Nobody wants to hear that their baby is ugly

October 07, 2015 2:55 PM

My grandfather spent forty plus years in the wholesaling business.

One piece of advice he gave me that I always remembered was, never fall in love with your own inventory.

In his case, he was referring to a million square foot warehouse with five hundred palettes of ugly, chipped coffee mugs. But his insight could also be applied to a number of different areas.

Take branding, for example. The most seductive of all business activities. The one area where owners are most likely to fall in love. I remember consulting with a fashion brand whose company made an remarkable product, but whose product name was hard to say. And awkward to spell. And embarrassing to share. And intimidating for the layperson to understand.

In fact, one of the company’s biggest customers said she was reluctant to even talk about the product she loved so much, for the fear of looking silly when she mentioned the name.

But the decision had been made. The time and money and manpower had been spent. And there was no way the company could revert the name to something more approachable. They fell in love with their own inventory.

Behavioral economists call this phenomenon the endowment effect, wherein people ascribe more value to things, merely because they own them.

It happens all the time. An organization’s preoccupation with their own property traps them into an ego vortex, and they wind up making assumptions about consumer priorities based on their own excitement. Because nobody wants to hear that their baby is ugly.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What parts of your business have you fallen in love with?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For a copy of the list called, “20 Ways to Make Customers Feel Comfortable,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

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Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com