The Invisible Touch
A review by Andrew Forward, of Harry Beckwith's book on modern marketing
epistemology - the study of what we know
Too easily do we decide that people are like us
- We project their own desires and attitudes aren't entire markets
- Too easily do we trust our own observations
- Consider the testimony of eyewitnesses, it cannot always be trusted
Reality is nothing more than collective hunch, you need to question everything especially your own observation. Research may be the weakest tool
- research changes its own results, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle
- tend to find what we're looking for, "participative universe"
- we lose the ability to see other information
- research hardens our biases and convictions and rarely exposes the truth, in fact it blinds us to it
Data can be misleading. Life is real, hypothetical questions get hypothetical answers. We spend our hypothetical time and money must differently than we do real time and money. The more innovative the idea, fewer people will understand, and most have a hard time buying what they do not understand.
Research supports mediocre ideas and kills great ones.
Soft evidence. Subtle chit-chat on a place about food in the USA tells us that American's love quantity, forget about being good - just make it lots. Even the college educated eat the highest calorie foods. Gym memberships sky-rocket in January, but are back to normal by February.
Hard evidence. Focus groups and survey's where people say they love (and would love to buy) low-fat, low-calorie, skinless KFC chicken. Hard evidence is dangerous because it appears scientific. People know what the right answer should be (i.e. "Yes, I will buy healthy"), and when studies ask this people like to delivery that right answer. Unfortunately, when we are not being studies we need not always do what is right.
The reason that research produces so much information of so little value is because do you really know who you are? Do you always act consistently? Do you do things that surprise you, disappoint you? Of course not. You are not always the person you wish to be and market research assumes you are.
We do not know ourselves. We do not act as we think we might. We are not the person we pretend to want to be. And so we do not always behave as how research says we will.
When doing research, 500 people reach the same conclusion that 15 do. And, using average people only produces average information - as they are only average. Key opinion leaders are the ones that offer the most in sight.
Key insight from conversations takes at least 20 minutes of small talk. That first 20 minutes of a conversation people have their guard and inhibitions up. Any conversations in which the subjects feel comfortable they lose sight of the fact that this might be reserved, and more readily provide using information.
Do not research; listen.
The emperors new clothes
Businesses is run as a succession of follies interrupted by moments of brilliance. Professional outsiders offer one great asset - their ignorance. They know not what works in your business and what does not. Do not just take wise looks at your business, but naive ones as well. You need someone who sees what your business truly is - and can tell you what your emperor is wearing.
Best practices, shmest practices
Every service industry can be dramatically reformed. And, following best practices is an invitation for ordinariness. You cannot expect to follow and game a competitive advantage - you must instead lead. Best practices quickly become common ones and can become a trap.
Ignore best practices. Then create them!
Ignore Nordstrom
Do not copy. Your business is more complex than that. Nordstrom is a very successful department store chain. It works because various parts of their business model work in concert, so if you simply copy one or two of those traits you will not see the same success. Nordstrom succeeds because it has created an entire system in which commissions work - not because of the commissions.
Most decisions are nto made, they are quickly reached, then justified. We seek out evidence in support of our view and dismiss, disregard or explain away any contrary views. Before you try to influence a propect's decision, find out what she has already decided, and why. If you can show that the prospect's facts are mis-guided then you may be able change her mind - otherwise it may be easier to simply walk away.
Imagination is not new, just redone
Totally new creations are not totally new after all. It is usually the combination of existing elements in ways no one else had combined them before. The more we see, the more we can combine and the more imaginative we can be.
Few want to be managed
Leadership is a fallacy. Most talented people dispise the idea of being managed. You, instead, create a business they care so much about that tey do not require management, goals so compelling that they will manage themselves.
What makes a great company? No prominent book has cited excellent managing as a significant influence. The purpose leads the employees, and manages them - instructing them what to do.
There are no ordinary jobs. There are people who insist on performing them in ordinary ways.
