Introduction.
Harry Beckwith is the best selling author of ‘Selling The Invisible’ and ‘The Invisible Touch’, like all of his books these are marketing classics, and although they were written nearly 20 years ago, these books and this one are as relevant today as then. The opening lines of this book set the tone for the whole book “This book offers a pleasant alternative to learning from your mistakes, learn from mine” great advice indeed. From making a pitch to building a brand, designing a logo to closing the sale, this is a field guide to take with you to the front lines of today’s business battles.
This book is filled with lessons learned from real-life stories in the current business environment. Designed for the busy business owner or executive this book explores how the little details really matter in the art of keeping a fruitful and long-term relationship with clients and at the end of the day, this is what we all want.
The book is split into 6 parts:-
- Drawing Your Blueprints
- Four Building Blocks
- The Velvet Sledgehammer
- Blue Martinis and Omaha Surfing
- Americans The Beautiful and Pretty Woman
- The Traits Clients Love
Part 1. Drawing your blueprints
Your possible business: Ask yourself, “What would people love”?
Never mind what clients say they want. The truth is they don’t really know what they want! It’s up to you to make them realize that what you have to offer is exactly what they want. No client ever asked for ATM’s, or Disneyland, or Starbucks. They wanted easy access to their cash (outside banking hours), a place to take the kids that’s world-class and the 3rd space between work and home where they could enjoy a great cup of coffee. Their creators simply created them, sensing that people would love them.
Ask- and keep asking yourself– ”What would people love.”
A question that, maybe your answer: Next time you ponder your strategy, ask yourself: how would you beat your own business if you were in your competitor’s shoes. Which weakness would you attack?
Then do this:- Eliminate that weakness. Always ask yourself “How would I beat us?”
Another good question.
Whenever you consider your business’s next steps, ask yourself “If I could start from scratch, how would I do things differently?”
Why Plan?
Most people assume that business plans will tell them what to do. Few businesses, however, follow their plans. Things change, assumptions change and plans change, as they should. Yet businesses still plan. The value of planning is in the process. It teaches you more about your colleagues, clients, and your market. As you implement your plan, your prospects and clients will react, and their reactions will teach you more. Among other things, their reactions, carefully observed will reveal what clients really want – and love. ‘Plans teach’.
The White Hot Centre.
Find the “white-hot center”. Every industry has one. This is the area where key influencers who will endorse your product to followers are located. These are the editors whose reviews dictate the trends of the industry. In the early days, Nike found the white-hot center of the running industry, and later on, in basketball, they chose Michael Jordan, who wasn’t even the first choice in that year’s pro draft of college players. Nike’s earliest contact with Tiger Woods was when he was playing golf as a freshman in high school. Nike was and still is looking for key influencers, this is where the white-hot centre is. So ask yourself:- Who are the experts in your industry, which editors, writers, and publications wield the most influence?
The 14 Principles of Planning:
- Forget the future. A lot of predictions and prophecies don’t come true. People thought TV would eliminate the need for radio. It hasn’t. Plan around what you can predict: what people will love.
- Stop listening. This pervasive plea to ‘listen more’ rests on a flawed assumption: It assumes that people say what they think. They do not. People often say whatever will make them look good to the person asking the question. Male audiences will never admit they shed tears over the film ‘Remains of the Day’. People do not reveal themselves easily. It is up to you to let them see something about themselves that they cannot. When you research the market, look for what is hidden. Stop listening and start looking.
- Celebrate foolishness. Why do people pay $3.75 for a cup of coffee? Why would people want to watch a weekly show about a dozen people on an island? To see who survives all the backstabbing? Your idea may sound foolish, so it just may work.
- Resist authority. Put 8 people in a room and watch how the Alpha personalities take over. If you are an Alpha, learn to keep quiet so the others can air their ideas. Alphas have powerful personalities but it doesn’t mean they have the best ideas. Question authority (Quietly).
- View experts skeptically. Beware of expert advice. Too often, the expert is applying previous experience to a current one. But any time we apply the lessons of one experience to another, we assume those two experiences are identical. They never are. Question experts.
