Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
Author: Harry Beckwith
List Price: $21.95
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ISBN: 0446520942
Publisher: Warner Books (01 March, 1997)
Sales Rank: 1,423
Average Customer Rating: 4.47 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
A "renewing of vows" between you and your consumer.
Harry Beckwith has boiled down the art of marketing into many small and easy to understand words of wisdom. If you are in business you have to read this book. Whether you are an owner, CEO or department head, Beckwith lays out the essential tools to market your company, and sites fresh examples to illustrate. He says "Marketing is not a department" and he's right--it is your front line (sales people) to your CEO and everyone in between. Everyone at your company is involved in marketing your company-and the author makes sure you get the message. Stop wasting time with ploys that don't work. COMMUNICATE with the consumer and you will see increased sales and market share.
"Selling The Invisible" serves as a "renewing of vows" for those well into their careers. It provides a way to go from a jaded attitude to a fresh perspective and look at your company from the outside. If you think you've heard it all before, you haven't heard it like this. A clear a concise "handbook" for modern business.
Rating: 5 out of 5
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. Basically, the text is a collection of tips and vignettes that are quite entertaining. As the name implies, the focus is on marketing professional services. It doesn't focus on one area, such as consulting or legal services. As someone who is in the business of providing consulting services, I found this quite relevant. The book is a comprised of a list of concepts such as positioning, pricing, and publicity, whereby it tells a short story with anecdotal evidence on a premise. Then it leaves the reader with a short statement at the end of each discussion such as "make your position clear".
The book is a light read, which makes the reader think, "I should have already known this". It is also nice that the book is not as self-serving as most others, which pitch to readers, "with our strategy, customers have shown 75% increase in sales." For an independent who is selling services, I would suggest this a must read. For larger service providers with a brand name and an integrated marketing strategy, it may be slightly less valuable.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Mixed Review: frequently just scratches the surface
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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Book Index