Tuesday, October 08, 2002
Check with Beckwith
Say you’re a translator. Or even a writer or an editor. What are you selling? Pieces of paper? Of course not. You’re selling the service that’s behind what’s on the paper. The paper’s visible. The marks on the paper are visible. But what you’re really selling is invisible. So read Harry Beckwith’s Selling the Invisible.
It is chock-full of wisdom broken down into bite-sized sections. Hey, you can buy the book and read a section a day—and it’ll take you nearly half a year. But you won’t want to do it that way. These segments are so engagingly written that you’ll pig out and read it all at once. That’s okay. You can come back for refreshers later.
Basically, he is saying that we have to realize we’re selling a service, have to realize that it is very difficult for clients to tell one service from another—one service-provider from another—and have to act accordingly. Be competent. Of course. But hostile competence doesn’t sell. Think about what the client is really buying and make it easy for the client to buy it. For starters, get off your high horse and let your clients set your standards. It’s so much easier to sell people what they want. Find out what these people are really buying. Don’t just create what the market needs. Create what it would love.
Don’t try to be all things to all people. If you are all things to all people, odds are you’re nothing to anybody. Differentiate. Figure out what your skills are and leverage them. Or figure out what the hardest part of your business is and position yourself as the expert at this. People are pretty smart—at least smart enough to figure out that anyone who is good at the hard stuff is also going to be good at the easier stuff. Try narrowing your focus as a way of broadening your appeal.
There are even a few sections on pricing. Here he says to avoid the deadly middle. Many people in a service business set rates by looking at the high and low rates and deciding where they fall in this quality spectrum. Very reasonable, except that this also tells your clients where you think you are on the spectrum. If you price high, people will generally assume you offer the best quality. If you price low, they will assume your quality is scrape-by acceptable. What does being in the middle say? We’re average. Not a very compelling message. Of course, you could go for low-price volume, but people almost always find a cheaper service. Do you really want to be competing at the very bottom?
And there is more. The need to focus on your client and not on yourself. The realization that services are relationships. The fact that it is impossible to thank your clients enough—so keep doing it. The fact that you should be sure to deliver what you promise—if not better. And more. There is even a short page on the fact that clients are afraid of making mistakes. The first time they buy from you, they are buying your service sight unseen. Make it easy. Take some of the fear out. Start with something small—something that won’t kill the client if you screw up. You might even offer to do that first, little job for half price. Split the risk. Get your foot in the door and stay visible. Build that relationship tailored to the client’s reality. Succeed in selling your invisible service.
This is one book that’s not going to be available at next year’s SWET Book Fair. At least not from me. This’s a keeper.