- Beware of “science” and “the research shows”. Mistrust research. It rarely reveals what the clients really love.
- Mistrust Experience. Sometimes we remember things that never happened. Ninety percent of eyewitness identifications of crimes are wrong. Our experiences, often were not experiences after all. They are fictions we have read or written ourselves, but that we treat as fact. Mistrust your experiences and your memory.
- Mistrust confidence. We are wrong more often than we know – especially when we are sure we are right. Don’t allow other people’s strong convictions to sway you. They use confidence as a tool of persuasion. If you feel certain or someone else does, question it.
- Avoid shooting for perfection. Getting to ‘best’ always gets complicated. Plans in business usually obey the rule of startups:- Everything costs twice as much and takes twice as long as expected. Will prospects and clients perceive that excellence? Will it benefit them? Will they care? Will it be worth it to them what you charge? Good beats perfect.
- Beware of Common sense. Common sense, however, is neither common nor always sensical. Common sense can protect you from colossal mistakes. What it cannot do is inspire enormous breakthroughs. Common sense goes only so far. Breakthroughs require imagination.
- Embrace impatience. Big organizations suffer from inertia. They believe that things tend to stay as they are, either at rest or in motion. The rule of exercise applies instead. Moving organisations tend to keep moving. Ones that rest – actually atrophy, grow weaker and die young. Exercise works with businesses too.
- Find the water. The problem is that nothing in marketing is guaranteed. Too often the water proves to be a mirage and the company finds itself high and dry. You never know where the water is until you find it. Spend less time planning and more efforts on inexpensive dispatches of small parties to several likely locations, when they return assess what they learned and which represents the best return. Dip your toes in several ponds, then dive into the lake.
- Find the water. A Warning. The company that waits for guarantees is doomed. Nothing in business is guaranteed. Past successes are simply past successes, not guarantees of future ones. Do something – if only because it produces learning, and learning is perhaps a businesses most valuable asset.
- Search for the 100-X. All strategies are not created equal. Terrific strategies and tactics more than beat good ones; they work 100 times better (100-X). Move your thinking, time, and money into one or two possible 100-X strategies. Look, and keep looking for 100-X.
The End of ‘Missions’ and ‘Visions’.
Forget about the ‘mission and vision statements’. Most are stuck to a wall in the office with no one really paying much attention to them. Rename them to your “Passion”, or “Our Purpose”, “Our reason for coming to work each day”. It can’t just be about making money. A powerful statement attracts clients, inspires employees, and produces results. Go deeper than the mere bottom line. Create and communicate your vision, but rename it. Remember how JFK conceptualised his moon mission/ vision simply as ‘American will put a man on the moon’.
Avoid “nice”.
If everyone feels comfortable with your idea, it isn’t an idea . It’s an imitation. Chances are it isn’t good enough or bold enough. A distinctive idea will always make a few people feel uncomfortable.
Ask Questions Like a Priest.
To get to the truth, get on the phone. People speak honestly when they are on the phone for the simple reason you cannot see them. It is similar to the way people are in a confessional booth. The customer will be more candid on the telephone and you will be more likely to get an accurate insight on your service.
To understand business, read Classic Literature.
Why? Because timeless works, like those by Shakespeare, reveal something about human nature that no business book can ever teach you. Novels reveal what clients love. Examples of classics to read are Hamlet, Macbeth, The Great Gatsby, works by John Updike, and Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”.
Part 2. Four Building Blocks
Clear Communications
We are living in the age of information and option overload. In the seventies, you only had to choose between a black phone unit and an avocado one. Today, your choices to your phone unit and all its possible functions are infinite: call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, etc. Just as we are overloaded with options, we are awash in information. Messages are everywhere. In 1472 a person reading a book a month could finish every book in the world’s best library in less than 20 years (199 books). American companies publish almost three hundred books every day (this is in 2002).
The rise of images.
Because so many words have lost their value, the business looking to grow should turn to two weapons: action and images. Actions have always spoken louder than words. Your actions are your message. So ask: How must we act to convey our message and quality? What must we do, from our first follow-up call to presentation? Then, imagine that you must sell the client without using words. What images would you use?
