As a business owner, I've never allowed myself to think. (didn't want to recreate the wheel, ya know.) I read to glean ideas and apply them where I think they might fit.

Wrong, Wrong, WRONG!!!

He emphasizes how important "my" clients are and that I know better than anybody else what my clients love. It took WHAT CLIENTS LOVE to get me to act on that knowledge. My initiative has grown exponentially, because of this book. Bet my business will mirror my ambition now!

His style is not the academic, "I-know-best, nose-up-in-the-air" pontification. He shares his painful bombs, and near-successes too(How he grew!!) His honesty is refreshing and helpful.

This is my first subject from Mr. Beckwith. It will not be the last.

Upon completing my first read of this "simple" book, I found myself not only reviewing the numerous dog-eared pages & notes I took (Notes? Who takes notes in books anymore?), I also found myself turning all the way back to Page 1 to start reading it all over again. I'm sure there are a few nuggets of wisdom that I've missed.

There are very few business books worth a second read. This is one of them. If you're an executive at any level in any kind of business (service or otherwise) this book could be extremely helpful both in your current business and in future opportunities. Even job seekers and entrepreneurs would benefit from this book.

I'm buying copies of this book for a few of my friends. It's that good. Thank you, Mr. B!

This book is short, sweet, to the point, and reads like a daily devotional book. I plan on using at for discussion groups at work to get non-marketers to understand how to make customers happy. The book is written in a clear, concise, but extraordinarily interesting manner than lends itself to discussion and implementation. Each section contains at least one example of each point - and this is stuff you are going to remember. Many books in this market are pure fluff - you can't remember a darn thing they said two hours after you put the book down. Not so with "What Clients Love."

Highly recommend for those whose business depends on developing business and keeping customers happy. Whether selling hardcore tangible products or professional services, this book should be on your required reading list. Truly transformational.

When I write about practice managment, I tell acupuncturists to get to know Harry Beckwith. He's the ultimate practice management guru.

But Beckwith's books have nothing to do with medicine! How could he help there?

Beckwith writes about SERVICE marketing. Most of the practice management literature hasn't caught on. You're selling a service. Not a product.

Even now, your competition is stiff. Do you know who Harry says is your biggest competition? It's not who you think!

Your biggest competetion is the customer. If they don't think they need you... if they can do it themselves... if they find a way around you... you lose. And so do they, because they really DO need you. You've just got to prove it to them.

How could reading this book help your business? Harry's books contain hundreds of small sections... each with a story or market research study, some discussion, and a moral-of-the-story at the end. It's easy to digest these books in pieces.

Thank goodness (and thank Harry) that he didn't try to come up with one of those foolish 7 step plans... life's too fluid and organic. It can't be reduced to a set of rules.

Each piece stimulates ideas. You may slap your forehead more than once as you realize some of the mistakes you're making. Harry will help you think better.

I've read "Selling the Invisible," and "What Clients Love." I'm going to re-read them both. My Dad borrowed the second one... I may have to buy it again!

I really enjoy this book. It does a very good job communicating the ideas of establishing strong business relationships, brands, pricing strategies, strong first impressions and maintaining a strong visual presence (to help the invisible become visible). Many of the ideas relate extremely well to almost any service industry and for me, being in the high-technology industry, I was not disappointed.

The only argument I would have is that it's basically tidbits of very insightful information, but I was sort of lost as to the organization of the book. Some of the different sections in the book didn't follow well to the next. Some chapters I felt had 2 or 3 completely different thoughts and those distinctions weren't visually or structurally apparent enough. In fact - it's kinda hard for me find out some of that insightful information that I read previously because of this lack of organization.

For this reason, i gave it a 4 rather than a 5. Overall, it's a good book and you can read it on a train or on a weekend. It has made me rethink my marketing strategies and I'm sure you'll rethink yours too after reading this book.

I gave this book 4 stars because, while it was refreshing to read and I definitely learned quite a bit, it wasn't a paradigm-shifting book, which is what I am increasingly moving towards for my 5 star books.

As our economy evolves increasingly into more of a knowledge-based economy books on the marketing of services will become more important. As the title indicates, selling and/or marketing an intangible service is a different process than tangible product marketing. Mr. Beckworth says, "Marketing is not a department" and he's right--it is your front line (sales people) to your CEO and everyone in between. Everyone at your company is involved in marketing your company-and the author makes sure you get the message. Stop wasting time with ploys that don't work. COMMUNICATE with the consumer and you will see increased sales and market share.

