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Marketing Genius Author Harry Beckwith Interviewed

Written by: Christian Mickelsen

Article Overview: "I love all of your work Harry!" Harry Beckwith, author of "Selling The Invisible", "The Invisible Touch", and the forthcoming book, "What Clients Love: A Field Guide To Growing Your Business" was a joy to interview because he's extremely rich in character and wisdom.

Marketing Genius Author Harry Beckwith Interviewed

"I love all of your work Harry!" Harry Beckwith, author of "Selling The Invisible", "The Invisible Touch", and the forthcoming book, "What Clients Love: A Field Guide To Growing Your Business" was a joy to interview because he's extremely rich in character and wisdom.

Christian: I love all of your work and have applied it to my business with great benefits. So, tell me about your latest efforts.

Harry: My upcoming book is called "What Clients Love" and it is written from the client's point of view. It answers the question, "what makes a client do business with a company". We go from the birds eye view to the ground level.

Christian: Brilliant! Tell us more about it.

Harry: Part of the book deals with major world trends.
#1: The proliferation of information and choices.
#2: The decline of trust.
#3: The loss of community.
#4: The rise of intangibles & services.

Christian: Where do you get all of your ideas from?

Harry: From observing clients, I see trends and similar stories from a number of clients.

Christian: What are the top 3 tips you would give to small business owners?

Harry: Customers are less loyal today. Most businesses think they have great customer service, but as a consumer how often do we really feel like we get great customer service? In my experience, not very often. So, there's obviously something missing. The disconnect comes from businesses thinking that how well the product or service is delivered equals how great the customer service is. Customer service is about the relationship between the customer and the people at the company. A strong relationship = great customer service. In fact, the number one most critical rule for getting and keeping clients is to make them feel important.

Another important tip is to believe you can do better and then act on it. And, know that big business and small business are identical. Big businesses are small businesses with lots of people. Big businesses are usually over-staffed, and small businesses are usually understaffed. But the rules for getting and keeping clients are still the same.

Plus, the points I continually stress about service oriented businesses:

1) Price communicates value.
2) Recognize that all businesses have brands. - know what you are communicating. Building a brand is just as important for you as it is for McDonald's.
3) Visual Presentation/Packaging - ask "does this communicate quality?'
4) Understand the importance of relationships vs. service. - ask "What are you doing today to make your client feel important?"

Christian: What is 1 thing you would like people to know about you?

Harry: How sincere and passionate I am about what I write and what I teach.

Christian: Thanks you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. I've learned a lot and I can't wait to read your upcoming book!

Harry: It's been my pleasure.

What isn't in the interview, which I'm sneaking in here: After our interview Harry was running off to teach a 2nd grade class. He volunteers to teach boys without fathers because he knows how important of a role they play.

If you run your own business, you work for your clients. I recommend purchasing "What Clients Love" by Harry Beckwith. Read the book and then tell me what you think. Email: Yes@ChristianEm.com

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Related Forum Posts
Re: Hi - Welcome Harry - what is your business?
Re: Should authors have a monopoly over their work? - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":259l8osu] While authors maybe should have a monopoly over their work, I'm not sure that RDR Books is doing anything illegal. RDR Books isn't promoting that their "Harry Potter Lexicon" is an "Official" reference and customers can choose if they want to waste their money on an unofficial and possibly inaccurate compilation. For instance, on MuchMusic, they have this stupid program called "The Totally Untrue History of ...." where they spend 30 minutes telling lies about a music star's life history just for fun. However, a music celebrity who is featured on the show can't sue MuchMusic for slander or using their "image" without authorization because it's considered a "review" and they've advertised that their show is fake anyways. Either way, I wouldn't waste a penny on an official or unofficial Harry Potter Encyclopedia since I can get the information for free on the Web.[/quote:259l8osu] There are many many people who will buy it because it is about Harry Potter and they want a copy. If they didn't think it would sell they wouldn't have put the work into putting it together and getting it released. If your comment were true for the majority of people, then ebooks would sell much better - they are far less expensive (in most cases) than print books and you can access thousands online for free. Shri
Re: VALUE = ROI / Price (Cost) or Opportunty Spent - [quote="Takuya":ra8u6vda]OK, but what many people do not realize is.... just because the "free offer" is relevant, or we didn't pay money for the message, it still costs our opportunity to be just paying attention to it. Here is a scenario, I get a phone call from a stranger who knows nothing about me. Without asking me for a permission, just because their FREE message is relevant to what I do, they assume they're doing me a favor by approaching me with their promotion.[/quote:ra8u6vda] Hi Takuya, While I understand your position, I think you're straying off topic from what Andy and I interpret as "giving value first" and asking for nothing in return. If you try to help a potential client by simply offering your related service or products for free, then that's self-serving because you're trying to make the sale. And no one likes cold callers. A good example of offering value first would be: -I want to connect with Business Author ABC. -The next step would be to find out how I could help (and NOT by trying to sell my product or service). -Let's say I learn that this author wants publicity for his/her new book, so I introduce Business Author ABC to an influential person in the book/publishing industry like Oprah and ask for nothing in return. -Then Business Author ABC would want to connect with me and want to learn what I do for a living. -And in the future, Business Author ABC would want to help me in the future if need be. It's as easy as that.
Re: What is your Business? - We are running a Online Marketing Firm and we have some good clients to which we are offering a complete Digital Marketing strategy like Search, Mobile Marketing, Branding and Design. I think in Online Marketing company online presence can be a wining factor for the success of the company.
Re: Hi - Hi am Harry Den.I am new in this forum. I am very happy to be here. I am enjoying my self here.I ll love to give you my advice. I hope all of you will accept my views.I ll be looking forward for your help when ever i ll need it. Thanks..to all of you...


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