It’s important to have at least a general idea of what business you’re in, so you’ll know where to look for it in the yellow pages. But if you want to grow and prosper, you should dig deeper. What do people need and what are they buying? If you don’t know this, your “business” can pass you by.
My elevator speech is “I am a marketing guy and I teach marketing and advertising at Georgia State. I help clients find out ‘who cares?’ what they do and act accordingly.”
Let’s put it this way—what are you selling, as opposed to what are they buying? Some examples:
- Black and Decker sells little machines that goes round and round and they call them drills. But people don’t need a drill. They need holes.
- Barnes & Noble says— right on their logo—they are booksellers. But people don’t eat books, they read them. B&N is in the reading business, and they make it easy and enjoyable for people to come in and read. They’ll buy later.
- Ask a professor what business your college is in. He’ll say, “Education.” But what they hope to get is educated alumni—the kind that gives money back.
- Do you like Starbucks Coffee? It ranks 21st. But when was the last time you said, “Let’s meet at Starbucks”? Are they in the coffee—or the meeting business?
Free yourself from definition tyranny. Join the customer in his never-ending quest to find a better use for your product.
George Lemmond
