Business Monday: The Business Benefits of Exclusivity – Bob Salvas

by Bob Salvas, contributing writer

As a business, if you offer something completely unique that NO one else offers, it is considered exclusive and a big business advantage.  Such a position is not common but while you might not be able to offer something completely unique to your customers, there are ways to drive more exclusivity into your business and benefit from it.  Consider this story that I read a few years back…

“In 2013 Ferrari was named the world’s most powerful brand… in that same year, its sales tanked.  Why?  The luxury car market exploded after years stuck in a plateau… and the natural assumption was for Ferrari to ride the wave.  In a strategic move on steroids during the supercar boom… despite a record number of people placing deposits for a new Ferrari….they DECIDED to reduce production.  A supercar boom was going on and Ferrari decided to build less cars.  Huh?!?  Plus… they raised their prices.  Down the road, Maserati had a slightly different strategy.  They rode the wave, increased output, doubled the number of models they sold, and created more mainstream type cars and less exclusive models.  Maserati chased revenue.  Ferrari chased exclusivity.”

-from Karl Bryan (www.thesixfigurecoach.com)

The story finishes with the fact that a few years later (2019) Maserati lost money and Ferrari had record profits!  Ferrari became more exclusive than Maserati and thus more successful long-term.

Exclusivity pays off!

It’s easy to see how exclusivity can benefit your business.  It can allow you to charge more and it can drive more prospects to your door via word of mouth.  But how can you create more exclusivity inyour business?  Let us consider these three questions:

When a prospect wants to meet with you, are you giving your prospect 2 or 3 appointment options to pick from or saying you are wide open?  If you do the former, it subtly demonstrates you have a full schedule because you are successful.  Also, when a customer wants to hire you, are you ALWAYS saying YES right away?  Sometimes you should consider saying “I’m not sure we are the best fit for what you want.  I am more than happy to refer you to someone elsethat might be a better fit for you”.  This can be hard to do, but it is important when the job is not fully in your wheelhouse.  When you decline the business, it can make the prospect want you even MORE (we all want what we can’t have!).  At which point you can always say, “Since this is a job that is not completely in my lane, I will be pulling in some outside help to make sure we give you the best result…that may affect the pricing.  Do you still want to go forward?”

While you want your prices to be competitive, it is important to note that price can denote quality.  A friend of mine was at an art show once and saw a painting he loved priced at $500.  He went through the rest of the show thinking about it.  At the end of the day, he went to buy it and realized that he had misread the price, and it only cost $50.  Suddenly the painting did not appeal to him as much anymore and he decided NOT to purchase it.  If it costs more, people often perceive it to be better. You should NEVER be the cheapest option in town.

If you offer the same product or service that others also offer, you should try to brand yours as being different.  One way to do that is to give it a specific name.  Remember those flume rides in the plastic logs at every amusement park when you were a kid?  Disney World had one too, but they called theirs SPLASH MOUNTAIN…people perceived it differently.  And remember, when you brand that product or service it is important to add as much extra value to it as you can.  Disney added some music and animated dancing animals, and they made it more of a story than a regular old flume ride.

This last point about adding value is critical in your overall efforts to drive more exclusivity into your business.  You always want to exceed customer expectations, but it is often the little things that the customer remembers the most. In New Orleans, they have a word they use lagniappe (pronounced LAN-yap) which means that little something extra- a delightful surprise.  It is often those small, unexpected things that people value more than you might expect.  So, give those little extras: a free sample, a small gift, a thank you card in the mail.  It is often these kinds of things that make the customer feel special and they in turn see you and your business differently.

Final note: it probably would not surprise you to learn that someone buying a Ferrari for the first time is surprised by a perfect miniature model of THEIR car, a customized leather key holder, and access to all kinds of special and exclusive events.  Ferrari understands that it is the big things AND the little things that matter when it comes to adding value.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou 

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Bob Salvas is a business advisor, a professional development manager for the RI Builders Association, and the coordinator of 4th Monday Networking.  You can contact Bob via email: [email protected]