Why Are They All the Same?
May 6, 2010
On our recent trip to Puerto Rico, we had the opportunity to taste some of the local food. Actually, we tasted a lot of local food, all of which we thoroughly enjoyed.
One unexpected surprise was the abundance of kiosks – small stands selling different types of homemade specialties, including pastelillos, piononos, arepas rellanas, alcapurrias, and pinchones.
On our way back to San Juan from the east coast of the island, we passed a long row of about 60 different kiosks – these weren’t free-standing, but rather were more like stalls in a long strip-mall kind of setup. They ran the full range from nice to ramshackle, but the food we tried at several of them was fantastic.
The problem was that in most cases, the items on display were virtually identical from one vendor to the next. As we walked from one stall to the next, we both had the reaction: it all looks pretty much the same, so how do we know which ones to buy?
When it came down to making a decision, we bought the ones that had the fillings we were interested in. If one vendor didn’t have that one ready, we went to the next one.
This may work for street vendors, but it’s a death sentence for you in your business. If people perceive what you offer as completely interchangeable with other companies’ offerings, then you’re playing the commodity game – a very dangerous place to be.
Make sure you offer something truly unique, and make sure that you position yourself that way.
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