Category: Uncategorized

This is a story about awareness.

A few days ago I walked into a geeky sort of shop to buy geeky sorts of things for my daughter’s birthday. After choosing a few fun items I went to the counter to pay and saw on it a cardboard box, full of Guardians of the Galaxy bobble-head toys. 

They were exactly what I had been looking for, so I asked politely if the shop assistant would open the box and show me one, so I could buy it.

‘No I can’t do that,’ came the reply, ‘we need to unbox them and price them and put them out on display.’

‘But I want to buy one!’ I protested, ‘so could you find out the prices for them now please?’

‘No. We are not ready to sell them.’

Startled at this lazy refusal to help me give them my money I paid for my geeky stash and left the shop. About 20 paces away I stopped and thought dammit… you’re a shop and you have what I want to buy and my daughter would love one.

So I hastened back to the shop, marched up to the counter and politely  (and firmly) explained to the lady that it would take a moment to open the packaging, extract one toy, tell me how much it was and allow me to purchase it. She was about to protest, when her supervisor heard me and intervened and pointed to the price list, which was already on the counter.

Grudgingly, the assistant did what she was paid to do, and after two minutes our transaction had been completed. I left the shop for a second time …wondering that running a shop must be hard work, so why make it even harder for yourself by not selling an item that a customer is willing to buy, because he’s turned up ten minutes earlier than you would have liked? 

This is a story about awareness …what thoughts does it spark in your head? 

Next week: In Or Out Of Control?

Bread, milk and cheese are all commodity products and yet we all buy things that we like, based on our perception of quality and value. We have our favorite brands and types and even though these are simple products we know that not all bread is the same, and that Cheddar tastes different depending on the supplier we favour.

All these products have been differentiated so that us consumers have a clear choice. Marketing campaigns, packaging and pricing all enable us to make a conscious choice between seemingly everyday products.

However, too many businesses pepper their websites with dull comments such as ‘we deliver high quality’ and ‘we go the extra mile’ or the meaningless ‘we think out of the box.’ (If you need to tell people that then your website is seriously uncreative). 

These statements add no value. They are bland clichés that fail to inform our customers about what makes us special. We would do better to replace them with novel, interesting and relevant points of difference between us and our competitors such as…

‘We will personally come to your business and collect your year-end accounts.’

‘All of our clients get complementary gym membership.’

‘Our consulting rooms have air-conditioning and free freshly squeezed orange juice.’

I once booked a hotel for a meeting because it had free icecream available all day and my clients loved that. When was the last time you had that at a corporate venue?

If we want to succeed in business then we need to stand out and we do that by differentiating ourselves. Any point of uniqueness is worth shouting about because it will enable someone somewhere to choose to use us.

This week take a fresh look at your website and cull the clichés. They are lazy words that undersell us and with a bit of thought we can all find something that none of our competitors do. I’m the only business coach I know who takes clients on to the beach…it’s the best office in the world!

Next week: The Bobble-Head Story