I was looking through my personal book collection recently and opened Harry Beckwith’s book, You Inc. By the way, if you are serious about growing your shop or even just running it better, I urge you to visit your local bookstore occasionally and check out the business books section. Flick through them and when you find something that catches your eye, buy the book and read it. I guarantee that every business book you care to pick up will have something you can use in your business—some nugget of advice or a tip that could make a difference to your business.
What caught my eye in Beckwith’s book was the chapter on the rule of OMT (One Memorable Thing). It’s about ” . . . the power of simplicity, and the role of the unforgettable.”
In the context of a sign shop it would be doing that one memorable thing that would make you unforgettable to a customer or prospective customer. It’s all about breaking through in an era when so many businesses have so many options in services and products. He mentions cornflakes manufacturers and explores how they can break through and be “memorable”. And let’s face it, much of the time the sign business is pretty much like the cornflakes business for its “sameness” of product.
One of the stories he tells to demonstrate the rule of OMT is about a Catholic nun turned market researcher. She learned that her client loved baseball and things that were unusual or offbeat. So one day she was delighted to find a brown baseball with matching brown thread seams (as opposed to the usual white ball and red stitching). She bought it, wrapped it nicely and sent it to her client. He says that it began a lasting professional relationship.
Consider the rule of OMT—it could make a difference to your business in a market where everyone is clamouring for an edge.