One of the constant themes throughout this book is how bad services are in this country. In the next section I'll detail a few of Beckwith's examples. One of the reasons that services are so bad it that there is far too much emphasis on marketing as "getting the word out" and far too little emphasis on what is being "gotten out." Of course at some point a message needs to get out, but if announcing is done either too quickly, or with such emphasis that efforts to make the service better are overrun, "marketing" can ultimately hurt you more than help you. In contrast, the service that has first been refined (or better yet is constantly being refined) will find, when it comes to getting the message out, their marketing efforts are maximized, multiplied, and made cheaper and easier.

Let's follow this logic for a minute. Take a service company, say a design firm for example, whose service is not so good. Not at all meaning that the design isn't good, but rather the interactions that clients have with the firm are not so good. Perhaps clients find it hard to reach the people they need. Perhaps an account manager is too curt with clients. Perhaps the zeal of creatives makes account executives and clients shake in their boots for dismissing their brilliant ideas. There can be any number of service failures in such situations. Now if this company begins to get a reputation for not having good service, it will be much harder to do new business development. Instead of focusing on capabilities, they will first need to overcome fears in a prospect's mind with regard to their reputation. Even if the sales process is ultimately successful, it would likely require significant effort, overcoming objections, and quieting fears just to get a point where they can prove capabilities. In contrast, consider a design firm that is known not only for good design, but also for attentive and responsive people who are pleasant to talk to and work with. They are well managed and their process works smoothly. Over time they build a reputation and a solid base of references. Not only do they get frequent referrals, they close these accounts more easily, because they are already half sold from the reference and reputation. This is the power of working diligently on the first rule of marketing, analyzing and improving the service itself.   next >