I love to support lemonade stands when I see them. I always want to support kids who are testing the entrepreneurial waters. But the other day I saw a lemonade stand, the kids were holding their signs and waving them at passing cars and something clicked into place for me about why many small businesses struggle, including mine at times.
When you buy lemonade from a lemonade stand, why are you buying it? Is it because you needed something to drink? Is it because you wanted a lemonade so bad you could hardly stand it? Is it because you will get an amazing glass of lemonade? Odds are good it’s none of these reasons. The reason you buy is because you want to support the kids running the stand. I’m generally pretty sure it’s going to be the worst lemonade I’ve ever had. There is often no oversight, no quality assurance and these kids are just out there trying to make a buck. They aren’t focused on your experience.
If what I really wanted was lemonade I’d much rather go to Chilis. They have a selection of tasty lemonades that have always hit the spot. I imagine you feel the same way (maybe not Chilis for you, but somewhere you really like). You know what you want it to taste like, and you want it when you want it, not when it happens to be available on a street corner. Sure, you’ll pay more at Chilis but you know that going in and you’re prepared for it.
So, how are people viewing and spending with your business? I know there are times I support a fellow small business owner with a lemonade stand mentality. I am not buying because I truly expect excellence, I’m buying because I want to support them. The problem with this mentality is that it doesn’t tend to create loyal customers. I tend to use these businesses with low expectations and almost feeling like I am doing them a favor by supporting them.
I don’t want to make it sound like a bad thing to support small businesses, it’s a good thing, but here’s where the most important part of this lesson comes in for business owners. There are businesses I have hired or bought from with this lemonade stand mentality, but they have made me a believer. They’ve proven they were never a lemonade stand. They take care of me as a customer, they handle the need I hired them to and they leave me excited to do business with them again.
So that’s the question to consider as a business owner, or salesman. Do people see you as a lemonade stand or a real business? If they are willing to try you out with a lemonade stand mentality do you delight them to the point that they will be excited to work with you again?
VidVictory is not perfect at this, but we work hard to delight our clients and overdeliver on our projects. We want their videos to feel big budget even on a shoestring. The realization of this lemonade stand perception problem though has made me feel even more driven to make sure that clients have that experience that makes them excited every time they work with us.
