…out-inspire the competition
– from Creating Passionate Users
What I’m looking to do with Domain Direct really fits into this category. There is no way that we can outspend the competition. On one hand, 1&1 Internet is taking out 15 page, four color advertisements in every single tech magazine on the planet to promote their loss-leaders and on the other, GoDaddy is using airtime during the Superbowl to promote their loss-leaders and buy brand awareness.
I don’t have $5 million to burn to let people know that I’m giving our services away. Nor do I think that this is a particulary compelling way to grow a business. I read or heard somewhere that a strong value of Japanese business culture is that one of the most disrespectful things a CEO can allow is for their business to lose money. The rationale was that if the CEO wasn’t able to deploy investor capital profitably, then they were standing in the way of CEO’s that could – which does the entire nation a disservice.
Going into the red to sell bundles of commodity services at deeply discounted rates puts handcuffs on the business and doesn’t really do anyone, most notably one’s customers, any favors. Anyone pursuing this strategy defines their customer experience in terms of what they charge, not in terms of what they offer. This is a fatal mistake in my books – always lead into a conversation with your customers based on what you can do for them, not around what you are going to charge them. “Hey – do you want to collaborate more efficiently with your co-workers?” is a far better opener than “Hey, my service is only $2.95, wanna buy some?” Every customer that I sign up using the latter strategy is going to come to expect to be able to buy my services for $2.95 for as long as they live – and few of them are going to properly understand the benefits and application of those services, never mind grow into valuable long-term relationships.
Which is why I loved this post so much. It reads like the Domain Direct strategic overview (which I should probably make public at some point) that I’m currently working on. If I can’t outspend, what’s left? Something totally different obviously. Not just more features, but more connectedness, more convenience and more care.
This chart, from the original blog post, describes what an “OutInspiring” business looks like in comparison to its more traditional competitors…
Be sure to check out the entire post over at “Creating Passionate Users”.
