03.23.07
Et Tu Brute?
It is amazing sometimes to notice how most businesses seem to be clones of every other business out there. Retailers, for example, are primarily in three categories: chain stores, franchises, and independents that try to follow the practices and policies of the first two. This sameness is not found only in retail, but it is more visible there.
Several years ago, for example, all of the start-a-business magazines were full of frozen yoghurt store franchises. This sameness also shows itself when the wave of a fad begins to peak and then to decline. It seems that suddenly all the frozen yoghurt stores are gone.
Most businesses and their owners or investors like to get in on a fad, because when it first ignites, people will buy anything you throw at them. Pig slop, steer manure, whatever. Just as long as it is mixed into frozen yoghurt, they want it. After there are “ice yogi” stores on every corner, then customers become more selective, and then the shakeout starts. Often, the survivors of the shakeout survive because they add something else to their product lineup.
The other thing that distinguishes survivors of shakeouts is their financial condition: If you expanded more slowly and selectively because you wanted the highest possible returns while avoiding piling on too much debt, you are more likely to still be around when the guy down the street ( the one that opened 20 or 30 locations in a two-year period within a ten square-mile area) has long ago shut his doors.
Are you a part of a fad? Have you considered what to do when the fad ends? Have you begun to distinguish your business, so that it is not another “ME TOO” business? Have you considered ways to add local color or flavor, so that long after look-alike businesses are gone, people in your area continue to patronize your business because it feels like it is theirs?
Begin today to make your business and its products and services distinctive and unique. Make it clear why your business is the one that customers want to deal with.
