Quote:
Originally Posted by GordonJ
In the case of recipes, trade secrets, how do we let our target market know we have the secret? KFC had stores and advertising.
I get that secrets of other things is important, but if you are offering a service or product, how do we let our markets know we have this specialized knowledge?
Having secrets is kind of a general idea, can you give any more examples?
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Hi Gordon,
Sorry for my slow replies... Just been so busy...
It depends on what kind of secret it is... It might not even be one that your customer needs to know about.
For example, one guy told me how years ago (I'm guessing maybe the 1930s or 1940s), his uncle found a source (I think from another state) for fruit and vegetables he could sell in St Louis, Missouri. Because of this source, he could sell for below the prices everyone else was selling at, and still make great profits!
However, he didn't keep his mouth shut, but told others of his source... Within a year or two, all his competitors were buying from the same source. His amazing business, which he had from having this great "secret" source, dried up!
Another example is one I mentioned earlier, Zildjian cymbals. Zildjian has been run by the same family for 400 years. They sell around 65% of the world's cymbals. They make their cymbals from a secret alloy... They don't advertise (to my knowledge) "buy our cymbals made from our secret alloy." Instead, I think drummers buy their cymbals because they like the sound! The secret alloy makes it hard for competitors to copy that sound!
Kenny Aronoff on Zildjian Cymbals by Sweetwater (for a long time, he was the drummer for John Mellencamp)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTfuK90VkfQ
It's not necessarily easy to know a "secret" that can help you in business - but I think you have to look for these. If you can find one or more of these, it can help you make extraordinary profits...
(It's a kind of toll position... But toll positions are a broader concept, and I would say knowing a useful "secret" is a subset, that is, a specific type of toll position...)
Best wishes!
Dien