TRADER JOE’S

Trader Joe’s is a health-conscious grocery store with an arguably cult-like following of people who like high-quality products at affordable prices. At Trader Joe’s, gorgeous flower arrangements for under $10 make every day the perfect day to give someone a bouquet. Affordable wine means you never have to show up to a party empty-handed. And the high-quality food products Trader Joe’s carries are pretty much exclusive to them. You can’t go buy a Trader Joe’s item somewhere else. . . but you can go down the road to another health food store and pay more for a similar item.

If you declare that you hate Trader Joe’s at a party, people may look at you like you just kicked a kitten. Why? Because Trader Joe’s in-house brand is solid, and if you go to their website, they’ll spell out what they sell (and how they stand behind it) as follows:

Trader Joe’s private label products promise great quality fare for exceptional, everyday prices. We taste everything before we put our name on it and offer only what we feel is extraordinary. We tried it. We like it. If you don’t, bring it back for a refund or exchange — no hassles.

When you see our name on a label, you can be assured that the product contains:

• NO artificial flavors or preservatives
• NO synthetic colors
• NO MSG
• NO genetically modified ingredients
• NO partially hydrogenated oils (artificial trans-fats)
• NO “marketing” costs
• YES tasting panel approval
• YES quality ingredients
• YES great price

(Content from www.traderjoes.com)

Trader Joe’s food sales are a byproduct of what they are really selling: Values.

Trader Joe’s is selling quality. They’re selling natural flavor. They’re selling trust. This is a platform that allows them to control current inventory while also creating an inherent screening process for new and exciting products that will be a match for their current customer as they move into the future.

If a new product meets all of the listed requirements, it can be added into inventory. If not, it belongs in a different store with different values. No product is worth breaking a customer’s trust, and Trader Joe’s knows it. When considering Question 1, think about what are you really selling and how can you define it in a way that helps you to continue to introduce new products and services without alienating your target customer.

APPLE

If you remember, the #1 company on Forbes 2014 list of most valuable brands was Apple, and they are a fascinating case study in identifying one’s target customer.

Now, if you are an Apple-phile, please don’t be offended when I point out that Apple has not always been #1 in the computer world. Apple has definitely had its fair share growing pains when it comes to gaining market share. Back in the twentieth century, Apple’s high price tag and incompatible software allowed competitors like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and many others to successfully edge Apple out of the work place.

Yet, ultimately, it wasn’t usurping Microsoft’s hold on the workplace as the word processor of choice that took Apple to #1. The shift in power occurred when Apple embraced the fact that all work and no play made Mac a dull boy. Forget boring documents! Apple needed to position Macs as the go-to technology for people who were all about art and expression and music. And given how rampant digital piracy was in the early 2000s, Apple knew exactly what people wanted: they wanted what came to be known as iTunes—the ability to buy portable music at an easy-to-stomach price.

After decades of trying to get a solid foothold in the market, Apple had finally found its sweet spot in addressing the digital piracy epidemic. The day Apple made it their goal to get all their customers to legally buy all their music through iTunes was the day Apple started marching up the path to #1.

Training consumers to buy music files that were only playable on Apple software put the entire music industry on the path of going digital. This same digital revolution then expanded to include movies and other forms of entertainment (and is now copied by other companies wanting a piece of the digital pie).

How serious is Apple about having you buy every form of entertainment through their iStore? Well, they’ve started removing CD/DVD drives from their latest hardware offerings. No more uploading CDs or DVDs to your computer. If you want content on your iPhone, iPod, iPad, or any other iDevice, you need to buy it through Apple.

And this dynamic came to pass all because Apple made the choice to say: Our target customer wants access to their music at all times. Let’s do that.

And they did.

As you consider how Question 2 applies to your brand, remember that the answer may not be what you think it is. Use any validated research or hard data you have at your disposal as your guide and ask yourself: Who am I helping, and how?

SHANE CO.

Shane Co. is a national jewelry chain. It’s by no means the largest jeweler in America, but its brand keeps growing because it knows its differentiators.

• Your friend, Tom Shane, has spent decades developing strong business relationships that get you the best product for the best deal.
• Shane Co. cuts out the middle man, handpicking their jewels one at a time before leaving their castoffs to be bought by other jewelers.
• Exclusive designs mean you won’t see your jewelry on someone else.

Another differentiator is Shane Co.’s consistent use of the owner’s voice in all of their radio advertisements. While other brands switch out voice-over talents and actors from commercial to commercial, Shane Co. sticks with the same dry, nasal tones of owner, Tom Shane. And in a sea of radio songs and commercials that are trying to sound perfect, Tom Shane sounds homespun and under-produced, and that’s a differentiator.

If you don’t know Shane Co. is a thriving national chain and you hear their commercials, the Shane Co. commercials might get you to believe that Shane Co. is a little-guy upstart that’s trying to get your local business away from the jeweler giants.

