Simply Better
Simply Better by Patrick Barwise and Séan Meehan
In Simply Better, Barwise and Meehan present a compelling case that the best strategy for companies to retain and add customers is to excel at the basics of their business category – not by creating a unique selling proposition.
The foundation of the authors’ theory is that customers meet their needs by making a category purchase rather than by buying a particular brand. For example, people choose fine dining and then select from the available brands. They do not say, “I’m going to Ruth’s Chris. Now, am I going to have a burger and fries or the surf and turf?” The same applies for cars, televisions, clothing, etc.
Simply Better provides numerous examples of companies that have an intimate knowledge of the category benefits and have parlayed it into the best overall combination for customers.
The authors recommend that companies improve their category prominence by creating a “pure air” culture based on two principles. The first principle is seeing debate and challenge based upon facts and objective observation as a force of good. The second principle is that no one expects an easy yes for new ideas, meaning that only the best ideas ultimately make the cut.
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