overcome the blind spot to unleash growth (1 of 2).

In a previous post, we explored how to achieve revenue growth by defining and properly valuing Brand.

Included in that was a challenge to be more intentional with a curious mindset…to engage employees and customers with more questions about what they value and why.

Today, in the spirit of achieving new revenue growth with a more curious mindset, you gotta hear about Ted.

Ted was the Founder, and CEO of a boutique tech services company.

The company had grown past startup, but plateaued a bit. He brought us in to help get off the flat spot.

They could market, sell and service pretty well. But Ted was convinced it was all harder than it needed to be.

That’s why they chose to dig into the Brand…into the very essence of the company to test things.

An important part of that dig was the evaluation and rework of the brand story, which includes tip-of-the-spear messaging, such as the primary tagline. It read…

“Customer centered. Results driven.”

Ted had deep convictions about his brand and the messaging…a good thing for a lot of reasons. But convictions this deep also created a blind spot.

While the tagline speaks of a focus on the customer, who is the tagline really talking about?

The company, not the customer.

And frankly, is that really be a compelling message for any of us? It’s low hanging fruit. As customers, we expect companies we pay to get us results.

It was an utterly forgettable message in a voice that unfortunately carried through the rest of the brand messaging.

So what was the blind spot?

Ted’s deeply held belief in his vision blinded him from seeing through the lens of the audience…from seeing what they really wanted…their technology to work properly.

As Economist and Harvard Professor Theodore Levitt put it,

“People don’t want to buy quarter inch drills. They want to buy quarter inch holes.”

While theoretically this made sense to Ted, he was admittedly entrenched in his vision.

So we agreed to do a comparison exercise to help achieve some practical clarity. We arranged a comparison of a couple brands who get brand messaging right most of the time: Nike and Apple.

Is it,

Nike. Athlete focused. Performance driven.?

Or,

Nike. Just do it.

Is it,

Apple. User designed. Experience driven.?

Or,

Apple. Think differently.

So where did Ted’s message end up?

GuideIT. Customer centered. Results driven.

Changed to,

GuideIT. Do technology right.

The good news is that Ted had the breakthrough. And not just with a tagline that made more sense for his audience (and his brand), but in achieving and leading the company to embrace a truly audience-lens mindset, making every discipline of the business simpler.

In the next 18 months, the company grew revenue by 300%.

They didn’t stop marketing, selling, and servicing. They just did it better because the WHO and WHY of the Brand grew to be more AudienceLens.

Look, there’s nothing wrong with believing in our brands.

We just need not assume that our audience views our brands, or feels them, in the same way we do.

Here’s to better thinking, as better thinking comes before better doing.

Best,

Peter

Peter A Snell
Founder and CEO