TOW#505 — Top (premium) level
I would like to tell you an anecdote from our work as business development consultants. On one occasion, we were working on a business concept for a client (service industry) that didn’t have a clear idea of the concept they wanted and how to position it. The first question I asked the director was: What do you want to achieve; where do you want to position your product? Are we going for an ‘exclusive car’, a ‘mid-range’ or an ‘economy version’? Because according to the rules of the game and of managing a business, everything that you can think of, with relation to your business, can be achieved. It’s just that, of course, there are many factors that can influence success and they all need to be excellently connected and integrated.
In any case, the interesting part of the conversation was what followed. He of course chose the most exclusive option. I told him, no problem, just be aware that in order to achieve this you’re going to need: this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, that, that, that, that, that, this, this, this, this, this, this, that, that, that, that, this, this, this, this, this, this and this! And his response was, “what if we just went with a cute little car!?!”
If you want to produce, develop, and position a product or service at the top, elite, premium level, then it’s not enough just to want or dream about it! You need to be ready in every way (knowledge, experience, finances, team, endurance, sacrifice, network, and so on), in order to reach that level. Of course, in general, the top level also means exclusive prices from a financial point of view — everyone would like to be able to sell less for more money. However, that doesn’t mean that they’ll be able to satisfy the needs and demands of those types of clients. That type of client requires an exclusive approach in every single detail of the business: product, appearance, service, (ultra VIP) customer relations, location, post-sale experience, atmosphere, personnel/employees, knowledge, etc.
And I have another story for you. A few weeks ago I went to a ‘mezze’ restaurant (I won’t say in which city and which restaurant because it’s not important in the context of this story) where the owner has gone for the elite/exclusive concept. I must admit that the location was superb, the interior excellent, and the prices exclusive, but on the other hand the service was extremely bad, the white and yellow cheese mezze-starters were from the usual supermarket packets, we ate paste, or more precisely overcooked ribbon noodles with feta cheese and dried spices from a jar, while it’s better to not even talk about any kind of added customer experience during our time there.
I don’t want to hurt anyone or be seen as some kind of critic by saying this. My point is that we need to understand that it’s not enough to merely put our idea on paper and position our business (product or service), or to simply copy a concept that we’ve seen in Belgrade, Milan or New York. We must be especially aware, particularly when targeting the financial elite, that in order to attract top level customers our offer must be several times better and more complete than the standard one, i.e. the level to which we’re used to.
Wishing you success with the changes to come,
Petar Lazarov
“Tip of the Week” Team member
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