Jet skis vs. Books: What are you really selling?

When developing your business strategy it is necessary of course to take a look at the activities of your competitors. A horse riding school for example might look at the other schools within driving distance of their clients, and then maybe look online at overseas or interstate operators to see how they can match, or push their business beyond, their offerings. All well and good. However the problem lies in that competitors aren’t necessarily the businesses that sell and offer the exact same product as you do.

When you start to examine why people buy your products – what the essential nature of your product is that appeals to the marketplace - suddenly a whole new realm of competition appears. Not great, I know! But if we are to keep our businesses afloat in a less than perfect economy, we need to keep putting our businesses under the microscope. Knowledge is power after all.

Is he up against a treadmill? Credit: Bubblejewel96

So what does the horse riding school need to worry about other than other horse riding schools? Well, firstly we need to ask simply: why do people go horse riding? There are a multitude of reasons: to get exercise, to connect with animals, to spend more time outdoors, to learn a new skill – and many more.

When you start to break a product down like this you can see that there are many markets that the horse riding school has its foot in. And if they are trying to gain the exercise market, well surely gyms and sports teams are competitors? If a segment of their market specifically wants to connect with animals and spend more time outdoors, they could start participating in dog agility clubs or something similar. The horse riding school has more to worry about than just other businesses of the same breed!

The benefit is, that once they are armed with the knowledge of their competitors, they can begin to strategise to make their business stand out to prospective customers. Their new model could target executives who are trapped indoors all day who go to the gym to stay fit. Their new marking could read something like: “Don’t climb stairs to nowhere at the gym to get that perfect body – come horse riding in the fresh air.” They could then ensure they were open weekends and late hours, and provide a night arena, so clients could visit after work. 

Above is a ‘competition map’ example for a different kind of business: the bookstores I talked about in my last post. When you are thinking about who else provides books like you, your competitors seem small: other booksellers, online and physical, and libraries. Once you interrogate why books are bought its no longer simplistic anymore. 

So why do people buy books? Well to get something to read. Could they get that through another medium? Absolutely. Why do they want to read things? For entertainment or to get information. Can they get entertainment from somewhere else? Hollywood says so. How about information? It’s called the Internet. If you are stuck in the mindset that you just sell books, you’re not seeing the full picture. Booksellers beware, Jet Ski operators might just be your mortal enemies!

Clearly we all need to be open minded in reviewing our products so we can understand what we are really selling and give ourselves a chance to sell it better than our competition!

Tips and Tricks:

When developing your strategy, analyse the essence of your product or service and its appeal to the marketplace. Reflect on whether other businesses provide a similar result for their clients through other means and equip yourself to take on the challenge.

The New Big Boys in Town: The Necessity of Renewing Strategies

Once upon a time when we wanted something to read, we visited Mr Brown at the local dusty little bookstore and picked up a novel.

And then along came some giants. Giant sprawling multi-storied stores filled with thousands upon thousands of books. More titles than we could imagine existed when we were at Mr Brown’s. So we began to go to MegaBooks instead, because the chances of us finding something perfect to read was much more likely when we could browse thousands of books rather than a few hundred, even if we did like Mr Brown.

And soon MegaBooks were everywhere! MegaBooks was our new local store. And all was good.

Until MegaBooks went under.

Reading goes on. Photo by Rodrigo Galindez from flickr.

Why? Why should a bookstore with a book to please everyone’s tastes disappear? People certainly haven’t stopped reading. The problem we can rationalise then is the model through which mega-bookstores like recent casualty Borders sell their product.

Initially they had a very successful strategy, creating a business that trumped small, one-man retailers with an abundance of choice and stock with which they could not compete. The problem? Dwarfed by stores like Amazon with millions of titles to their names, stores like Borders are no longer ‘giants’ even though they may take up a lot of floor space.

A similar story for may be told about other ‘megastores’ that for years reigned as the big boys of retail but now look around with confusion at a new world, were they are the small players against higher stocked, lower priced online retailers. Our premier bricks-and-mortar electronics store for example may not like to hear that it is a small scale retailer, but in today’s global marketplace, that is the case.

Angus and Robertson booksellers, Castlereagh St Sydney, 1946

For such businesses trading using a giant’s stratagems is consequently outdated and ineffective. No longer can the megastores collect business on the claim they have the greatest selection of stock and the greatest prices. Unfortunately all too often businesses fall back on strategies that once were successful rather than reassessing their position in the marketplace continually, and then adapting their strategies accordingly.

So is the store dead? I don’t think so, no. A change has happened: some stores have been unprepared. But as one business dies, another forms to take its place.

Large book retailers are failing but small boutique bookstores – something like the old stores the megastores replaced – are beginning to rise in popularity. Holding a tightly edited selection of titles they encourage a bohemian, Vienna cafe vibe, with author talks, book signings and a communal exchange-of-ideas feel. The cultivation of personal relationship with the book seller is back in vogue.

Such stores don’t claim to have everything, or the lowest prices. They trade on the idea that they have raked through the masses of products on the market to offer a beautiful selection of interesting works. People are okay with the fact they might be able to find something stocked on their shelves cheaper from an overseas website – they don’t mind because they are buying not only the book, but an experience.

On the whole it is becoming clear that physical stores need to re-create themselves as a ‘destinations’. No more can they rely on being a place customers are forced to visit in order to purchase the items they retail. The message sounding loud to once-upon-a-time giants: adapt or die.

