TALKING BUSINESS
 By Dr. Said Said
How to turn your business into a PINK cow
Have you ever traveled along the country side and found yourself mesmerized with the beautiful scenery of the green hills and carpets of farm land that seemed to stretch to the horizon, with healthy dairy cows grazing along with their loved ones?
Seeing the cows is a beautiful experience. Well, for just a little while. But then you get used to them. They all look the same. Same color, same activity, same everything. But what if you suddenly saw a beautiful pink cow? Wouldn’t that excite you? Wouldn’t that make you remove your camera and start taking photos and go tell everyone you meet about your experience with the pink cow?
Most businesses are just like the other cows but great businesses are like the pink cow. Great companies are special and unique and most of they are attractive.
To become the pink cow you need to have a Unique Selling Proposition (USP). What is so unique about your business that when someone looks at your business they cannot compare it to your competition? If your prospects asks you, “Why should I do business with you instead of your competition?” what answer do you have?
Back in 1960, 2 brothers, Tom and James Monoghan purchased a small Pizza store called DomiNick’s in Ypsilanti, Michigan near Eastern Michigan University. They worked in shifts. One would in the morning and the other in the evening hours. Business was really difficult and after 8 month of struggle and difficulty Tom couldn’t take it anymore and decided to quit. He sold his share to his brother who had no money but agreed to give away his used Volkswagen Beetle.
James was now all alone (with no car) and had to figure out an ingenious way to sell enough pizzas to win in the marketplace. He came up with a brilliant idea which was about to transform the way entrepreneurs where to do business. All he did was to ensure he became the pinkiest cow in the market place and made sure that his clients were always attracted to this cow. He understood that his store was the only one in his area that could deliver pizzas within half an hour after the order was done. So what he did is market his unique selling proposition. His marketing message went like this…..
“We deliver pizzas in half an hour GUARANTEED, or the pizza is yours for FREE!”
Guess how many people bought the pizzas? I don’t know the exact numbers but I know there were just too many! To cut the story short that USP was the little thing that made a HUGE difference in the company’s success.
The business became so successful that in 1978, there were 200 stores, in 1995, 1000 stores and 1500 stores in 1998 when Tom sold 93% of the company shares for 1 Billion Dollars and he retired a Billionaire.
If you’re a person who travels a lot you might have come across this store. It’s none other than Dominos Pizza
.
That’s how powerful and important a USP is. If you have a unique selling proposition and you’re not selling it then you might start doing that right now. Don’t be like everyone who tries to sell everything to everyone.
The person who tries to sell everything to everyone ends up selling nothing to no one. Focus on your unique strength and sell that to the market place.
Tom never sold delicious pizza made from grandma’s secret recipe like everybody else. What he sold was a quick delivery which was backed up with a guarantee. He took responsibility of giving away FREE pizzas incase he wasn’t able to deliver what he promised.
Your USP is your pink cow. Never sell products or services. Sell emotions which are attached to your products and services. What does you company represent? Does it represent Fun, Cool, Elegance, Sophistication, Intelligence, Smart, Speed or Efficiency?
Mercedes sells prestige, BMW sells performance, Ferrari sells speed, McDonalds sells fast food, and Apple positions itself as the cool alternative to corporate Microsoft. I think you get the picture. What are you selling? What is your pink cow?
The BIG lesson here is that, as a small company who wants to dominate the market place, make sure you focus all your energy on developing your USP.
Dr. Said is a medical doctor, entrepreneur and a home business coach. He is the current CEO of Strategic Marketing
& Design and he now spends most of his time helping companies increase their profits using Strategic Marketing.
You can get his FREE marketing tips at http://strategic-marketing-and-design.com/blog. You can get in touch with
him at said@strategic-marketing-and-design.com
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