During the last academic year (2006-2007) I was the mentor of Davide Reina, an italian student of the full time MBA Programme at Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School (campus Leuven). One day, some months ago, he lent me out the book “The Invisible Touch: the four keys to Modern Marketing” written by Harry Beckwith.
“Davide, sai che succede quando dai in prestito un libro a un amico”? Non ritorna mai! (You know what is happening when you lend out a book to a friend? You never see it back!) So before returning it to you, allow me to share with my blog readers some interesting lessons and attracting thoughts for no-nonsense marketeers:
About marketing research and it limits:
- “Research supports mediocre ideas and kills great ones.”
About the fallacy of best practices:
- “Ignore best practices. Then create them”
- “Don’t copy. Your business is more complex than that.”
About the fallacy of strategy:
- “Before you look at your marketing strategy, look at your execution.
About customer satisfaction:
- “Stop measuring client satisfaction and start increasing it.”
About the first key, price:
- “Push price higher. Higher prices don’t just talk; they tempt.”
- “Price creates perceptions, then creates satisfaction.”
- “The higher your price, the higher your perceived quality.”
- “Price is often the excuse for why you lost, but rarely the reason.”
- “Don’t charge less. Sell better.”
About the second key, brand:
- “Acquire, build, or align yourself with a brand.”
- “Carpe brand. Seize your brand.”
- “Build a brand. Services are sold on faith, and brands create faith.”
- “Your business is your brand.”
About the third key, packaging:
- “To make your service better, make it more beautiful.”
- “If you believe in your business, show it.”
About the fourth key, relationships:
- “Business is about people;”
- “Choose the clients who are most like you.”
- “To get loyal clients, hire loyal people.”
- “Use magic words: Thanks, Welcome, “a person’s name is the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
- “Passion is worth billions.”