Why? Because of their message reassuring you that  Shane Co. is:

• “Your friend in the diamond business”
• Hands-on in selecting only the finest jewels for you to choose from
• Friends with sellers who always let them buy diamonds their competitors never even got to see
• Committed to creating one-of-a-kind designs you won’t see anywhere else

So when answering why people should buy your brand over the competition, think about not only what you do, but how you do it. Then think about how that can be a value-add to your customers. Write down everything you can think of and then simplify them into bullets. And remember, your answers should be simple, straightforward, and easy to understand.

CHIPOTLE

The last century has shown a massive shift in how and what people eat in developed countries. Farming and ranching have been drastically altered to meet the demands of an ever-growing market. For example, a few years back it was reported that a half a billion chickens were required to provide Buffalo wings on Super Bowl Sunday alone.

In a financially driven market aimed at providing more and more meat for less and less money, animals universally come out as the losers. Chipotle knows this and they’ve taken a stand.

If you have never eaten at Chipotle, it is a franchised Mexican grill specializing in burritos and tacos. Its menu requires a lot of meat, but the company has chosen to be very specific in its meat requirements. They believe in animal rights, so if you wish to sell your meat to Chipotle, they are going to come tour your facilities.

What will they be looking for?

It’s important to Chipotle that animals they source have lived natural lives. So if your pigs spend their lives in a pen, Chipotle is not interested in your meat. If your cattle aren’t free-range, then Chipotle will pass. If your dairy cows don’t have daily access to outdoor pastures, the Chipotle representative may just chastise you before s/he leaves. And if you pump your chickens full of antibiotics or hormones, Chipotle won’t touch them.

Chipotle is in the meat business, but Chipotle loyalists will be quick to inform you of how all the ingredients are ethically sourced. Yes, they may be eating beef, but it’s from an animal that lived a good, natural life.

This matters to Chipotle ownership just as much as it matters to all the loyal customers that could easily go eat somewhere else, but don’t.

So as you consider Question 4, take a look at how your personal ethics inform the product or service you are providing. Think about the words and causes others use when describing you. What do you value, and how has that value made its way into your business?

Chipotle builds company policy about ethical treatment of animals, while the ownership of Chick-fil-A feels so strongly about their Christian faith that they are closed on Sundays. These policies are values that may cause you to connect or disconnect with these companies as a customer, and Chipotle and Chick-fil-A fully accept the consequences of allowing these values to be brand identifiers.

Is Chick-fil-A a more controversial company than Chipotle? I think most people would agree that it is. The values inserted into their brand are arguably more divisive than the values of a cigarette company like Marlboro. I point this out not to tell you that you should be controversial, but to clarify that there is room for everyone in business and if you have values, there is no reason to hide them.

Maybe you believe in obsessive cleanliness.

Maybe you believe in volunteering time in the community.

Maybe you love animals and support a local rescue or shelter.

Maybe you believe in daily exercise.

Maybe you keep your eye on the latest fashion.

There is a nearly endless list of qualities and values that can help you attract customers who want what you are offering, so if you don’t think you have a value-based brand identifier, think again. We all do. And if you still come up empty, then ask around, take a look at what you’ve “liked” recently on social media, or take a personality quiz to get your wheels turning on where your values lie and how they inform your work.

There is no right answer for Question 4. There is only an authentic answer.

McDonald’s

McDonald’s is an example of a business leader literally changing the world. Founder Ray Kroc brought the assembly line into fast food and automated the food-making process. Despite the fact that few people openly champion McDonald’s for having the best food, they still serve over 70 million customers each day.

Why?

The ease, accessibility, predictability, and uniformity of McDonald’s menu offerings clearly holds an appeal. That appeal has empowered ethics that have shaped the food industry as a whole. And that industry is literally shaping the human race—how we eat, what we eat, and the (im)balance of our calorie intake.

The automation of food, making formerly scarce and laborious-to-prepare meats easily accessible, may have literally changed how humans eat for the rest of time. In this regard, Ray Kroc changed the world. That is his legacy, and he’s proud of it. If you were an industry leader, how would your business practices change the industry and maybe even world? How would you change the world, and what legacy would you be proud of?

Now that you know who your motto speaks to (you and your employees), it’s time to brainstorm mottos that are a match for your business.

What is a mantra you can all say as you work?

What is a motto you want everyone to live up to?

Keep it simple. Keep it straightforward. Great companies are built on simple mottos everyone remembers.

Take a look at some mission statement examples from successful companies.

Trader Joe’s

“The mission of Trader Joe’s is to give our customers the best food and beverage values that they can find anywhere and to provide them with the information required to make informed buying decisions. We provide these with a dedication to the highest quality of customer satisfaction delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, fun, individual pride, and company spirit.”

IKEA

“At IKEA our goal is to create a better everyday life for the many people. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.”

Patagonia

“Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”

Create Your Second Cornerstone

Be thoughtful when crafting your mission statement, but not pretentious. There is no need to present yourself as anything you’re not. The more honest you are, the simpler the statement will be. And the simpler it is, the more it will resonate and be remembered. That’s what you’re looking for.