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+layout: post
+title: Book Notes – Selling the Invisible
+meta: Notes from reading Selling the Invisible
+---
+
+# {{ page.title }}
+
+Some notes from reading [Selling the Invisible](http://amzn.eu/73xHRz6) again.
+
+![Book Cover of Selling the Invisible](/images/posts/selling-the-invisible.jpg)
+
+---
+
+## Getting Started
+
+The core of service marketing is the service itself. Attracting people to a flawed service will gradually kill the service. A better service will make marketing more profitable (less churn, so lower CPA).
+
+Assume your service is bad. It can’t hurt and will force you to improve.
+
+Let clients set the standards. Do your customers think your “slick” new design is good? A/B test. User test. Use Analytics. **Talk to users**.
+
+Industry standards are not a reflection of what the customer expects if they’ve had exceptional service elsewhere.
+
+The Butterfly Effect – tiny cause; huge effect. Tiny details can make a huge difference.
+
+Mistakes are opportunities. Make up for them.
+
+If its hard to write an ad, the product is flawed.
+
+Don’t just think better – think different. Is the current way _really_ working? Can we radically improve service?
+
+Always start at zero. “Is this viable anymore?”. “Is this what the world wants?”.
+
+Products have three stages of life:
+
+1. **MVP – Product Driven**: Delivers unique benefits so customers accept it for what it is (or don’t even know what _could_ be better about it).
+2. **Differentiation – Desire Driven**: Customers ask for more and companies differentiate on these choices.
+3. **Surprise – Possibility Driven**: Go beyond what customers thought they needed or what they could have ever imagined.
+
+Don’t just create what the market wants or needs; create what it would _love_.
+
+## Surveying and Research
+
+People won’t tell you what you’re doing wrong. Ask.
+
+Anonymous feedback is always more candid.
+
+High satisfaction scores can be used in marketing material. Low scores point at places to improve.
+
+Keeps the business in contact with customers. They feel like you’re paying attention. Puts you higher in their mental stack.
+
+Written surveys can be misleading. You interpret based on _your_ understanding, not the respondent’s. e.g. “Quality” could be many things. Always try for oral if possible, unless you’re confident that you can interpret the answers.
+
+- Can be more conversational
+- Can go off script to get deeper insights
+- People say more (5:2 vs written)
+- Better response rates
+- Voice tone can reveal feelings
+
+Never ask “what don’t you like?”. It admits they’ve made a bad choice in choosing your service.
+
+**Focus groups don’t.**
+
+- Groupthink
+- Alter leader
+- Gap between what people say and what people do
+- Not effective for sensitive topics
+- Views get distorted in an artificial environment
+
+You’re selling to individuals, so talk to individuals.
+
+## Marketing is not a Department
+
+One weak link (either at the top or the bottom) can tarnish an entire service. Can have great product, price, talent, advertising, but the service trumps all.
+
+Look at business processes end-to-end and beyond.
+
+> Much of what passes for brilliant insight is reporting what everyone in that company could see, if only they could still see clearly.
+
+Sometimes you need a fresh pair of eyes. Ask for help.
+
+Every act of communication is a marketing act.
+
+- Answering the phone
+- Message at the end of an invoice
+
+Opportunities for growth often lie outside your current industry. Think of your _skills_.
+
+What are your clients _really_ buying?
+
+- Product?
+- An experience?
+- Service?
+- A relationship?
+
+If you’re selling a service, you’re selling a relationship.
+
+Satisfy **people**, not clients.
+
+Service companies are often battling to _create_ a market, rather than dominate an existing one.
+
+Prospects have three options:
+
+- You
+- DIY
+- Do nothing
+
+Win without a fight – “Go where they ain’t”. Compete in a narrower vertical.
+
+Easy to be content and get caught out by early adopters of technology.
+
+Study every point of contact. What are you doing to make a phenomenal impression at every point?
+
+Talent is just the entry fee. Personable > Professional.
+
+## Planning
+
+You can’t predict the future, so plan for several possible futures.
+
+1. Accept the limitations of planning. No substitute for real use and iteration.
+2. Don’t value planning for the result. The greatest value is in the process.
+3. Don’t plan your future; plan your people. Smart people that fit the broad vision will figure it out.
+
+Tactics > Strategy
+
+Build → Measure → Learn
+
+You can learn from tactics but can’t from strategy. First tactic you try can change your entire plan.
+
+Marginal tactics executed passionately almost always outperform brilliant tactics executed marginally.
+
+Today’s good idea will almost always beat tomorrow’s better one.
+
+Act like a shark; keep moving.
+
+- Not moving rarely causes immediate pain, so encourages even more waiting.
+- Action-oriented people leave and it becomes too late and difficult to get moving again.
