I just finished reading The Simple Truth About Your Business, Why Focused and Steady Beats Business at the Speed of Light. By Alex Brennan-Martin, a man I have had the privilege of meeting. And a man who has earned a good amount of my money from celebrating dinners at his Houston restaurant with my wife over the years.
Like many things I like, I need it broken down. Numbered lists and exactness of speech. So I figured I would like a book titled The Simple Truth! Specifically The Simple Truth from the book on page 25 states:
“The Simple Truth answers the three most important questions in your quest for excellence and success:
- What is the real product my customer is buying?
- What special ingredient differentiates my product?
- Why is my customer buying what I am selling?
So the “for examples” are:
- Wal-Mart’s Simple Truth: “To lower the world’s cost of living.” – pg 27
- Disney World is not in the theme-park business, or even the entertainment business; it is in show business. – pg 28
Brennan goes on to clarify
You cannot deliver the Simple Truth unless the employees understand the Simple Truth. The customer is numero uno, but until the employees’ needs are aligned with those of the customer, there is an inherent conflict.”
For Brennan the simple truth of his restaurant is:
Creating Great Customer Memories – pg 50
Which brings me to a challenge with our business. We used to say simply “we build web sites that help you sell”. Probably because our turn around was in the recession of 2001 and 2002. If you could help someone survive that was awesome stuff! It prevented CEOs from having to lay people off, and that is a BIG motivator.
To this day our primary headline is “Does your website increase your sales” and our tag line is “The Web Marketing Company“. Pretty clear stuff.
Yet our vision is:
To Connect and Organize the World’s People. Do Good.
So unlike Wal-Mart, our vision statement can not double as our simple truth. Having deep thoughts on that subject now…
Ed – I think you are approaching it too logically. Alex could just say he is in the food business, or say he satisfies hunger. But he has stepped back and looked at what really results from his unique combination of product, service, environment and customer interaction. Memories result. So Schipul is not really in the sales business. There are many clients of Schipul who don't sell a thing and even those that do sell aren't expecting you to close the deal. At best your services move people along the sales cycle — accelerate the sales cycle. Actually, that may be the business you are in: Accelerating Business Success. You are an accelerator.
Posted on February 10, 2009 at 10:02 pm.
Ed – I think you are approaching it too logically. Alex could just say he is in the food business, or say he satisfies hunger. But he has stepped back and looked at what really results from his unique combination of product, service, environment and customer interaction. Memories result. So Schipul is not really in the sales business. There are many clients of Schipul who don't sell a thing and even those that do sell aren't expecting you to close the deal. At best your services move people along the sales cycle — accelerate the sales cycle. Actually, that may be the business you are in: Accelerating Business Success. You are an accelerator.
Posted on February 10, 2009 at 10:02 pm.