Q Discussion 4A--What's the "product"? A learning objective of this week is to understand the full meaning of "product." The word has come to mean different things. At one time, a product was something manufactured, and many today still see product as goods. For me, product is everything the customer buys, which includes a blend of goods and services. Look around in your everyday life. What do you actually buy when you purchase something? When you think of any product, how do you define it in your mind? By its features? Its benefits? Other characteristics? More of our economy today is services. How can we make services seem like goods? My own observations suggest that the more companies make tangible the intangible, the better they do at selling their products. I call this process "tangibilizing" and it's been enormously helpful in my work. So, based on your own purchases, how do you make the intangible more tangible? How can companies best interest you in services as products?