing the quality of service required to stay competitive in any industry. If there truly are no new ideas, then everyone is trying to copy the last good idea as quickly and cheaply as they can. The only thing that sets you apart from your competitors is the quality of service that you provide. Mr. Beckwith makes the point that you are competing with Disney, whether you're in the same industry or not. Your service is expected to be as good as the service your client received on his last family vacation to Disneyworld. Yikes! If you think that your company is already pretty darn good, think again. As it says in the book, "the average man thinks he isn't." By definition, most of us ARE average. There is always room for improvement, and in most businesses, there's a LOT of room! Use this book as a motivator, an internal cheerleader. Re-read it every couple of months, at least a few chapters (they're often only a page or two long), and share it with as many co-workers as you can. The more people in your company who know about it, the more likely you'll see a change for the better.
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Summary: Make Friends. Loan Them Your Copy.
Review: This book passes a very important test: every co-worker to whom I've loaned my copy has thanked me effusively and said they're going to buy their own. Far from pandering to its readers, "Selling the Invisible" reminds us of certain key concepts and important principles in the business of selling services. The "Lake Woebegone Effect" and "Butterfly" stories alone were worth the price of the book. A note to Mr. Patten (see below): Mr. Beckwith was Phi Beta Kappa at Stanford and reads Greek, so you might want to reconsider your proposed bet about "synecdoche". You also might want to proofread your own postings before citing others for errors.
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