Selling the Invisible: a field Guide to Modern Marketing \(Biz Books to Go\) pdfdrive com

No Two Services Are the Same
In a positioning exercise, if you ask a principal of a service company, “What
makes your service different?” you often get a disappointing response.
“Honestly, nothing. We’re all pretty much the same.” He’s wrong. Every
service is different, and creating and communicating differences is central to
effective marketing.
History shows that everything can be made different. For years, catsups,
flour, pickles, and sugar—to name only four products—came in large tubs and
were sold as commodities in corner stores. Then Heinz, Gold Medal, and C&H
came along, turned these apparently indistinguishable commodities into

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distinctive brands, and made billions.
If buyers can perceive differences in different catsups, flour, pickles, and
sugar—all of which are almost identical biologically and chemically—then
people certainly will perceive major differences in services. Services, after all,
comprise unique components: people, no two of whom are the same.
Two services cannot be virtually identical in the people they attract, the work
they inspire, the information and training they pass on, the rate at which they
learn, or the efficiency with which they work. It is not unlikely; it is impossible.
Human beings are too different, and their interactions in different environments
only magnify those differences.
What’s more, prospects perceive services as different. All of us have walked
into a company and immediately detected the forces at work. Passion, energy,
optimism—in a dynamic service company, all these qualities are palpable within
the first fifteen seconds of entering the lobby. You can read the DNA of a
company from the receptionist and discover it replicated throughout the
company.
Every service is different. Identifying and communicating those differences
and creating new ones are central to successful service marketing.