Tips and Tricks:

Review and renew your business strategy constantly. The world is constantly changing and your strategy needs to change with it. Rigid strategies are liable to snap.

I'm on the News!

I was featured on a Nine Gold Coast News segment discussing the state of Gold Coast business and how local operators can battle falling turnover.

On location at the factory of former Stratacore Business Academy attendee Mark Barber, Managing Director of Seapen.  

They featured four tips of mine on what businesses struggling to work through the aftermath of the GFC need to do.

1. Get a Strategy

Work out where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. If you have already developed a strategy, be sure to review and update it regularly, making sure it’s still relevant to the market and your target clientele.

2. Work on the ‘Why?’ factor?

What makes your product different? Don’t tell people how good you are; offer a clear value proposition that shows what you have to offer that is special.

3. Get Help

Mark Barber commented: “If I was proud, I wouldn’t be where I am today.” You can't know everything and all to often we don't know what we don't know - ask for expert perspective on ventures you undertake to keep from making expensive mistakes.

4. Don’t have ‘Yes’ men.

It’s very difficult to find the right advisors but  essential.

Despite tough times, business survival and success remain absolutely possible!

Accounting advice is like a pair of shoes – Why professionals need to think strategically

Most professionals seem to forget that their business is essentially like a shoe shop. Every business is selling a product to a consumer, whatever industry they are in – in the case of professionals like lawyers, doctors, accountants etc. it is their educated advice and work – but really, that’s not so different to a retail item, and professionals should never forget that the same business rules apply.

Why choose you? Strategic difference is key.

It wouldn’t make smart business sense to open a food shop in a strip with hundreds of other already established outlets without selling a different cuisine, or having a secret recipe, or a marketable green chic layout – in short, without having first identified a niche market they could fill. Why should professionals think they are any different?

In this increasingly globalised world it’s not enough just to set up shop and rely on being the only Widget advisor in town. Clients can now source Widget advisors in Japan, or see a Widget advisor on the other side of Australia is treating their clients better than you.

Nor can you simply tell your clients you are ‘The Best’ either. The response nowadays will probably be “Oh yeah? Why?” followed by a “Uh-huh. Prove it” or “Ten other guys told me that today too.” And remember: no one ever wins in a price war.

Tips and Tricks:

• Think about what strategically sets you apart from other operators in your profession besides cost and your confidence in your services.

"It's not brown darling, its cognac" - Turning Business Naming Tactical

From Flickr by TheCulinaryGeek

The Argyle diamond mine had a problem. One of the leading producers of rare coloured diamonds worldwide, their famous fancy pinks sought after by connoisseurs internationally, they nevertheless were faced with a dilemma: eighty per cent of the diamonds their mine produced were brown. In an industry were rocks are prized for clarity, these were regarded as practically worthless by jewellers and consumers.

That was until they rechristened these brown castoffs with clever new monikers. Common sounding ‘brown’ diamonds were transformed into ‘Cognac’ and ‘Champagne’ stones. Glamorised with these new elegant sounding titles, and accompanied by alluring marketing campaigns, the brown diamond was elevated from trash to treasure. Formerly sold in bulk to medical tool manufacturers for inclusion in dentist instruments and the like, Argyle began to sell brown diamonds as ‘pieces’ for drastically higher amounts.

More than anything this story drives home the importance of naming in business. From company names, to product names, names can shape how we relate to a product and the values we attach to it.

It’s not just a case of finding something that sounds good. Consideration of strategy needs underpin every activity you undertake within your business, from the naming of the business itself, to the labels you assign to products and services.

That said, I will admit to not being much of a wordsmith myself. The name of my company Stratacore was actually composed by my daughter, who, aged eleven, expressed distaste for my admittedly not very creative composition ‘Debco’. She was right, it did need changing. As I grew and refocused my business, ‘Debco’, with its casual simplicity, became unsuitable.

Her creation ‘Stratacore’ alludes, she informed me, to ‘strategy’ and ‘core issues’. It’s formal she said, it could be on the side of a building in the Sydney CBD and hold its own – and that was very necessary for the professionals market Stratacore now targets.

A 'slave to freedom' wearing a Cookie Composites helmet.

So in my case, a serious name worked, however just as often a homely tact can capture customer attention. A great example is Cookie Composites, a company that manufacturers skydiving helmets that can have specialised cameras attached. Not only does their business stand out in a sea of sky themed company names, it also captures a slice of the company owners’ likeability. Who doesn’t like cookies? Something along the lines of “Specialist Skydiving Helmets Pty Ltd” doesn’t quite have the same ring.


How the company got the name is equally interesting. One of the founders, James Cooke, was nicknamed ‘Cookie’ in the industry. No matter what he called his helmets they were always ‘Cookie helmets’ to his buyers. Sometimes it’s best to go with the flow, rather than fight it.

Tips and Tricks:

• Consider your business’s overall strategy and ask yourself what image you want to project. Who is your target market and how do you want them to perceive you? What do they find engaging in a business name?

• Can you use an unexpected name to distinguish your company and product in the minds of consumers? It’s difficult finding the right balance between informative/catchy/solid/etc but well worth the effort. 

• How do the customers you already have talk about your company? They might have done the hard work for you.