Business positioning — Gotham Garage and market thoughts
I was watching the third season of Gotham Garage on Netflix: a reality series that revolves around a car shop that remodels customizes and brings old cars back to life, transforming them completely.
These guys sell more than cars: they sell creativity. Its style is unique and the shop has built a solid brand around its non-standard deliveries. They thrive on conceptual expectations.
The project
In episode 2, a customer arrives at the shop with his El Camino saying he chose Gotham Garage because he heard they were the BEST, the experts! Nice. With the car, the customer gave them a to-do list: “I want this wheel and tire, I want a vinyl rooftop, the color will be unchanged, so, and so, and so.” The shop owner was already suspicious, as this is not the company’s modus operandi. But OK. The team gets together, draws, and lays out its ideas according to the client’s expectations (and his damn list). Planning is done, it’s time to get to work.
The problem
On a random afternoon, the client shows up at the garage with the wheels and tires he wants to be installed. Of course, they are completely different from the team’s vision. Two days later, the same client calls, asking to undo the vinyl top, which had been completed moments before. He was changing his mind nonstop. Micromanaging and being super active in the work of a company that positions itself as creative was not working.
In the client’s mind, he is helpful: he takes wheels down to the shop and calls as soon as he changes his mind about an item. He is saving time.
In the supplier’s mind, the client does not trust the shop’s creative choices and does not have clear expectations about the outcome.
The result
The team gets together, talks, and dismisses the project. Of course, they are at a level of solidity that makes this decision possible. The revenue would be welcome, but as the business moves forward, their positioning in the marketplace would suffer:
- What if they started to be approached by other execution-only clients?
- Is this really the company Mark built?
- Was the shop killing its essence and differential features?
- How about the team? After all, they work there because of their culture — a challenging environment of unlimited creativity.
Thoughts about business positioning
At this point, I started to think about how companies position themselves in the market and how important the role of the leader is. Mark, the owner of Gotham Garage, listened to the team, felt the client’s micromanagement impact over other creative projects, and made the decision of canceling the deal.
He was true to himself, to the essence of his company, and to his team.
Everyone can have a different perception of what happened. If money was tight, maybe Mark would have to accept the project even though it was not aligned with the company’s purpose. Anyway, he took a risk after listening to his team and you can be sure that this moment reinforced the bond and loyalty of these employees. They go to work every day with absolute certainty of the company’s purpose and they are proud of it.
As for the positioning of companies in the market: definition and clarity are once again, key. When a potential client is doing his research to find a contractor, he will probably visit your website, your blog, and your social networks. That’s when you need to be clear about who you are, what you do well, and what type of project will be the right choice for that customer. You have the opportunity to clarify your vision about the projects you embrace, what your strengths are, and how the company does and does not work.