“Build A Better Mousetrap…

…and the world will beat a path to your door
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

A dear friend of mine is extremely busy right now. She has a ton of work and more on the way. She gained four clients in the past week alone, and these were folks who happened to see her work by chance.

What her title is, or profession for that matter, really is so unique that it’s up in the air as to how to tag it. So bear with me while I try to give you the skinny. Personally I would call her a Design Consultant. She looks at blueprints before the construction on the house (okay….more like castle) begins and gives her opinion on a wide variety of aspects of the construction; “can this wall be moved to add space or give a certain feel to the room?”, or “that entrance really needs to be over there for better access, I know my client and he’ll want to be able to get to this part of the home as quick as possible.” But wait! She also designs and is responsible for procurement and delivery of cabinets, lighting, rugs,furniture and more. Her involvement in the project is so deep that just the other night I saw her ironing shams (fancy pillow cases) so that they would be ready for when the beds arrived.

Her current project is a $4 million project, and at least one of her new clients has a home being built that is equal in scope. All this during the worst economic times in decades. Wow, you might be saying, or maybe not. Either way, I think it’s truly amazing.

She told me that she is loving what she does, but has no vision what her business looks like. What’s her next step? Buy a warehouse? (she currently has no inventory) Build a payroll?(she uses contractors and suppliers). She has no idea what her business model is.

It took about 2 seconds for me to see strong similarities with something I deal with every hour of every day. My business. Her business model is very much like an e-commerce site, or any business you see online.

She has a niche. She has a tribe. She has branding.

The most important part is the branding. Her reputation has allowed her to move about freely in her market. Doors open for her so easily. Here’s why; She is just a wonderful person to deal with. Pleasant, hardworking, and honest. People will bend over backwards for her because she finds ways to take care of them.

If it weren’t for her branding, she couldn’t have a tribe and no one would hire her in her niche. And I believe that her branding would be excellent in ANY niche she chose. I can say this because she is just now getting around to considering a website and through our talks I can tell that she has a good understanding of how to blog and what her webprint should look like.

Branding is all about reputation. Yes, people want to know that you know what you’re doing, but that doesn’t mean you stand on a street corner and yell every 30 seconds that you can show someone the secret to making thousands of dollars each week from the comfort of their home. Debra has no marketing campaign that has a flashing blue light above her head. No, her reputation is such that suppliers and contractors are feeding her new clients.

Reputation is about trust. People need to trust those who they are hiring or giving their money too for any reason. Okay any people who are not fools anyway. Obviously, trust won’t land on those who are not being sincere or friendly. Clients trust Debra with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of decisions because of her reputation.

Trust brings about comfort. Once people know they can trust you, and see your reputation as solid, then they will be comfortable enough to deal with you. Debra has a natural air about herself that is confident and non-abrasive. When you talk with her, you know she knows what she is doing without her bragging about it.

Unless I’m wrong, this is branding and this is building that better mousetrap.

~ by drifter0658 on February 27, 2009.