We pretty much all need to realize that, in some way or another, we are all in the service business.   Which is why Harry Beckwith wrote “Selling the Invisible”.    If your clients aren’t going to hold what you sell in their hands – and marvel at it’s beauty- here are some things that you need to know:  

Albert Einstein:  The future isn’t queerer than we know.  It’s queerer than we can know.  You can’t know the future.  So plan for several of them. 

Strategy drives tactics, then tactics start driving results.  Calibrate to what works.

Marginal tactics executed passionately will almost always outperform “better” tactics performed marginally.

Highly intelligent people are the world’s foremost experts on squashing good ideas.   Because intelligent people have 1 absolute favorite use of their intelligence – telling other people, with total conviction, why other people’s ideas won’t work.   They forget that the best ideas sound ludicrous at first.

Beware the Overconfidence Bias: We often follow the person with the most conviction.   Still question if they are right and confident.

The planning process tends to attract perfectionists.  But the problem with perfectionists is that they don’t want to launch.   Because launching can show imperfections.  Leads to procrastination.

If you are doing anything worthwhile at all, you will fail a dozen times.  Start Failing. 

How prospects decide:  Choosing “good enough.”  People don’t generally choose “the superior choice”.  They choose “good enough.”

Ask yourself – What are the prospect’s risks in choosing us?  Build your sales pitch to address those.  Make yourself an Excellent choice then eliminate the things that make you a bad choice.  When deciding between unknowns, people don’t look for “best” they look for “least risk of bad”.  So while making yourself “great” start by eliminating the “Bad”.  

Positioning and Focus: The more you say – the less you hear.  Focus on a couple of important points.

Dominos avoided price and quality arguments, by positioning on speed.

Don’t worry about being “too narrow”.  Because of the “halo effect”.   If you are really known for being EXCELLENT at one thing, you will be given positive attributes of others.   For example, people will still trust someone as a trust-worthy mortgage jumbo person if they position themselves as “The Regional Expert in VA Loans.”    It’s doubtful they will think “he can’t handle it.”

Everything can be made “different”.  Even on almost indecipherable services.  You can be “perceived” as different just by saying your ARE often enough.

You can’t position yourself.  The market does that.  You can choose your focus and your tactics.  But then you can use your position to your benefit.  Avis proudly acclaimed “We’re #2” when they couldn’t top Hertz.  They added “We Try Harder.”

Create your positioning statement by:
1. Who you are?
2. What business are you in?
3. What people do you serve?   What need?
4. What are the special needs of the people you serve?
5. Against whom to you compete?
6. What makes you different?
7. What unique benefit does your client derive from your service?