+
+Think dumb. Good ideas often sound stupid at first.
+
+Mistrust facts:
+
+- Research about human behaviour is at best some well supported general observations.
+- Research and planning is an imprecise art, not a precise science.
+
+Focus groups focus only on today. Planning is about tomorrow.
+
+In planning, beware of what you think you remember – we remember badly.
+
+We over generalise experience when we infer results. You might end up abandoning a tactic that was 90% right.
+
+On answers of which people are 100% certain, they are right only 85% of the time. (Overconfidence bias)
+
+**Best is not the best**
+
+1. Very good
+2. Good
+3. **Best**
+4. Not good
+5. Awful
+
+Best gets complicated. Harder to agree on. Harder to achieve. More sacrifice to get there. Will the customer _really_ benefit? Will they care?
+
+_Any_ idea _might_ fail. Keep learning from it.
+
+**Expert**: Someone with lots of data and experience. Data can often support opposing conclusions. Experience is unique. Lessons don’t necessarily map to experiences. **No answers – only informed opinions**.
+
+People in authority are not necessarily better at decision making.
+
+In planning, people do not struggle to reach conclusions – **they struggle to set their premises**. Broad planning is easy; the detail and _execution_ is difficult.
+
+> People do not go to fast-food restaurants to satisfy a desire for something delicious. They go for something fast, cheap and palatable that satisfies their hunger.
+
+## How Prospects Think
+
+Appeal only to reason and you may have no appeal at all. People don’t decide only on logical arguments.
+
+- Familiarity
+- Relationship
+- Recency effect
+- “Good enough” (service has the least negatives)
+- Anchoring principle
+- Last impression
+
+**Anchoring principle**: People make decisions and judgements based on their first impression. Identify what those were and polish them.
+
+People choose familiarity because there’s less risk of making a bad decision, even if a competitor _might_ be better quality.
+
+Build quality, _but also minimise risk_.
+
+Showing “negatives” can help to build trust.
+
+The more similar the services, the more important the differences. **Accentuate the trivial**.
+
+## Positioning and Focus
+
+1. Position yourself in the customer’s mind
+2. Position should be one simple message
+3. Position must set you apart from competitors
+4. Sacrifice – cannot be all things to all people
+
+Relentlessly focus on **2.** Own the position.
+
+Narrowing your position can broaden your appeal.
+
+Position yourself as the best at the hardest task in your industry. Gives confidence that you’ll be good at the “easier” tasks. (Lesser Logic)
+
+You can only try to _influence_ your position – customers put you there.
+
+Leverage the position you already have, even if its not the best position.
+
+**Position statement**: Where you _want_ to be
+
+- **Who** are you?
+- **What** business are you in?
+- **For whom** do you provide service?
+- **What need** do you fulfil?
+- **Against whom** are you competing?
+- **What’s different** from those competitors?
+- **So** what’s the benefit? Why choose you?
+
+Given our _position_, will people believe our _positioning statement_? Make small steps to change.
+
+Bold dreams and goals. Realistic positioning statement.
+
+Choose a position that will reposition your competitors; then move a step back towards the middle to cinch the sale.
+
+## Pricing
+
+**Increase price → Increase perceived value**.
+
+Good value can be perceived as second rate.
+
+Aim for **15-20% of customers resisting price**. Don’t be in the middle.
+
+Avoid being the low cost option:
+
+- Harsh supplier relationships bring bad word of mouth and no loyalty.
+- Hard to motivate employees.
+- Someone else will out-cheap you.
+- Companies that differentiate perform better in all areas.
+- **Nothing unique about pricing**.
+- Customers can always find cheaper – DIY or go without.
+
+**Charge for the value of your skills**, not your time.
+
+Value is not a position – every service promises value.
+
+You _must_ provide value, otherwise you’ll eventually fail.
+
+## Naming and Branding
+
+Monograms are not memorable:
+
+- No spirit
+- No attitude
+- No message
+- No promise
+- No warmth
+- No humanity
+
+Wearing Michael Jordan shoes will not make you like Mike.
+
+No funny names.
+
+No generic names. Generic names encourage generic business.
+
+Never choose a name that describes something that a customer expects from a service (e.g. _Creative_ Designs Ltd).
+
+Distinctive names can be more memorable. Naming after yourself can breed popularity and trust. (Contradiction here, but I see what he means).
+
+Good name = more information per inch (e.g. NameLab).
+
+**Case Study: FedEx**
+
+- **Federal**
+  - More specialised term for National or Nationwide, so service sounds special.
+  - Sounds authoritative.
+  - Doesn’t come to mind as quickly, so more memorable.
+- **Express**
+	- Connotes “rapid mail delivery” (based on other names of the time).
