We like Domino’s – from the story of its beginnings to the brand itself. We’re sure you’ve heard about their new pizza. Or at least, you’ve heard about the interesting campaign they’re running to market it.
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Hear George & Mary-Lynn talk pizza on The Bigg Success Show! Click the player to listen while you read [7:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Hear George & Mary-Lynn talk pizza on The Bigg Success Show! Click the player to listen while you read [7:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download___
They’re basically saying that their old pizza sucked, but this new one is good. The problem is that they’ve run ads in recent years talking about how good their pizza was. So what are we supposed to believe?
Domino’s built their business on fast delivery. They delivered, literally, an affordable product more quickly than any of their competitors.
It was a simple promise – you get your pizza in 30 minutes or it’s free.
Their business grew as fast as the pizzas were delivered. At one time, they were the fastest growing franchise chain – in number of units added – in the U.S.
But Domino’s had safety issues with drivers trying to beat the guarantee. So they backed off on fast. They had to find a new groove.
The competition
Papa John’s came along. They didn’t talk about fast. They built their business on good pizza that was still affordable.
In the meantime, Little Caesar’s came out with Hot-n-Ready pizzas. You stop in (they don’t deliver), pay $5 and walk out seconds later with your pizza. It’s about the fastest fast food around!
It’s definitely not the best pizza in the world. They don’t claim to be. They live up to their promise.
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The problem with “good, fast or cheap”
Good, fast or cheap … you only get to pick two. It’s a simplifying statement that we’ve heard over and over again.
In your customer’s mind: Value = (Service x Quality)/ Price
Let’s compare Good, Fast and Cheap to this equation.
Cheap = Price
Cheap, of course, relates to Price in that equation. In general, the cheaper your product or service, the higher the perceived value to customers. (This is not always true but that’s beyond the scope of today’s post.) Small businesses usually do best when they don’t try to compete on price.
Good = Quality
Good is the same as the Quality in this equation. (Good may not be good enough but we won’t go that deep here today.) This is a great way for small businesses to compete.
If we want a high quality pizza in our area, we go to one of two local places – Papa Del’s if we want a deep dish pizza or Monical’s if we want a thin one.
That’s a perfect example of how you can often niche your way around your competitors, even in a crowded market like pizza places and even competing on the same component.
Fast is mislabeled
Fast has been substituted for Service. That’s the problem with thinking good, fast or cheap. Speed is one way to serve your customers better but it certainly isn’t the only one.
It’s obvious that Domino’s wants to move past the fast image upon which they built their business. But they may have found more success sticking to a Service focus instead of jumping to a different component.
And that’s the lesson for us as small business owners:
Do what you love to do, but choose how you’ll compete. Stick with your strength – be it Price, Quality or Service – and you’ll be a bigg success.
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(Image in today's post by Egilshay)
