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Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing [Hardcover]

Harry Beckwith
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Mar 1 1997
You can't touch, hear, or see your company's most important products... So how do you sell, develop, make them grow? That's the problem with services. This "phenomenal" book, as one reviewer called it, answers that question with insights on how markets work and how prospects think. A treasury of hundreds of quick, practical, and easy-to-read strategies-few are more than a page long-Selling the Invisible will open your eyes to new ideas in this crucial branch of marketing, including: * Why focus groups, value-price positioning, discount pricing, and being the best usually fail * The critical emotion that most influences your prospects-and how to deal with it * The vital role of vividness, focus, "anchors," and stereotypes * The importance of Halo, Cocktail Party, and Lake Wobegon Effects * Marketing lessons from black holes, grocery lists, the Hearsay Rule, and the fame of the Matterhorn * Dozens of proven yet consistently over-looked ideas for research, presentations, publicity, advertising, and client retention ...and much more. Based on the author's twenty-five years of experience with thousands of business professionals, this book delivers its wisdom with unforgettable and often surprising examples-from Federal Express, Citicorp, and a growing Greek travel agency...to an ingenious baby-sitter, Fran Lebowitz, and the colors of oranges and lemons. The first guide of its kind and a book already causing a sensation in the business community, Selling the Invisible will help anyone marketing a service, a product, or a career. Read it, and you almost certainly will understand why two advance reviewers call it the best book on business ever written.

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From Amazon

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.

From Library Journal

"Don't sell the steak. Sell the sizzle." In today's service business, author Beckwith suggests this old marketing adage is likely to guarantee failure. In this timely addition to the management genre, Beckwith summarizes key points about selling services learned from experience with his own advertising and marketing firm and when he worked with Fortune 500 companies. The focus here is on the core of service marketing: improving the service, which no amount of clever marketing can make up for if not accomplished. Other key concepts emphasize listening to the customer, selling the long-term relationship, identifying what a business is really selling, recognizing clues about a business that may be conveyed to customers, focusing on the single most important message about the business, and other practical strategies relevant to any service business. Actor Jeffrey Jones's narration professionally conveys these excellent ideas appropriate for public libraries.?Dale Farris, Groves, Tex.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
In a free-association test, most people-including most people in business-will equate the word "marketing" with selling and advertising: pushing the goods. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
Format:Hardcover
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.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Short, Concise...Very Insightful April 14 2004
Format:Hardcover
Having spent much of my career in the I.T. services sector, I thoroughly enjoy researching other interests and broadening my understanding of topics that can enrich my life and career. In the area of marketing services, this publication provided ample, tangible information on modern marketing and exceeded my expectations in a number of ways.

First, the covers of this book are not too far apart, which is a rare find these days. Often, writers try to impart an excessive amount of irrelevant information in their writings, as though their real ambition is to write the next, great American novel. This book is different.

This publication is short, concise and filled with valuable information. If you are in the business of marketing, you need this book. For anyone in the service industry, consider giving yourself an edge over your competition by reading this insightful book, and putting into action the relevant suggestions of the author.

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Format:Hardcover
The ideas that the author brings up are good, but too often I felt like I wanted more. The second section was irritating. I got the feeling that the author has extensive experience in advising others, but little experience in personally carrying out - nice stories and good talk, but few real world details. On the other hand, I have been able to apply some of the ideas to my business. Stick it out past the second section and it gets a lot better.

Bottom line: Not the only book you'll need to learn about marketing your service, but a worthwhile investment.

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Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Do you keep using people who don't do little things right?
Selling the Invisible is must reading for anyone who wants to understand what it really means to run a service business. Read more
Published on Nov 25 2003 by Michael Chiodi
5.0 out of 5 stars Become Visibile with a not so Visible Service
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... Read more
Published on Nov 11 2003 by M. Bennett
5.0 out of 5 stars These Techniques Work
Harry Beckwith's techniques in Selling the Invisible actually work. When you are dealing with service-related companies, it can be hard to understand what works and what does not. Read more
Published on Sep 23 2003 by Michael Gordon
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! I've seldom been impressed enough to write a review.
This book far exceeds the many others that I have read, for a couple of reasons. It is a compilation of what other books state sure but it has some new ideas as well (or at least... Read more
Published on Sep 17 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars He's Simply the King
Honesty, Professionalism, Trust, Hardwork. Saves you time from sophomoric, expensive attempts to convince your clients they need to do business with you. Read more
Published on Aug 9 2003 by R. L Saunders
5.0 out of 5 stars The obvious is not always so obvious
I read this book while interning the summer before my senior year in undergraduate school. It uses stories and antecdotes to show you the obvious, it reinforces facts that you... Read more
Published on May 24 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book For Marketing Services
"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. Read more
Published on May 2 2003 by Peter Hupalo
1.0 out of 5 stars Another ra-ra book
Ra-ra books are those kinds of books that are full of good(?) intentions and motivational speech ("you can do it", "yeah", "believe", "position", "improve your service"), but then... Read more
Published on Mar 1 2003 by Alexander Hristov
1.0 out of 5 stars Typical ra-ra book
Ra-ra books are those kinds of books that are full of good(?) intentions and motivational speech ("you can do it", "yeah", "believe", "position", "improve your service"), but then... Read more
Published on Feb 23 2003 by Alexander Hristov
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read if you are Marketing Professional Services
In a crowded space of space of sales and marketing books lacking substantive data, Harry Beckwith's Selling the Invisible proves to be a valuable read. Read more
Published on Feb 6 2003 by P. Scott Pope
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