Your Marketing’s Placebo Effects.
You are surrounded by placebo effects, constantly working their alchemy. We have the experiences we expect to have, based on our perceptions that preceded those expectations. Our perceptions create our expectations- and those expectations so influence our experience that we can say this:- Our expectation changes our experience. Social scientists call this ‘Expectancy theory’. People experience what they expect to experience and see what they expect to see.
- Do you create the expectation that you are trustworthy, reliable, and skilled?
- Does your advertising distinguish you?
- Are your materials made of better quality?
- Have you mastered the art of the great first impression?
- Do you fall under a negative stereotype?
Study everything that can affect people’s perception of your quality – and make each excellent.
The Humanist and Statistician.
People’s first impressions are plagued by stereotypes that you must control. People’s stereotypes about you and your industry become lasting impressions. Watch your labels and descriptions and ask yourself what they might communicate about your company. Ask if they play into stereotypes or negative reactions, and look at alternative labels that create better impressions – or more favorable stereotypes. Study your description carefully and consider changing it.
Simplify everything.
“The future is bright. The future is Orange” is a very simple and clear message. At the telecoms company Orange, there is only one number to call for customer service. Clarity and simplicity comforts people overwhelmed by all the information in this world.
An important word on word of mouth.
The theory behind word of mouth makes sense: perform brilliantly and everyone will tell everyone. But largely because of changes in our culture word-of-mouth advertising has become the world’s most overrated form of marketing. Word of mouth assumes your clients will rave if you perform well. But today’s clients race home after work, then rush for four more days. When they finally get time to reflect, they have forgotten their good experience with you. They’re overloaded. Forget word of mouth, but do not forget advertising. With the demise of word of mouth, conventional advertising has become even more important. The best advertising is advertising.
Get publicity.
One article can go a long way. Editors in local papers are always looking for material to fill up their space. Retain a professional writer with magazine-writing experience. It’s an investment in your public relations.
Beware of testimonials.
They only work if the person testifying has credibility and authority. Avoid using words like world-class, ISO certified, superior quality. Instead, replace them with proof. Avoid superlatives. Avoid clichés, most readers view clichés as a signal to stop reading.
The power of You.
No word sounds as lovely, Dale Carnegie observed, ‘as our own name’. Merely hearing our name makes us feel closer and more important to the person uttering it. Use the direct address, “You” in your advertising copy. The more personal word ‘you’ worked as Dale Carnegie would have guessed. Because it sounds personal, even intimate, ‘you’ involves the reader personally.
Be specific.
Brevity is the key. People want their information fast and in quick bites. If you cannot describe what makes you different and excellent in twenty-five words or less, don’t fix your copy. Fix your company.
Edit your message until everyone understands it.
A French mathematician devised the first rule of communicating: A theory is not complete until you can explain it to the first person you meet on the street.
Part 3. The Velvet Sledgehammer
The decline of trust.
Watergate. Janet Cooke. John DeLorean. Barings Bank. Jim Bakker. Enron and Arthur Andersen. These are just some of the big events that exposed the corruption that exists in society. “A generation is coming of age in America that doesn’t take the news straight. . . it sees giant con games everywhere.” -(Jacob Brackman, The Put-On, 1971). Like all problems, this presents you with an opportunity. The ability to inspire trust has become more rare, and as a result, more valuable.
Cole’s Wisdom.
A service company has to win its customer’s trust. Even 5 year-olds know that a sale sign is just put up in a window to make you come in and buy stuff. Make sure your message is honest and modest. Admit your weakness. Sometimes un-selling can be your best strategy. When you admit a weakness, the client tends to believe you and trust you, because you aren’t hiding anything.
| What the Best Salespeople sell (in order).
Themselves Their company Their service or product Price Sell yourself first. |
What Ordinary Salespeople sell (in order).
Price Their service or product Themselves Their company Sell your price last. |
How to Read a Short List.
Before any presentation, draw up a list of your competitors. Studying your prospect’s shortlist reveals his preferences and his perceptions of you and your competitor. Study every shortlist. They’re longer on information than you think.
Wield a Velvet Sledgehammer.
