A few years ago I met Roy Spence. An assistant of his handed us a book he had recently authored, and he autographed it for me. It’s one of my favorite books, the title, It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For. Below the title is this statement, Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven By Purpose.
Roy is one of the founding principals at GSD&M an advertising firm in Austin. Their success has been incredible, and the client list is one that we all know the names well. GSD&M became outstanding in helping businesses, colleges, presidential candidates and states like Texas that had a passion for achieving a cause. You may have heard the slogan, Don’t Mess with Texas. This slogan alone impacted Texas dramatically cutting the cost of roadside clean up. It’s still in use today, nearly 40 years later.
What do you sell? What service or product does your company sell that makes a difference. To have a product or service that you are passionate about makes all the difference when you set down to plan your marketing. It’s why your product and services will be better than your competitions. It’s also what will give you a real competitive edge.
It’s incredible though; I find most companies we compete with work very hard to stay mediocre. They put enormous effort into doing so based on competitive cost. Sadly, their focus is on competitive price, not on a better product or ways to deliver a better product at a better value. It’s a vicious endeavor.
A dramatic turnover of sales staff then follows this the habit. Why? Because selling the average at a reasonable profit is difficult.
If you want a great business, an extraordinary company, make it a business of principals.
Stand for Something!
