(Time to read this Blog article is about 50 seconds)
The beautiful new 5 star cruise ship, The Viking Sun, does a number of things to differentiate itself for their specific target customers. The ship has no casino, no annoying ship’s photographer pursuing you and no bar staff endlessly flogging overpriced drinks. But the one thing in particular that ‘grabbed’ me was the 12” hot dogs at the pool-side grill.
I haven’t had a foot-long hot dog since I was a kid…and there they were on The Viking Sun. With onion rings! WOW. It was special because it was unexpected. How do the folks who run a cruise line based in Norway even know about foot-long hot dogs? But they did. Then, they had a basic human insight that their target customers would love them (who wouldn’t?).
They sourced them, they bake fresh, special 12” buns every day…then they take the time to toast the buns on the grill before inserting the hot dog. This is ‘heaven at sea’.
The Viking Sun ship offers gourmet dining in three different restaurants, but you’ll notice that I’m telling you about the 12” hot dog at the pool-side grill. What does that tell you about the incredible power of basic human insight and then doing the work required to make ‘special’ happen?
So, what are the ‘foot-long hot dogs’ in your business? And do you add ‘onion rings’? What’s special about you and the value and experience you deliver? What work are you doing to clearly differentiate yourself from your competitors? Mediocrity is no longer an option.
