Gap creates a gap

Seth Godin posted about The Gap having to close stores. I can remember when I lived in Royal Oak, MI (the coolest place to live in my book) that the Birmingham store was the place to shop. Right on the corner of Woodward and Maple, it drew a crowd? Why? Because it was different than any other store around.

Now there is a Gap for everyone. Along with regular people there are separate stores for babies, kids and preggers. There is even a gapbody, whatever that means. Hey, Gap, you lost your niche. In your rush to blanket the world with your overpriced clothing, you became a blur. You are just like J.C. Penney and the hip (does that word date me?) don't want to be seen there.

That's a lesson for all of us.

What makes you unique? Know and exploit that for all its worth.

And it is worth a lot!

Four Will Make More

Ya' want to know what makes me really happy?

Well, I'm going to tell you anyway!


This week, I put four people together in a meeting. They all have the same target market. Two of them had just met last week, but for the most part they were not acquainted with each other.

It was really neat to see them begin to share. They told about industry journals they read, people in the industry they'd already met, information they gleaned, conferences to attend and just a general atmosphere of open sharing. It was too early to share clients, but they did talk about some of their clients and even named a few.

What will happen next? They have another meeting scheduled in about a month. Hopefully they will understand the synergy they can generate for each other. I have to let them take it from here.

Mary, Angie, Darlene and Karen you made my day! Thanks!

What makes your day???

Attention Grabber

Really, I get so tired of people saying, "I can't focus on one industry because I've tried it and it just doesn't work." So they bump along the bottom of the river like a carp, taking care of whatever falls down to their level.

Sometimes it's good, and sometimes it's not so good.

This week I was meeting with one of my new BNI chapter members. She happens to be a copier sales person. In a passing comment she mentioned to me that in her short time with her company that she had sold one of the electronic filing systems.

Knowing that the price tag makes it a major purchase, I was just curious as to which law firm or CPA firm she had cracked.

Wasn't that at all. It was a medium-sized, local trucking firm.

The amazing part was that she hadn't thought about calling on other transportation companies.

Until I asked.

Additionally, I have three people to introduce her to. A CPA; an occupational, health-testing company sales person and a financial planner. They also, all have truckers as customers. The four of them are going to get together as a group very soon to see how they can help each other.

What can I say but, they set themselves up for success when they each told me that they work and want to work with more trucking companies.

Do you have anything to add to this, either for or against this concept?

Seth's Words in Ann Arbor

Today I heard Seth speak in Ann Arbor and answer questions from the audience. He did not use the words target market, but alluded to them so many times.

This post is such a laugh because the ad tells us that whatever this company does, it probably won't be done well.

Doing everything for everyone satisfies no one.

Most people are afraid to limit the audience they sell to, but the ones who figure it out, are the ones the push through "the dip." Thanks, Seth. I'm glad it's not about quitting!

Pink Tonka Trucks

Somebody asked me tonight about how I keep all the networking information straight in my head, so that when someone says that they are interested in trucking, I remember others that also have the same focus. I had to reply truthfully that I really didn't know the answer and probably I'm really not that good at it.

What stood out for me in the example I gave, trucking, is that of the four or five people who have mentioned that they are focusing on the trucking industry, all of them are women. Now, I'm all for women doing any job. I do have to admit that because of the gender involved, it became a memorable, top-of-mind piece of information for me.

What can we learn from that?

If we're unique in some way, we will be top-of-mind.

There are plenty of people who tell me that they're target market is small business owners. I can tell you that they are a blur in my mind. The description is way too general for me to remember. They are blah.

How do you remember who to connect with whom? What is your system?