On Tara’s recommendation, I started listening to Simon Sinek’s Start with Why
The basic premise is that people don’t buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it. If you only focus on what you do or how you do it, you’ll have to resort to manipulations such as price or promotion to get people to buy your products. But companies that start with WHY – a belief, cause, or idea beyond what they make – build loyal fans for life.
I couldn’t help thinking about this concept as I walked around the National Stationery Show on Sunday morning.
Because so much of the show is focused around one product, cards, it can be incredibly challenging to get your booth to stand out.
One of our favorite books growing up was called Mr. Pine’s Purple House. In the story, Mr. Pine owns a house on a street where everyone’s house looks the same. To make his house stand out, he plants a tree. Then all his neighbors plant the same tree. All of Mr. Pine’s attempts to stand out are copied by his neighbors. When Mr. Pine paints his house purple, his neighbors want to copy him too. It’s only when Mr. Pine suggests they all paint their houses different colors that they finally decide that it’s better to have all their houses be different than the same.
This is what seems to be happening at the stationery show. People see someone having success with products beyond cards – posters, gift-wrap, etc – and they decide to do that to help them “stand out” as well. But it ultimately ends up making everyone look the same.
Of course, some of the larger companies rely on other gimmicks to help them stand out. One company had hired a mime to stand on a pedestal at the front corner of their booth and read a giant greeting card!
When I saw that, I couldn’t help but think if that company had a strong sense of WHY, they wouldn’t have to resort to such a ridiculous tactic. People who believed in and identified with their WHY would be drawn to them, no mime required.
I talk a lot about using visual concepts to help distinguish your booth at a trade show, but what if that was only half the battle? According to Sinek, having, communicating, and embodying a clear WHY is what really makes your company stand out.
Bra-vo. {clapping}
I think of this all the time. In my industry there’s a lot of copying and different ways that one can try to get their message (aggressively) through. I’ve chosen to rely on my product, convey it pictorially as well as I possibly can and inform my customers of the reasons why my designs are the way they are.
Seems to be working – I get a lot more repeat customers and solid followers than fleeting butterflies.
Interesting post! I know why I make stuff but do my customers? I don’t think so. Thanks for the challenge.
Great post Megan, very eye opening! I have always used the tag line “it’s what the waves intended” as my tag line. I make sea glass jewelry and that is truly WHY I believe I make my jewelry. After reading your post it makes me think I need to relay that reasoning more to my customers. Thanks for this post and all of your great posts for that matter. 🙂
A mime? Really?
Sinek’s right about the why. That’s what a customer will use to decide to buy something over something else. To know why you do something can be inspiring for a customer and customers want to be inspired!
This is a great post. I’m hoping to make it to the NSS for the first time next year, and this is the kind of business thinking I think I really need to focus on before I make the leap. I have a why, but I really need to work on finding compelling ways to communicate it to customers and make them believe in it, too, and I think that’s where I’m struggling now.
Thank you Megan (and Tara)!
I know my WHY and think about my WHY but I don’t think I communicate it.
Once again – you are brilliant.
I’ve been really mulling this over the past few weeks (weird how some of these concepts seem to trend) and realized that I had a WHY and have gotten away from it. Its a simple WHY. Its not a flashy WHY. But it is my WHY. So I’m going to take better care to own it. Thank you again.
Pingback:Smaller Box :: Blog :: Your Company’s True Purpose (Hint: It’s Not About You)
Ah thank you! Like @genevieve I know my why. I try to communicate it , but I think I am doing so safely. My why is not pretty although much of my work is. Pondering…
I really like your challenge. It is very thought-provoking. It makes me THINK …
Thanks for the article.
@Liberty…Love your post. I totally agree. My “Why” isn’t flashy or necessarily ingenious…but it is “My Why” and I’m passionate about it. That is what makes me different!
Hmmm. This leads me to ask more questions. How do you define your WHY? How special does your WHY have to be to stand out in the crowd? Because it’s pretty? Because it’s practical? Because it’s never been done before? I’d really love to hear some examples of other businesses’ WHYs.
People often shake their heads and ask “Why do you knit those?” when they see my meerkats. My answer is usually “Because it’s fun, because I can, and because they make everyone smile.”
Especially when you have been around for awhile – you may have forgotten WHY or at least forget that that is what makes you different.
My why is really just that it’s fun and expresses some part of my personality. But I guess I’m not sure how that works into an explicit connection with my customers. I think they relate to my products, but I’ve never actually talked about why I make what I make. A follow up post on this topic would be great!
Pingback:your WHY is not about your products (and it’s not about you)
Pingback:May Favorites « S2designs's Blog
So true! I think it is so easy to loose sight of WHY you are there in the first place. We all get caught up in the competitive race and forget what it is that will bring us to the finish line. Thank you for the reminder!
Pingback:making multiple revenue streams work for your business