Lack of familiarity breeds contempt. We are always treating the unfamiliar with suspicion. Before you try to sell yourself, make yourself familiar.
Ansering an RFP
Because of the extraordinary demands for our service and the importance we attach to providing truly exceptional service to our loyal clients, we have a policy not to pursue (accounts / projects / assignments) that require extensive proposals. Our qualifications to perform the work you outline in your request can be found in the words of these loyal clients. We have included their names and phone numbers and have alerted them that you may be calling. These men and women would be happy to answer your questions and tell you why they chose us - and why they are elated they did.
We are eager to meet with you whereever and whenever you choose, to provide a detailed, concise, and clear description of how we would proceed with this work, and the costs, timetables, and other guarantees. We are confident that like our clients, you and everyone at ABC Inc. would be delighted with our work on this important task.
Before answering an RFP, make sure that you should - otherwise simply answer We'll do it.
Every service industry can be dramatically reformed. And, following best practices is an invitation for ordinariness. You cannot expect to follow and game a competitive advantage - you must instead lead. Best practices quickly become common ones and can become a trap.
Ignore best practices. Then create them!
Avoid Bundling
The more services you offer, you more you think you will sell. But, this fails for several reasons. Humans behave habitually and have difficulty changing - so a banker is in the habit of selling mortgages, not annuities. Your prospects prefer to work with apparent experts, and no one can really master several trades. Your prospects do not buy what they do not comfortably understand... The more you add to the sale, the more risk of complicating the transaction, the more you confuse your prospect and more likely you will kill the sale.
Strategy does not equal execution
McDonald's is having difficulties lately. It's lighter menu's are flopping, the Arch Deluxe, those sandwiches are all not doing well. McDonald's was based on being clean, fast and consistent - something which it may not be living up to that well. Before you lok at marketing, look at your execution.
Optimize your point of contact
Identify every possible place where you make a point of contact with your customers such as: building exterior, parking lot, hours of operation, signage, entrance, greeting, checkout, amenities.
- What might you do to improve your point of contact
- What is possible?
- What has no one else done?
For example, a book store could call its most avid customers and ask to recommend 10 favourite books. Or, you might have your sports section shelving be made up of football bleechers.
| Your Offering | Competitiors Offering |
Inventory your points-of-contact and make each one extra-ordinary. And, do more than watch details, control them. An indifferent check-out employee can leave a lasting poor impression on clients.
Beware early success
Initial buyers are made up of friends, family and a hand-full of innovators. Your true buyers are far down the bell-shaped curve.
The catalogue prophecy
An early 1900's prediction was that bricks and mortar stores were dates, old fashion dinosaurs soon to be replaced by the faster, better, cheaper shop-at-home catalogue. Marketers failed to realize that even the most introverts still need to socialize, if only to watch people and make human contact. Look at Eddie Bauer, Pottery Barn, etc. To remain profitable they all opened up real stores.
Now, retell that story substituting catalogue with Internet and you have a similarly failed prophecy.
Stop measuring client satisfaction
Start increasing it. Expectations of clients constantly increase so that you must get better to stay even - so client satisfaction is pretty much meaningless.
People of incapable of being satisfied except in brief moments, then we move on. This is good thing because we drives us to improve things that we are dissatisfied with. But, once you show what you can do (as a service provider), your clients will expect it (and no longer be satisfied by merely getting it). As a result, you must get better to avoid falling behind.
Perception is reality
Placebo effect. People exposed to fake poison ivy developped real rashes, the expectancy theory. You are not about delivering a service, you are about creating satisfaction. Does your client feel satisfied, does this feeling last?
Higher price the better
Price communicates quality that the purchaser expects. Price convinces us that thigns are better, and if we think it - it is so. In fact, higher prices improves the experience.
Most services have few objective and tangible characteristics to assess which means that these services are more vulnerable to price. Think of the $5 shake in Pulp Fiction, high prices not only talk, they tempt.