To hard sell and always be closing you must gush and rave. Raving about a car is acceptable, many cars, pens and scarves, to name just three products, are worth raving about. When it’s your services you are selling, raving sounds boastful-and not even braggarts like other braggarts. Clients prize humility – reason enough never to hard sell again. Go softly and slowly.
Wielding the velvet sledgehammer translates to “Sell softly.”
A Game of Give and Take.
Just like in any relationship, you can’t hurry it. Two people achieve a strong relationship by reaching beyond boundaries they usually maintain between themselves and strangers. A party moves into the other’s boundary only with the other’s consent. Even together, people must remain separate to thrive. Sell slowly. Don’t cross any boundaries without getting the client’s consent first.
What would Aesop and Jesus Do?
Aesop and Jesus must have known instinctively that the oldest hardwired neural pathway in the human brain is for stories. When each man wanted to teach moral and ethical lessons, he chose stories as his tool. Perfect your storytelling.
Find the Force.
In selling your services, get aligned with the force- the person with the influence, power, and inclination to act. Before you approach a prospective client, determine who has the influence, and can get a decision made quickly enough to make your prospecting profitable and satisfying. Find the force before you sell.
What your prospects Nods mean.
People Nod because they don’t want to appear stupid. When your prospects nod, they often don’t understand. Stop and clarify. Then go back after your presentation and remove every rough edge. If a prospect Nods Stop…
Why cold calls leave people cold.
I have never heard of you. You are calling me at work. You are interrupting me. How did you get my number? Are things so bad you have to call strangers to get business? Why should I buy something from someone I’ve never heard of? People feel most comfortable with companies they think they know- and mistrust ones they’ve never heard of. You must get known. Good marketing eliminates cold calls.
Remember Eddie Haskell.
Your audience includes four people: the top dog and three associates. Who should you address? Who must you win over? The associates. The top dog knows she is top dog and doesn’t need reminding. Her associates however, feel like subordinates. Address the boss too often and everyone- the associates and the boss will decide you are a shameless bootlicker. Treat associates like bosses and bosses like associates.
A trick to improve your presentations.
Sell your presenters before you present, to create a great expectation. This expectation makes a client believe you are good already. Use visual aids, not Powerpoints filled with too much information. Keep the lights in the meeting room on during the presentation. Cut the number of slides. You must speak, not read during your presentation. Edit your slides down to a minimum number of words per slide. Present one thought per slide. If you use visual aids, they have to be Visual. Have a layout artist or graphic designer with experience help you create a professional presentation.
Packaging the bold or conservative idea.
How do you sell a novel idea? Make it seem less radical. Dress conservatively: dark suit, well shined sensible shoes, crisp solid shirt or blouse, no extra jewelry. Package bold ideas conservatively, and conservative ideas boldly. Package yourself by wearing a funky watch if you are presenting a conservative idea. Dress honestly and a little bit better. Accentuate the positive. Avoid the negative. Seek out uncommon ways to say common things.
4. Blue Martinis and Omaha surfing A reassuring brand
The Rise of Invisibles and Intangibles.
Clients are buying a relationship with you. We all sell intangibles- often in the form of ‘solutions’- and relationships. They want insight, advice, and support. They want – as that catchphrase of the past twenty-five years reminds us – a solution. In this age of intangibles, this first principle: make your business and your excellence tangible and visible. Those visible representations- your brand and its components, including your name, packaging, and price -attract clients and increase their satisfaction.
The Familiarity Principle.
Familiarity breeds attraction. The more you hear something, the more you like it. The more you see someone, the more you tend to like them. Brands build familiarity – and business. Everyone knows the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt”. In business, it builds esteem. You face two choices for dry cleaning, for example, cleaners you’ve heard of and one you haven’t. “I’ve heard of them, they must be okay,” your inner voice advises. You choose the one you know and worry about the one you don’t.
Understanding your brand.
Gerber tried to market adult food and failed. Frito-lay tried lemonade, and failed. American Express is trying to sell discount brokerage, and it’s failing. All three companies ran into obstacles you might hit, too: their brand. Gerber is baby food. Adult baby food sounds awful. Frito-lay is salty snacks. Salty lemonade sounds disgusting. None of these companies could leap outside of their brand, and neither can you. Look before you leap outside your brand.
