Selling the Invisible

The Nature of Services and Why You Need to Know About Them

Services are invisible. For the most part, you cannot see, hear, taste, or touch them before you buy. The service industry, however, is hardly invisible. More than seventy percent of Americans make their living working for service companies. Many of them are struggling because their service-economy businesses continue to follow product-marketing models.

Products are not invisible. Selling a haircut or legal advice is not like selling a new car. When you sell a product, you are selling something that people can judge with their five senses. You can put it before them or let them try it. Then they can decide if they like it, need it, and can afford it. When you sell a service, you sell a promise. Your clients cannot immediately evaluate what you are giving them; only time and overall performance will tell.

Clients don’t always know if they need your service in the first place. People wait years to fix leaky faucets or to hire someone to paint those hard-to-reach places. Clients aren’t even sure what your service costs, since the price will vary depending on the time and extent of the service rendered.