Über-Differentiate

What does it mean to Über-Different?

You might want to dig deeper at Wikipedia or accept my intent that Über means Super and differentiate means different. Why not just use the word “Super”? Call it author’s prerogative. I just don’t want it to sound like you have to be like a Super Walmart. Remember, small is the new big.  One part of the definition is that über is cool. Yea, that’s us. Or you might want to lean toward öbercool, which means higher up. Higher up cool? Let’s not get that deep into it just year.

One of the difficult issues to deal with is that when the people from garden centers or any other type of business put their heads together there is some bad to gain along with the good. Group-think can work against you. We need to take the good and go elsewhere to look for more, rather than to just take the good and leave the bad. There is a tendency to look for the good, but also the tendency to stop looking when we become good enough. Remember that good enough is the enemy of great. Good enough is the arch enemy of Über-Differentiate.

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I am frightened of old ones.”

– John Cage

I wish looking for better ideas in new places were the only or the biggest issue, however it is not. The biggest issue is that we tend to look for ideas before we look for principles and ground ourselves in the fundamentals of our business. I submit to your thought that the greatest problem independent businesses have today is that they operate on a foundation that is basically quicksand rather than bedrock principles.

Principles are the foundation of business and that is the reason why we teach and talk about principles of marketing, merchandise management, financial management, and so on through all aspects of a business.

What was that about Über-Differentiate?

Continuing to build upon basic principles we can now Über-Differentiate because our business is well supported -fundamentally speaking. It was worth repeating.

Über-Differentiation has its own set of principles I will reveal as I update this blog posting.

Here is Über-Differentiation Principle #1

“There is an emotional connector required to bring our customer and our merchandise together at any point in time.”

“Shoppers don’t love a store because they love the merchandise they carry. They love a store because it touches them personally and emotionally.”

– Pamela Danziger

If you would like to know the other principles of Über-Differentation please click here to subscribe to Strategies Blog updates via email.

Advertisement