+	- Service will be faster than conventional mail
+- **Colours**
+	- Red and Blue are like the government colours, only richer. Implies that the service will be better than the “official” service.
+
+A brand is hard to beat. Can charge up to 40% more than store-branded products for equal quality. Brands own 93% of the market.
+
+A brand is also a warranty.
+
+- A promise that the product will live up to its name.
+- Closest thing to a guarantee that the customer _won’t need the warranty_.
+- Even harder for services because you often can’t provide a warranty.
+
+**A service is a promise.** Building a brand builds trust in your promise.
+
+Integrity is the heart of a brand.
+
+- Most desirable services are those that keep their promises.
+- Value of a brand rises or falls with each demonstration of integrity.
+- Can be faster, cheaper, better, but still lose if integrity is poor.
+- **Invest in and preach integrity**.
+
+People will remember brand associated with a positive story. Might forget the name of an unknown company.
+
+Brands convert more as there’s less perceived risk. Non-branded services have to spend more time on sales process to win confidence. Using this advantage to make selling easier, cheaper and faster increases gulf between non-branded competitors.
+
+A brand can matter more than the individuals behind it.
+
+A brand itself is worth money.
+
+Brands are a shortcut in a customer’s decision making process.
+
+Brand names work best when they cannot be confused with any other company.
+
+Building a brand takes persistence and imagination.
+
+## Communicating and Selling
+
+Marketing communications should make services more tangible.
+
+Lots of implicit trust in products:
+
+- Sugar – sweet
+- Aspirin – soothing
+
+Lots of distrust in services:
+
+- Builders – late
+- Mechanics – charge too much
+
+**Make the service visible**. Make the prospect comfortable.
+
+Your first competitor is indifference. Marketing often talks up the company, but people won’t care. Talk about _what_ you will do _for the customer_.
+
+**One simple message**. Always. (Cocktail Party Effect)
+
+Grocery list problem: Easy to forget most important items and remember items that don’t really matter. **Saying many things usually communicates nothing**.
+
+Don’t use adjectives – **use stories**. People are interested in other people.
+
+Attack the stereotype. The first weakness is the stereotype your prospect has about you.
+
+Don’t just say its good – prove its good. Specific, concrete, vivid and familiar examples.
+
+Create _evidence_ of your quality, then communicate it.
+
+Customers don’t just want technical excellence – they want a relationship.
+
+Telling people you’re the _very_ best can be off-putting.
+
+- They don’t need it.
+- They don’t believe it.
+- It sounds expensive.
+- It sounds intimidating.
+
+People value “comfortable”. Be “positively good”.
+
+People hear what they see. Visuals are “clues” about an invisible service.
+
+- Mismatched imagery and text
+- Bad office; bad firm
+
+Watch what you show.
+
+Most people’s perception of quality is unsophisticated.
+
+Ancillary things impact the perceived quality of the core product.
+
+- Restaurant core product: Food
+- Ancillary: Building, atmosphere, furniture, smell, staff, music, prices, lighting, location, etc…
+
+Building a brand means repeating yourself visually as well as in message.
+
+Metaphors can help prospects understand complex products and services.
+
+Words can change people’s perception of reality.
+
+Advertise alongside publicity. Increases the impact and can help get more.
+
+Make your service easy to buy. Spend 50% on the advert and 50% on the reply form.
+
+The most compelling selling message is “I understand what you need”. “I have a great product” is about _you_, not your _customer_.
+
+Mission statements should be kept private.
+
+- They’re about the future.
+- Customers care about the present.
+- Competitors care about your future plans.
+
+Every mission statement should be followed with a statement of measurable objectives. It should cause behaviour change in a few weeks.
+
+**Sell hope**. Sell happiness.
+
+## Nurturing and Keeping Clients
+
+Clients are doing you a favour by choosing you.
+
+You are always in debt to the client.
+
+Assume the relationship balance sheet is worse than it appears.
+
+Don’t raise expectations you can’t meet. Disappointed people will usually tell several others about it. Hype that you can’t deliver destroys your credibility. Manage expectations.
+
+Clients have risked a lot by choosing you. Thank them.
+
+Most clients know what bad is, but it can be hard for them to see success. Make sure the client knows about your successes.
+
+Out of sight is out of mind. Stay present in the customer’s mind to remind them of the good service you provided.
+
+## Quick Fixes
+
+- Sweat the tiny stuff
+- Make a great first impression
+- Be fast
+- Make every client happy every day
+- To fix your messengers, fix your message
+- Risk yourself
+- Get out there; let opportunity hit you
+
+## Summing Up
+
+Service businesses succeed by getting all your ducks in line.
+
+Brands are still massively important.
+
+Improve your service, but also ensure clients perceive the improvements.
+
+Reasons for choosing a service are not always logical.
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