Category Archives: Thinking Aloud

September 14, 2018 · 11:39 am

Everyone’s Got A Deal

A very wet Foodie Friday here but that won’t deter me from posting a few thoughts about what I think is a post-value world. What I mean by that is that value seems to be more of a given today that it did a few years ago. I also hope by now you’ve learned the difference between value and cost because your customers certainly have.

In the food business, you see this playing out in spades. Everyone has a deal, whether it’s $1 menu items or $5 foot long subs or free cheeseburgers from using an app to order. I suspect that many of these items are loss leaders. They certainly can’t be maintaining the margins which are already slim in the restaurant business. They’re designed to build traffic and that traffic will buy other, more profitable items.

The problem with this is the restaurant business is one where the supply has outstripped the demand. Chain restaurants are growing faster than the overall population and there aren’t enough hungry folks out there to support them all. Because deals are so prevalent, it actually frees the consumer to decide if they place more value on the price of the meal or if they value higher quality ingredients or better service or just the overall dining experience an establishment offers. More often than not these days, the price is less of a concern. Why? Because everyone’s got a deal!

What does this mean for your business? It means you’ve got to continue to get beyond thinking about cost in terms of how your customer values your product or service. The health of the business depends on more than a lot of customers. Fewer, more profitable customers seem better to me than a lot of slim-margin ones. Ask K-mart, whose profitability peaked in 1992,  if the low-margin, high volume strategy can work over the long term. Someone can always compete on price (Walmart).

The “deal” I try to offer to my potential clients is the highest level of value. That value is defined in THEIR terms, not mine. If all they’re after is a low price, I’m probably not going to be working with them. If what they want is a profitable result that advances them to their goals, well, that’s my deal. What’s yours?

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September 12, 2018 · 8:33 am

There’s No “I” In Storm

One more bit of thinking today as Hurricane Florence approaches the Carolinas. While it’s easy to see the eye of the storm in the satellite photos, the message here on the ground is that there is no “I”. Let me explain and tell you why it’s relevant to your business as well.

Riding this thing out seems to be a communal effort here. My neighborhood has a closed Facebook group and it’s been overwhelmed with offers from neighbors offering to help one another with everything from cleaning up yard waste to clearing storm drains to fixing generators. There are constant reports of where there is bottled water or gas available to buy (both are hard to find) as stores’ stocks are replenished. In short, while everyone is looking after their own storm prep, they’re doing so with an eye to the community as a whole.

That’s something that gets lost in business sometimes. Each of us is very focused on our own success and we sometimes lose track of the whole. I don’t just mean the entire enterprise (how well is the business doing) but also of our co-workers (how well are the people doing). Too many of us are selfish. We spend time self-promoting. We try to climb over others on our way up the ladder, not recognizing that doing so creates the envy and resentment that can poison an organization.

The truth is that while of course business is competitive, at its best it’s also collaborative. You can’t succeed, either as an individual or as a business, without the trust and support of others.

We’ll get through this storm just as we did the last one. That, in part, will be due to good preparation and help from one another. As with the storms that happen in business, it’s much better than trying to ride it out alone, don’t you think?

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September 5, 2018 · 11:11 am

Mental Images, Mental Mistakes

Shut your eyes and picture the typical “All-American” family. Go ahead, I’ll wait. OK – have that picture in your mind? What does it show? Mom, Dad, and a couple of kids? My guess is that if you’re Caucasian so is your picture, and I’ll bet the typical family is also quite heterosexual.

Here’s the problem with your mental image. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, only one in four American families matches that description. That was almost a decade ago and I think we’re all aware of the changes that have been happening with respect to familial, and societal, composition.

If you’re in marketing, that mental picture has some fairly important implications. It might impact how you make creative for your campaigns, how you plan your media, and how those decisions provide relevance and meaning to consumers. For an example, the folks at HP brought together 13 Chicago families of different races, ethnicities, ages, genders and sexual orientations. They were split up and another group of people was asked to reassemble the families.

Guess how many people could put the families back together? Exactly none. In general, they tried to find groupings of the same race, different gender, and heterosexual. Oops. But this has implications even for those of you out there who aren’t in marketing. It speaks to the broader issue of preconceived notions and how we can’t just form opinions without adequate evidence. Some folks are seemingly determined never to let the facts get in the way of a good story, whether they’re reporting something to their boss or just ranting among their friends. It’s really a bad idea.

How often do a new employee or a business prospect walk into the room and you make a snap judgment before they’ve even uttered a word? We all do it, unfortunately. In fact, it’s sort of a “truism” that hiring decisions are made quickly. Well, according to a research study, some of the interviewers did make snap decisions about candidates. Roughly 5% of decisions were made within the first minute of the interview, and nearly 30% within five minutes. I think that has to do with the preconceived notions in the interviewers’ minds about who they saw in the job as well as who they saw in front of them.

Rip up those mental pictures as best you can. Do the research, seek the facts. and THEN form the pictures. Ready, fire, aim rarely works, don’t you think?

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