MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. Why You Really Can’t Have It All
OK, so it’s our nature as high achievers to want it all. As a consumer, we want stellar services and products, we want them cheap, and we want them NOW! As young leaders, aspiring entrepreneurs, or rookie business owners, we really want to meet all those expectations. Is this really Mission: Impossible?
Here’s the rub: A while back I had a mentoring client named Michael, who has allowed me to share this with you. Michael has a great product idea that he’s bringing to market that I’m convinced you’ll all be hearing about. There are several similar products available, but he’s been frustrated that they’re too expensive for what you get, they wear out easily, they aren’t aesthetically pleasing, and custom orders take weeks for delivery.
When he shared his value proposition that he wants to deliver an exceptional, Made in the USA product; 10% cheaper than the competition; world class, U.S.-based customer service; in-stock items delivered in 24 hours, and custom orders delivered within 72 hours, guaranteed; he could see the grimace on my face through the video conferencing camera.
He immediately asked, “What’s wrong? I know I can capture market share with this approach.”
“Well,” I said, “it’s a nice dream, but we rarely experience all three sides of ‘the triangle’ at any one time. You may be able to deliver, but at what cost?” Michael had not heard of “The Law of the Impossible Triangle.” Which reminded me that I should share the concept with you, too. The bottom line: reality sucks, sometimes.
Mission Impossible?
The Law of The Impossible Triangle (also known as The Triangle of Truth, The Quality Triangle, The Reality Triangle, and others) is that you can expect to obtain two out of three (Cheap, Fast, or Good), but you’ll be sacrificing the third.
If you want something that’s fast and cheap, be prepared to lower your expectations about how good it might be. Lower pricing means lower priority and fewer resources to delivery on the quality. Good takes time. Good requires additional resources and expertise—read “more money.” If you want something cheap and good, you’re not going to get it very fast; and finally, it you want something of good quality, and you want it fast, it’s not going to be cheap.
Restaurants struggle with this dilemma everyday…fast food restaurants want us to believe that we’re getting the highest quality meals available, quickly, and inexpensively. Hey, I love McDonald’s Double Cheese Burgers and large fries as much as anyone, but come on, those aren’t the highest quality calories I’m consuming for fuel.
Michael pushed back for a little bit, assuring me that “you don’t understand.” I asked, “Have you run the numbers on this yet, Michael? Won’t you need a larger, better-trained, more costly team to produce these results than your competition? Why aren’t your competitors doing this now?”
Choose which sides to emphasize
After the initial sting wore off, we devised a plan to develop a product that is, indeed, superior to others on the market, it’s certainly more attractive, and it’ll be delivered quickly. With the pent-up demand for these attributes, we were sure we’d find our niche and wouldn’t need to sacrifice on the price point. So, we’ll exceed expectations on the GOOD & FAST elements, and expect consumers to pay a premium for an exceptional product and stellar service.
We developed an on-line survey using the FREE version of SurveyMonkey.com to query the top 100 Centers Of Influence in Michael’s industry to get specifics on potential consumer wants, demands, pricing, delivery options, etc. Michael now has a provisional patent on his improved product; he’s meeting with a “competitor” to collaborate on a joint product (utilizing their infrastructure and manufacturing facilities), and has pre-orders waiting for the product launch (at a 20% premium over the highest priced competing product)!
All this with bigger margins…can you hear the cash register ringing from over there?
Embrace the Impossible Triangle! After all, reality is your friend.