This book is not about how to develop a complex marketing design or plan. What it does offer is quick, easy to read "business nuggets" that are a page or so in length. Each observation is a fairly insightful observation about marketing in general but focused towards the service industry. This book is written in a tone that is simple and down-to-earth rather scholarly or academic and was refreshing to read.

As the author writes, most people cannot evaluate the skills of an accountant, or lawyer, or any number of professional services. We often look for tangible proxies that indicate the professional's level of expertise and success (e.g., fancy offices, degrees on the wall, presentation, etc.).

If you read this book in its entirety in one session, you are bound to remember nothing in the sea of facts and tidbits. I've found the best way to read the book is to ponder on a few points every night and/or week, while attempting to apply them to a salient situation in your life. Overall, this book has some interesting and useful insights, and is a good read when you have a few minutes to spare. The best way to learn from this book is to APPLY it. Everything doesn't have to occur at once and frankly, I think that this book will be one that I look to in the future when I am looking for snippets of marketing wisdom.

Other useful books on marketing that I have read or been recommended include Seth Godin's Permission Marketing and Unleashing the Ideavirus (both great reads), the 22 immutable laws of marketing by Jack Trout and All Reis (excellent authors and a good read), Robert Cialdini's Influence and Ogilvy on Advertising or Wizard of Ads for help in sales copying.

As others have written, this book is not about creating a complex marketing design or plan. What it does offer is quick, a page or so, USA today-like snippets of insightful observations about marketing in general, and service marketing in particular.

As the title indicates, selling and/or marketing an intangible service is a different process than tangible product marketing. As the author writes, most people cannot evaluate the skills of an accountant, or lawyer, or any number of professional services. We often look for tangible proxies that indicate the professional's level of expertise and success (e.g., fancy offices, degrees on the wall, presentation, etc.).

If you read this book in its entirety in one session, you are bound to remember nothing in the sea of facts and tidbits (click on the table of contents link to get a feel for the topic areas). I've found the best way to read the book is to ponder on a few points every night and/or week, while attempting to apply them to a salient situation in your life. Overall, this book has some interesting and useful insights, and is a good read when you have a few minutes to spare.

Harry's second book falls prey to his own advice: the first one was so outstanding, that I expected something excellent and was disappointed with merely "good". Like many movie sequels, this book simply repeated themes that were great in the original, but have now grown stale. Of all authors, I was really disappointed in the blatant reuse of specific examples: the orangest orange example, the Peanuts back-of-the-shoes example. Others. I did read it cover-to-cover in one night. I did chuckle. I did enjoy the examples. But there was no blinding new insight.

Having loved his original, I'm disappointed with the sequel. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was expecting it to be outstanding. This didn't have it. If you haven't read Selling the Invisible, buy that instead. If you have already read it, don't bother with Part II.

Fast read for the busy person. While Beckwith presents four key concepts of marketing (price, brand, packaging, and relationships), he drives home their importance using examples we see daily. The Invisible Touch offers salient points and gets 'right to the heart-of-the-subject.'

After this quick read, CEOs, entrepreneurs, web page designers, and service oriented businesses will appreciate the subtleties of marketing. CEOs will revisit existing marketing plans with 'new eyes' and passion. Entrepreneurs will gain insight to the nuances of marketing and an appreciation for the importance of a good marketing plan - one written on paper, not just carried around in your head. Web page designers will find that The Invisible Touch is an excellent resource and reading reference for your customers, especially when justifying costs assocaited with well designed sites. Service oriented businesses will particularly appreciate Beckwith's ability to provide insights to marketing the intangibles of services.

From a personal coach's perspective, home business and entrepreneurial clients find this book helpful in determining whether (or when) to do the marketing themselves or hire a marketing specialist.

Keep this book handy.

Aptly named, "The Invisible Touch" presents brilliant insight into selling and positioning the intangible; services both online and off.

Beckwith argues convincingly that successful service offerings depend not so much on the actual services, but on the consumers' perception of the company offering the services and the consumers' perception of themselves as the decision is made to purchase them. The successful service provider communicates in crystal clear fashion the benefits of said services and charges based on the value delivered. (It's not what you pay; it's what you get!)

Perceived value is affected by numerous factors including environment and price. Can you increase the perceived value of your product or service by simply increasing the price? Beckwith discusses several cases in which this is clearly the case. Can a restaurant improve the taste of its' food by improving the decor? Arguably, yes.

When discussing State Farm, Beckwith states, "It is not slickness, polish, uniqueness, or cleverness that makes a brand a brand. It is truth."

This strategy has worked well for State Farm. Due to the abundance of information available on the web this may become a required strategy for any company.