Wrong clients are never right
Discount customers shop for discounts, and they will find a new discount and lower price their what you offer. Discount customers do not offer referrals, are a poor judge of quality and little relationship is made with the service provider.
If they come for the price, they will leave for it also. Price is a lame excuse for losing and is rarely a valid reason. Look deeper. Do not charge less, sell better.
Apparent perceived value - price = value
Hourly fees punish the efficient. Charge by your worth, but by the hour.
Tiered pricing - not all customers want or need the same level of service. Some want 24/7, some want 48 hours turnover and some do not want any service beyond the initial sale. Look into building tiered pricing such as Platinum, Gold and Silver service packages.
Brands
Attract, bias and convince customers that missing qualities are present. Everyone has a brand. Acquire, build and align your brand with what you want it to be.
You have a brand. Seize, manage and nurture it. Live your brand in everything you do. Build a brand. Services are sold on faith; brands create faith. Brands convince clients they got just what the brand promissed - even when it did not.
No such thing as brand loyalty
Brand habbit is where you buy the same things without thinking - like toothpaste, razors, cookies, juice. You are not realy thinking about the brand.
Brand affinity is where you have a connection with the brand - you always stop at Burger King on road trips; Oreganian always buy Nike shoes (where the store originated).
Brand preference is where you prefer a product or service of a particular brand. I prefer PC Cranberry Juice.
Forget brand loyalty, but still build a brand
Brands have direction, breath and depth. Direction is about a brand that is either increasing its customers satisfaction or decreasing (remember we don't care about customer satisfaction, except for its direction). Breadth is your familiarity with the brand. Depth is the message being portrayed by the brand. Apple was able to revive its brand because its depth portrayed creative, fun, user-friendly and pretty cool.
When building a brand...
- What do you want the brand to represent
- What attractive and desireable qualities embody your brand (at most 3 meanings)
At every chance you get, give that meaning to your brand. Live your brand.
What is in a name?
Companies win on name recognition. Familiarity effect is the tendency to choose what is most familiar to use. Familiarity is reach via your name.
Your name must be unique, sensory (appeal to as many of your 5 senses, see, hear, smell, taste, touch), creative and outstanding.
Product names are different than service names. Customers own products, they are in control and can show them off such as "I drink Starbucks, I drive a BMV, I listen to my iPod". Services own customers, and the services are in control. It is much harder to show off a service like your doctor, dentist, etc.
Products are for playing and are usually seen as toys. For services, fun is a waste of time (you want your lawn to be cut fast and well, and your legal questions answered thoroughly).
Avoid playful or frivolous service names. A service name should appear serious. The name should not be about how skilled you are, but how much you can help someone. Avoid heroic names like Pinnacle or Superior.
Your name should make your prospect, not you, sound important. Say something new. Say your proposed name out loud, what do your syllables convey? Sounds like ass, ick and huh are not good!
Choose a name, not a paragraph, at most 11 letters and 4 syllables.
The best loses, quality loses, feature superiority loses, better mousetrap loses. Safe choice and brands win (No one ever got fired for hiring IBM).
Packaging is part of your product
You see quality, you taste it. Tall men are seen as wiser, smarter and better looking. Oranges seem to taste better is orange (they are naturally green). Lab coat and stethoscope make doctors better practionners.
When you are marketing, as as if others are not as wise as you to always see past that books are judged mostly by their cover. We act on prejudices and habit, not knowledge. Packaging sets cues and clues for people to draw conclusions (seemingly ridiculous and unjustified conclusions, but conclusions nonetheless).
Look as great as you are, build prettier mousetraps.
Beauty performs a powerful function. It pleases us, makes us feel happy. To make a service better, make it prettier.
Look like you want to succeed
Get bigger fast. If you spend timid, you look timid. If you lack confidence, why should your prospects put any faith in it.
Small stuff clues
Are you shoes buffed, do you bite your nails. "Well-heeled", people learned to look for these subtle clues about your current stature. God is in the details, watch visible details.
