The stereotype of your service is the first thing that a prospect thinks about. It is the first hurdle you must jump, and the first one over usually wins. Attack your first weakness: the stereotype the prospect has about you.

You’re listening to someone at a cocktail party. Suddenly, you hear your name mentioned in a nearby conversation. Now you can hear that conversation, but you no longer can hear the one in which you were involved. This happens because people cannot process two conversations at once. If you deliver two messages, most people will process just one of

Your prospects are making the classic statement: Give me one good reason why. It’s a simple request that begs for a simple response. A complex response will just give your prospect another problem to sort out. Your prospect does not want more to think about; your prospect wants less.

Your greatest competition is not your competition. It is indifference.

products, communicating about services must make the service more tangible and real, and must soothe the worried prospect.

As a result, marketing communications for most services haul around a heavier burden than communications for products. A bright red Porsche 911 convertible, for example, speaks—loudly and beautifully—for itself. Very few services speak for themselves at all.

If your primary selling position is good value, you have no position. Value is not a competitive position. Value is what every service promises, implicitly or explicitly. It is fundamental to survival.

A man was suffering a persistent problem with his house. The floor squeaked. No matter what he tried, nothing worked. Finally, he called a carpenter who friends said was a true craftsman. The craftsman walked into the room and heard the squeak. He set down his toolbox, pulled out a hammer and nail, and pounded the nail into the floor with three

In the Harvard Business Review. In its September–October 1980 issue, William Hull reported his study comparing companies that stressed differentiation with companies that competed on cost. In every measure that mattered—in return on equity, return on capital, and average annual revenue growth rate—the differentiators beat the tight-wads every time.