Each business model has the potential to create a way to trademark who they are and why customers go to see them. The reasons for increased popularity and the causes that generate the business growth become the trademarks of the business model that the consumers love to surround. As time travels on, those trademarks will carve large paths in the avenues that lead consumers to the front door of that business model. Those trademarks drive the attention that feeds the consumers interest which helps to produce the business success. Trademarks drive the traffic while all of the other business components secure the success.
Tinkering with a business trademark can be very touchy stuff. If the trademark that drives the consumers attention is altered too much, the flare of that trademark may no longer be the same attraction the consumer loves. The consumer may find that they no longer recognize the trademark of that business. As a result, the consumer may no longer give that business model the same level of attention. The consumer may reduce the attention it gives to the interest they found in the trademarks produced, once those trademarks are altered too much, the consumer may refrain from visiting that business model as often. The old cliche' holds true on this subject, do not change what is not broken. I see many business models make this mistake.
It seems so obvious that it would not be a good idea to change a business trademark that helps to feed the consumer interest. Unfortunately, many business leaders do exactly that to their business models. A business model that specializes in operating a great special order program decides it is time to require a 20% down payment on every special order. They install the new policy and notify all of their existing customers. Their sales drop significantly so they cut the staff down by a couple of full time equivalents. With less staffing employed to chase down the natural process of special order follow-ups, many placed orders get lost, delayed or incorrectly completed. The service drops significantly. The consumers who once trusted the invisible process of buying something they cannot see or touch now become reticent about allowing this business model to perform that duty. The once strong special order program now becomes a slowly dying component of the business model. At some point, it finally disappears.
Business leaders can and do kill great business trademarks. The once strong trademark of success, special ordering, becomes too challenged to continue under the new themes of management efforts. Leaders do this silly stuff and work extra hard on justifying support for making deadly changes to their programs. I have seen it so much that I kind of expect it. I am a customer who has seen certain outfits make interesting changes in programs I liked that due to those changes, I no longer use that outfit anymore. I am sure I am not the only customer who has pulled the plug on where I once enjoyed trading my dollars to attend.
In my small town, I had a very favorite coffee shop we liked to attend. We liked the crowd they attracted and the layout of the sitting area. We liked the taste of the coffee, the blends they used and all of the servers touch on producing good blended coffees. The atmosphere was very distinct and produced the kind of feeling we enjoyed. So many unique qualities of art, arrangement, programs, community support project choices and add on items of unique character were occasionally included as part of the trademark of that owners business model. We found all of this 'style' very attractive to support. We were frequenters of that particular coffee shop. They served our coffee habits well. The shop was always busy, but we did not mind. We were attending a place that was happening. To a lot of consumers like us, that is also an important trademark to enjoy. We belong.
Need I continue?
The shop closed for a small period of time to remodel. It re-opened with a look I had no connection to, nor enjoyed anymore. Many of the additional snacks and special foods once offered were no longer available. The style of music inside the shop changed, as well. We did not recognize the genre. New brands of coffee were inserted to "replace" the ones that once were served. Two of the best coffee clerks in the old business model eventually left this place of business and went to work somewhere else. They were replaced by some friends of the new owner. The new owner and the friends she hired had obviously developed some special bonds of friendship that consumed more time supporting the enjoyment they had for each other, instead of developing deeper bonds with the customers they served. There was an obvious shift in atmosphere regarding the counter top treatment between the staff and the customers. It had some rough spots to endure.
That coffee shop is currently closed and the building has become a completely different business model. It took two years to find its final demise. A once great business model changed its trademarks enough to chase away the support it had worked so hard to develop. Many business owners do not see this truth. I have had some brief conversations with the owner who purchased that coffee shop. I have chatted with them while they were making those changes. I have chatted with them during the demise of those changes. I have chatted with them since the shop has failed and closed out. In each conversation along the way they did not believe they would cause the failure, nor feed the failure and in the end they believe the economy killed their business model. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know exactly how I feel about blaming the economy for your business model failures. Leave me out of that discussion. I am not interested in hearing about someones scapegoat.
Since that coffee shop failure, five new coffee shops have arrived in this little town and all of them have lines in the drive-up windows on a constant basis. Economy killer? Hogwash.
Pay attention to the old rule of what have you done for me lately? Make sure your business model keeps producing what attracts the consumers to use your model. Make sure you enhance those attractions, not limit them. Do what Disney does. Clean up the special things that produce the best attraction. Work hard on introducing more of the same kind of attractions. Add things that are similar in taste, similar in atmosphere and similar in service. Do not try to do what does not reflect how you attract the ones who have chosen you to visit. Keep the ones who come in by giving them more of why they come in. For goodness sakes, do not try to teach them how to like what you find interesting. Learn how to produce what they like and find interesting. Your customers may actually like to see many things that you do not like to see. Did you know that? Disney understands this truth. They are masters at it. They develop trademarks everywhere and the trademarks they manage are the ones their customers enjoy the most. Take a few tips from Disney. The new coffee shop owner must not understand how Disney does it. In fact, the new coffee shop owner seemed bent on making sure none of Disney's tricks would be used to help them destroy their new business model.
What have you done for me lately? Do you know why your customers come in to see your model? Learn the reasons why. Learn how to add more of those reasons to your daily offerings. Give them more tomorrow of the things they like to receive. Allow your customers to enjoy what they want to enjoy. Enhance how you can protect those things more deeply.
The Organ Grinder Pizza Parlor closed its doors a few years ago. It no longer produced the atmosphere the consumers desired. The consumer is very strongly wrapped inside the mood that supports the idea of what have you done for me lately. Get over it and do more. That is your business responsibility. Learn how to live up to it.
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