The limits of every brand.
We always think specialists are better than generalists. A jack of all trades is master of none. People today believe that no person or firm can excel at many tasks and that only specialists can excel at anyone. To be seen as excellent, a quality every client seeks, you must narrow your specialty. Know your limits- especially the one that your brand imposes.
Lessons from Lowe’s.
Lowe’s stores are working, but their name isn’t. Thirty years ago, the name Lowe’s for a chain of home stores would have worked. Names mattered less when there were fewer companies and less competition. In the era of mass choice, how do you increase your chances of being chosen? You must distinguish yourself immediately- in your name. Getting your message into your name will improve your marketing and simplify your selling. In this age of a million choices, a name that conveys your distinction immediately will get on more shortlists and into more presentations. Even better, people will remember your distinction and recognise that you have one, and always see one good reason to choose you. Don’t confuse people. Choose an unconfusable name.
Your package is your service.
Every service ultimately sells an experience: the experience of receiving the service. But what is that experience? We assume that service providers provide that experience by the way they serve their customers; we assume that customer service is the experience. We are half right. Your environment- your building, setting, the entire surroundings of your client’s experience- does not merely package you. It changes and becomes a critical part of each client’s experience. The environment is the experience. Makes yours exceptional.
Imagineering six commandments.
The commandments for the President of Disney’s imagineering division are intended to guide building and space designers but apply to everything from your lobbies to your letterheads.
- Wear your guest’s shoes; don’t forget the human factor.
- Create a ‘wienie’ (a visual centerpiece that draws people to it).
- Avoid overload.
- Tell one story at a time.
- Avoid visual contradictions; maintain a consistent identity.
- Keep it up. (Even the slightest thing out of order will diminish a client’s expectations.)
Follow the commandments.
In our hectic world, the sound bite has replaced the paragraph as the unit of thought. Our new world demands a faster message. So it is with your images- including the space in which you work- that you communicate to the world. Your logo, building, and lobby are your visual sound bites. Make them compelling and professional. Clients love with their hearts, to be sure, but that love starts in their eyes. Dress like the company you want to become.
No room at the bottom.
If you position yourself in one of the power positions – reliability, or innovation, for example – you can compete with other firms known for those traits. Several ‘reliable’ or ‘innovative’ firms can thrive. If you try to compete on price, only the lowest firm ultimately wins. If you cannot get to rock bottom, or do not want to- a wise choice- stake another position. Low prices won’t work. Resist aiming low.
5. Americans the beautiful and pretty woman. (Caring service).
When you buy a product, you purchase something tangible. When you buy a service, however, you buy the people who perform it. You buy products based on your feelings about the product; you choose your services based on your feelings toward the providers. Services resemble loving relationships, in fact, are loving relationships. We love people, not institutions. The more we like a person, the more capable that person seems.
Starbucks Key Insight.
How do you build a thriving business charging $1.50 for each of a series of labor-intensive transactions? The answer is, you don’t charge $1.50. You charge more than twice that much. You charge $3.75 for a cup of coffee? How? By realizing two basic principles. First, a service always involves more than the exchange of something tangible for money. You must build more into a service -warmth, connection, friendship, rest, status and in starbucks case, community. People will pay extra for a feeling of community. Second, Starbucks spotlights the importance of status. Anyone can afford a buck for a cup of Joe. But who can easily part with £3.75? Someone special; coffee becomes a positional object.
What your clients actually buy.
Relatively few businesses are ‘expertise’ businesses. The rest of us sell something else. We sell satisfaction. A threshold of skill gets these firms through their prospect’s doors. But it is their apparent ability to satisfy clients that sells them, and their actual ability to satisfy clients that turns clients into loyal fans. Your business is not performing your task brilliantly. It is satisfying your clients deeply.
Uncertainty and the importance principle.
Even perfect clients fear you. They fear you care more about yourself than about them. If you do not return a client’s call quickly, it means she did not matter enough for you to call sooner. You don’t call for weeks. Your client feels unimportant. You cancel a meeting. He feels unimportant. Whenever they are in doubt, your clients will see your behaviour -and your view of them- in the worst light, reassure your clients that they are important to you – every chance you get. Remember the importance of importance.
