You’ve got a problem. A pretty sizeable one.
Regular wisdom would teach the answers lie in tried and tested approaches. Time honoured proven routes to turning things around. Stay sensible, play safe, look at the pros and cons, work out the bottom line and start there, that kind of thing.
Now these no risk trouble shooters may indeed get you out of trouble. The flip side is that they keep the wolf from the door in the short term, but longer term gains are never usually found in that strategy.
What is needed is a braver approach. A more radical game plan. A counterintuitive one.
Take the video rental business Blockbuster. In the 1980’s as the video business boomed their profits rocketed. But as the decade wore on profits began to reduce as the business stalled. A fresh promotional campaign was required. And that’s exactly what they came up with which seemed like they were shooting themselves in the foot.
Originally offering overnight video rental for £4.99 on average, they decided to offer THREE films for £10.00. A saving of nearly £5 or 33% for the customer on the top titles. Surely it was crazy as now customers could effectively watch an extra film for the same price as before. That would kill their income. But they knew differently, and knew a little but more about psychology it seems.
Give Them What They Want.
Blockbusters were convinced that the offer would encourage people to get together as friends, couples, and families and ‘make a night of it’. Where someone had previously intended to grab the latest hit movie, they never really got round to it. Now the offer was too good to miss. Gather the gang and celebrate over a video. Or three.
But what about the lost revenue from the extra giveaway video?
They had that covered too. Their counterintuitive reasoning was spot on. By turning it into a big night in folks also ordered in food and drinks and enjoyed home style party nights. And when that happens you watch a film, then you get the food and eat that, washed down with some soda or Coke, and you getting chatting and enjoying each other’s company.
And guess what that means? You never actually watch that third video. So what do you do? You take out the offer another time and start all over again. You pay the same £10 and by the way while you are at the store you see offers on snacks and chocolate and drinks, so you heave them all into your basket too as hell, easier to get it all in one go in one place, right?
The chief approach was to give the public what it wants, but in a way it sits up and takes notice on how it gets it. This counterintuitive idea to grow the Blockbusters brand worked a treat as one video rental had turned into 5 or 6.
Why? Because it wasn’t just the regular weekly customers who jumped at the chance to see 3 titles for a smaller charge. Added to that the infrequent customers became more active and wanted a slice of the pie too upping their rental activity. And finally new customers, not really movie watchers at home, were also drawn into participating as they had heard about the buzz and the bargains and got curious.
Zag while others Zig.
To gain big dividends means thinking what others aren’t. Others who are following the normal formulas. The ‘stay-in-the-box’ believers’
In 1982 Levi’s ran a highly lucrative advertising campaign about being different. When jeans were being synonymously associated with being blue, they brought out jeans that were black. In a serious of ads featuring this new look to denim they added the famous strapline, ‘When the world zigs, zag’. It created roaring trade for what had been a slowly dying brand. The ads eventually had to be taken off air as they could no longer meet the sky high demand.
Levi’s like Blockbusters took the counterintuitive road to glory.
They did the very opposite to what was seen as sensible or sane or even realistic.
If you have a similar challenge in your life or business, group or sports club, then why don’t you zag a little bit more with your thinking and ideas.
Because who ever said jeans have to be blue and that videos have to be rented one at a time?
Only those who never reaped the big dividends!