Mike Stopforth

Yesterday my wife phoned a local, small-ish pool company to request prices that we could compare to the much larger Penguin Pools before we make a decision regarding who is going to help us install the time consuming headache happy new addition to our little home.

The conversation went something like…

Wife: “Hi, I’d like to get some idea of pricing for a fully installed splash pool”

Arb Pool Guy (with attitude): “Why? Are you looking to start up a competing company?”

I kid you not. No ‘hello’, no ‘how are you’, just straight out. Wendy was so blown away she was speechless. I’m glad she phoned and not me - my good nature would have been severely compromised. Needless to say we won’t be pursuing a business transaction with that idiot.

The thing is, I understand where he’s coming from too. He’s trying to make a living in a world where everyone sells the same damn pool shells, at similar prices, marketing themselves via similar channels, each day in and out, until they’re blue in the face. No pun intended. So many businesses - homogeneous industries especially - worldwide are suffering the margin-depleted reality of our globalised, commoditised economy.

So how is it then that I am prepared to pay no less than a gob smacking R 19,50 for the caffe moccha pictured on the left at Vida e Caffe in Sandton? At the current fuel price of R 7,17 per liter, about 12 km to the liter, and about 72 km’s to Sandton and back, my gorgeous caffe moccha sets me back about R 65. Hmmm…

You see I spend this ridiculous amount of money on a cup of coffee because of the entire Vida experience. Vida has reinvented coffee for me. I can get coffee at a hundred thousand other places - but I want Vida. Coffee shops are no longer a homogenous industry - Vida is changing the game. By homogeneous industries I mean those industries where everyone does everything the same way. DVD rental stores are a good example. Domestic flights are a bad one, because Kulula.com changed that game. They reinvented an industry. So did OUTsurance.

I was afforded the privilege to address the South African WASP fraternity the other day. WASPs are Wireless Application Service Providers. The guys like exactmobile, iTouch, MTN and more that provide you with ring tones and wallpapers and farting monkeys. I urged them to take up the mantle and change the game!!! They’re all keeping up with everyone else! Their entire industry is a big game of keeping up with the Jones’. It’s hard, and getting harder, to make a lot of money that way.

Cerebra has enjoyed a fair amount of exclusivity in the social media consulting sphere in SA for some time now, for which we are really grateful, but that won’t last long. There are handfuls of you out there doing your best to edge into our space and do it better than us. Bravo, I say. Bring it on. You see - like Richard and his gang at Missing Link - I love competition, because I know just how good we are at doing what we do, and I’m confident we have some of the top minds in the industry sharing office space together.

Think about it - when you meet with someone and talk about your clients, do you use their real names (the clients, that is)? Or do you refer to them as ‘my client’, or a ‘leading motoring brand’? C’mon, for crying out loud! If you’ve ever met with me you’ll know that bugs the living daylights out of me… Are you that insecure about your ability to deliver and how capable you are of maintaining that relationship!? Be exceptional! Be remarkable! If you change your game, whatever it is that you find yourself doing, you won’t have to worry about the competition who sells coffee for only R 5 at a local tuisnywerhuid. Your loyal customer will still pay R 19,50 for yours.