Money can’t buy you loyalty.
Every company should know its best customers and strive to retain them. Loyalty marketing often fails, however, because too many of it’s practitioners assume that people feel loyal to companies. They do not. People feel loyal to people. If you want loyal customers, address them- personally- and serve the best ones passionately.
Thank You (Enter Client name).
To make clients feel like someone, you cannot treat them just like anyone. Mass mail (email) makes people feel inconsequential. Hand written notes, on the other hand, work magic. Take time. Write by hand.
Race to client’s hearts.
Clients treasure their time, and you will benefit if you treasure it, too. Whatever you do, do it faster. Speed works. Shave seconds everywhere.
Rules for choosing clients.
Trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, it will be. Bad clients don’t produce minimal returns; they produce losses. If a prospect is most interested in cost, you will never be happy and always be vulnerable. You can not cut a bad deal with a good person or a good deal with a bad person.
Keeping a client’s confidence.
A Spanish proverb says it perfectly; Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you. Never divulge anything about a client that may appear confidential. Protect – and appear to protect- every client, past and present, a rule that springs from a truth every person knows: People who reveal secrets will reveal ours. Keep your client’s secrets.
A promise Written is a promise kept.
“An oral promise isn’t worth the paper it’s written on” someone once wrote, and there’s business wisdom in that wit. There are few things that clients value more than consistency and predictability, the comfort of knowing that you will do just what you said- as they heard you say it. Put every promise in writing.
Understand listening.
Everywhere today, companies are promising prospective clients that they listen. If they were listening, however, they’d know better than to say that – and know the real reason that listening matters to clients. It isn’t ‘the better’ solution that clients value. It’s the simple act of listening itself. We value it because of how it makes us feel. It makes us feel important. You must listen. Your business depends on it.
How to listen.
Don’t just listen to what the person is saying. Picture it. As he speaks, create a visual image – a movie even- of his story. This will help you understand, follow, and remember his story. Don’t listen with your ears. Listen with your eyes.
Ten Rules of Business Manners.
Reread these regularly, and put a copy of them on every employee’s desk. Living by these rules will make your business and life- yours and others- richer, in every sense of the word:-
- Always wait a split second after a person finishes talking before you speak.
- Listen with your entire body.
- Be positive.
- Speak well of others.
- Memorize names.
- Never try to impress. The effort always shows, and it diminishes you.
- Never make your conversations- particularly on cell phones -public.
- Praise but never flatter. Praise makes people feel good; flattery makes them feel manipulated.
- A simple rule whenever you are in doubt: Be kind.
- Just do these.
6. The Traits Clients Love.
Sacrifice.
You give me; I give back. You go beyond your call of duty and I will go beyond mine. Sacrifices tell clients that you care, which makes them care more in return. Your sacrifice transforms the relationship. Now, you no longer are a service. You are their service. Give something up and you will get more back.
Integrity and what it means.
The heart of a product’s quality is its structural integrity. Rather than falling apart, the product stays together- it remains integrated. The integrity of its parts allows a product to perform. The heart of service quality also is integrity – but the integrated elements are different. Your service is your promise that at some future date you will perform a task. The integrity in a service, then, is the integration between word and deed- between promise and performance. Build integrity throughout your organization. Hire for it, reward it, demand, deliver, and tell it- fearlessly. Integrity matters- and works.
Why do some people and businesses thrive?
“In this world, the optimists have it, not because they are always right, but because they are positive. Even when they are wrong they are positive, and that is the way of achievement, correction, improvement, and success. Educated, eye-open optimism pays.
Final Word
And there you have it. This is a basic overview of “What clients Love”. If you start to think about what Beckwith says, that just about everything we sell is a service, in reality, then using the concepts in this book will provide a competitive advantage. For those businesses that are purely service-oriented then following the methodology in this book is an absolute must. To get the most out of this summary go and buy the book on Amazon I highly recommend it.
Twelve intensive half-day meetings.