Images only speak volumes if they can. Avoid boring stock photos, you want to show that you are different, and convey quality.
Disneyland Main Street, NYC is two-thirds the scale to create aan intimiate environment where the guests feel bigger and more important.
Create intimacy with space, design, attitude. Create the entire experience to make the client feel important.
Baseball is about the entire package, not just good players winning games. Packaging counts, such as your stadium (look at the success of the Orioles with Canden Yards). Your package is your service, does it enhance (or hinder) the experience.
Great Relationships
Great relationships are created with affinity, trust, apparent expertise, magic words and passion. Price, brand and packaging trumps quality, but relationships are even more over powering.
Business is about people. Not math, nor organic chemistry that live by rules, principles and theorems. Business is about hunches, hopes and best guesses.
Services succeed when it can make a significant number of poeple feel their lives are somehow better than without their services. Marekting is to ask how, such as "How can we make people feel better?, What wants and needs do our prospects have?, and How can we answer to those needs?".
Make your client feel important, kep a powerful connection.
Curse of the bad client
They are toxic, physically and emotionally draining. They distract and create unproductive, and unhappy employees. Passing on the bad client from one employee to another signals a pecking order - much like having to do latrine duty. This can hinder morale.
Bad clients are divert your people from either serving existing loyal and valuable customers or doing things to get more great clients.
Bad clients can also leave unpaid receivables. Refuse bad business and get rid of it fast!
Lasting Relationships
Lake Wobegon effect is where most people over estimate themselves (how can more than the average be better than the average :-). Do not think that just because you read a few books that you doing things well, or that you cannot make things better.
Natural affinity
Seek our yourself, find clients that are most like you. Avoid blind date (yellow pages) clients as they just happened upon you and do not have any real affinity to you. To gain loyal clients, find loyal people. Seek clients you would want as friends. Accept that no one is for everyone and find those who best fit you.
I don't care how special you think you are, I care about what you can do for me. "Tell me about me".
Trust
Avoid faux relationships, move slowly. Be predictable. To build trust, build consistency in everything you do.
Integrity. Services that keep promises makes your clients life more predictable, i.e. no need to worry about the dry cleaning not being done - it is always done on time. Write down every pledge and keep to it.
Protectivenesss. Do not talk about clients with others.
Speed
Answer needs of your clients fast, then get faster. Tell me quickly and clearly.
Apparent expertise
White lab coats look smart. Power of clarity, communication is not a skill, it is the key. People will not admit to being confused (and potentially look like a fool. Be clearer, much, much clearer.
Your words matter, think Be all you can be. Everyone in your company can communicate better, invest in learning how.
Your special expertise. Even worthless specialized experience is seen as expertise. All industries believe their market, process, challenge are unique. However fraudulent, irrelevant, or comical, special expertise can be persuavice.
To identify business opportunity you must identify your background and knowledge and decide which prospects will be attached to that expertise.
Get to it, state your expertise claim strongly, confidently and immediately.
Sacrifice
To give, there is a natural tendency to want to recipricate. Your client sacrifices a lot: their control over the event, potential consequences (financial, professional, you cannot return a bad haircut). To win devoted clients, you must sacrifice.
Completeness
Know how, or know who - do not simply reply "Don't know". The customer seeks out service providers that that can lift the burden of something off their shoulders (and onto yours).
Magic Words
Thanks
We all feel the pain of being overlooked, ignored and uncounted. We all share the desire to eb regarded. People crave appreciation, so say "thank you", and say it often. You can also follow up your service with "How are you doing?".
The single most important key to client contentment is the greeting. The greeting influences the entire customer experience - so make your greeting awesome!
To make someone feel important, use their name, and use it often. A person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
Passion
There is an inherent weekeness with technique. The practices of successful companies are also the practices of many more unsuccessful ones. Knowledge gets you in the game, passion wins it. Passion spreads, not just satisfied clients, but uterly devoted ones.
Passion attracts clients, and helps keep them for life