Launching Something New With People Who Don't Give A Sh*t.

Do your customers give a shit? (about you, that is)

Many don’t. Probably. But the ones that do, signal their intent, their love, their ‘give a shitness’ by, amongst other things, how much they pay.

The ones who give a shit are inclined to pay more, to invest more.

There is edge in interactions like these. And in edge there is attraction. There is a pull, something which compels them to seek you out, over and over. You are doing something right.

What makes a client give a shit?

The same principles which apply in the playground, when we’re teenagers, in bars, clubs, on dating websites. We are attracted to people we connect with. We are attracted to people whose story we’d like as our own. We are attracted to people on who we can stick our own story (yep, that’s the less palatable truth….!).

What is true in the playground, is true in the work ground.

Client’s are attracted to you when you look good. Clients are attracted to you when other people are attracted to you. They are attracted to you when they can stick a story on you they like. They are attracted to you when your story is one they want a piece of. In all these things, there is edge.

You can’t be for everyone. You don’t want to be for everyone. In fact, the less you are for, the more compellingly you are for others. Go straight to that edge - to the place where you are clearly for some people and for not others. Stick your finger in the scab. Wiggle it around. Inflict some pain. Turn it up. Really be for those people. And really stop being for the others.

Like SoulCycle. Know them?

They’re Michelle Obama’s favourite spinning class (thats bikes, not political manoeuvring).

They took New York by storm.

They’re branching out into all sorts of other things, media, tech etc.

And they’ve been nosing around London for a while.

But how to launch into a crowded market?

Start with who you are not for. And go deep.

What if they were only for New York / American ex-pats living in London? People who know and are familiar with the brand already? Use the positioning to create some edge. Build a story, the products and services, very deliberately around this audience and very deliberately not around the rest. Create some edge. Be for someone and so not for someone else.

Be bold. Seek out a scab and stick your finger in it.

Customers who give a shit about you are the most important thing. And for some to give a shit, others can’t.