We were driving home from the in-laws yesterday and decided to play a game with the kids to keep them entertained. No gadgets in the back for us!
My husband set the task of finding five green cars.
Sounds easy, right? We are on motorways the whole way home – so two lanes of traffic or even three lanes in certain areas…both sides.
We found it practically impossible to find a green car.
Now, this got me to thinking. Are we living in a sea of tones of black, silver and white? Because that’s the majority of cars we saw. The odd red from the new Renault range, blue made the odd appearance aswell.
Is it because we all want to fit in?
Is it that we are so used to seeing shades & tones of black and silver on the roads and that is what influences us to buy?
When I got home last night, I decided to do a bit of research.
In the UK, green was a very popular colour back in 2006. But now it represents only 1% of cars bought in 2016. (Most recent data I could find).
In Ireland in 2017, green was less than 1% of the cars sold. In fact, it was at .72%. No wonder we struggled to find 5 green cars.
Grey was the most popular at 37% with black coming in at 19% and white coming in at 14%. Thats more than 2/3rds of cars on the road are in tones of black, silver and white.
And if we take this same idea of cars on the road to our own business live, two things popped out at me immediately
1. We’re surrounded by sameness in our business lives.
2. If you put a little effort in to stand out, you be seen to stand out of a sea of sameness. I like to say that doing extraordinary is simply doing a little extra to ordinary.
Now just like the cars on the road, you still need the skills and expertise to do the job. Nobody will buy a banged up, beaten up, rusting Green Rover (very popular in 2001) just because it’s green.
They want a car that is reliable and all the other features and benefits that go along with buying a car.
But have a look around your industry and see the sameness around you. What tones are you working in? And I’d like you to look at not just your client attract marketing. But also your service delivery, how are you dealing with clients? How are you keeping clients?
How are you engaging with them? And how are you standing out?
Remember only a couple of years ago, green was the colour of choice. Now it isn’t.
You need to innovate, keep ahead of the game and keep distinguishing yourself.
Contact me so you can rise above the sea of sameness that your business is operating it.
Doing a little extra to the ordinary will make a massive difference.
Take care,
Denise
