Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing

Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing

-1997

-By Harry Beckwith

-252 pages

-Warner Books

Selling the Invisible is a series of quick-hitting, one- to two-page commentaries on the diverse aspects of marketing. It asks the reader to consider just what is being marketed (products or services), the methods that go into marketing, and finally the diverse aspects of human psychology that create the atmosphere within which businesses must operate.

The book begins with the concept that most marketing does not involve a tangible product but rather a service, which Beckwith describes as invisible. Beckwith believes that "America is a service economy with a product marketing model. But services are not products, and service marketing is not product marketing ... A service, by contrast [to a product], is intangible. In fact, a service does not even exist when you buy one."

From that point, Beckwith's 100+ short chapters take the reader on a whirlwind of marketing tactics, dos and don'ts, and companies both successful and struggling. Beckwith anchors his text by using examples from a core group of companies.

One of Beckwith's axioms is that companies do not always know what prospective customers are expecting from their business. One prime example is Burger King's strategy to lure some of McDonald's customers during the 1980s and early 1990s. Burger King believed that its customers came to their restaurant primarily for the quality of their food. In taking on McDonald's, Burger King therefore used this to propel their marketing strategy. Everyone remembers the commercials that lauded Burger King's "flame-broiled burgers."

However, as Beckwith writes, the strategy did not work: "McDonald's was right: Fast-food hamburger restaurants are not in the hamburger business ... People do not go to fast-food restaurants to satisfy their desire for something delicious. They go for something fast, cheap, and palatable that satisfies their hunger."

Beckwith uses Federal Express to demonstrate more successful marketing strategies. One of these was the unusual nature of their name. "Express" was the obvious choice for the second word. The first word, however, is more atypical. "Federal" generally connotes the government. By using this striking word as the first word in their name, Federal Express made their name unique and thus guaranteed that their customers would remember them: "Federal Express conveys a powerful message- 'like the U.S. Mail, only faster and better'-in just two words and colors."

Federal Express' other business venture is described in a chapter titled "What Color is Your Companies' Parachute?" In other words, what are you good at? Beckwith points out that Federal Express realized that they were good at "logistics...procuring, distributing, and replacing materials." and created a successful consultancy that specialized in logistical management. Beckwith urges "in planning your marketing, don't just think of your product, think of your skills."

Beckwith is also convinced that the marketer must operate in an irrational world, where people make choices based on intuitions, as opposed to facts. He urges marketers to take this into account at all stages of selling a product. Some examples of this include the following:

On the fallacy of common sense: "What seems common, in fact, is people acting contrary to their own experience."

On the continuing success of American Express, even after Visa introduced what Beckwith considers a superior product: "American Express emphasizes that 'membership has its privileges,' and that privilege of membership in American Express is in being part of an 'elite club' ... At 25 million, quite a large 'elite' club, by the way ... Logical?"

On lowering prices to attract consumers: "Don't assume that logical pricing is smart pricing. Maybe your price ... actually makes you look second rate."

Beckwith's conclusion also touches on the whimsical nature of the public's response to products: "Services are human. Their successes depend on the relationships of people. People are human-frustrating, unpredictable, temperamental ... occasionally half mad. But you can spot some patterns in people. The more you can see the patterns... the more you will succeed."

The portrayal of the human mind in Selling the Invisible reveals Beckwith's conviction that the decision-making process of customers is just as invisible as the process of selling a service-at least at first. It is only by detecting patterns in the behavior of customers that a company can start to construct a successful marketing strategy.

Selling the Invisible does not necessarily need to be read in order, but each idea is worth a look.

[Ed. Note-Check with your local bookseller about the availability of this title.]