Are You a Dandelion or a Flower?

My daughter loves dandelions. She thinks that they are just the most beautiful thing around.

I started to think about this and started to think about why it is that people don't like dandelions and why some even go to extremes to try and rid their lawn entirely of dandelions. It seems to me that the problem is that they are everywhere, and they are hard to get rid of instead of hard to get.

Flowers, on the other hand, can take more work You definitely can't run over a tulip with a lawnmower and expect it to pop back up next week (believe me I have tried). The reason a dandelion is a weed and not a flower is precisely that it pops up everywhere and will even take over your lawn given enough time.

I also had a conversation with someone the other day about a company I used to work for. This company really likes to have every product they sell to have SAVE in big red letters on it with a marker showing the percentage they save over MSRP, and then trow in three prices that are crossed out to show that they are lowering prices. Needless to say the pages of their web-site are extremely busy and "in your face". This person mentioned that they didn't like the site for precisely that reason. He had even purchased from there before, but doesn't go back because the clutter is distracting and annoying.

What could this company do to bring its costs down? They would get a lot better return if they treated their product like a flower instead of a dandelion. The focus for this company should be on how the company provides value, instead of attacking the customer with an onslaught of propaganda as to why they should buy.

So make your product a flower, especially if it is better, and treat it like one.