Harry Beckwith

In his book ‘Selling The Invisible’, the author explains that no company can position itself. It is the prospect that does it. A prospect simply takes what he knows about the company and positions the company accordingly. Harry Beckwith gives the example of Avis who saddled with its second-place position after Hertz in the late 1960s, begin 1970s. The company decided to make second best a more desirable position than first. “We are number two”. Avis ads repeated for years. “We try harder”. People believed it. Sales soared. With these ads Avis did not try to position their company. They knew the market had already done it for them. Avis simply made the absolute most of the position they had.