New Business Tactic: Dominate Your Market by Getting Customers to Hate You

While most companies trod the conventional path of hoping customers will love their products, a few savvy businesses are cashing in-and killing their competition--by taking the opposite approach.

(PRWEB) January 31, 2005 -- A handful of businesses, both small and large, are discovering that theres gold in getting customers to hate their products. Because on the flip side of that hate is an unabashed love by a smaller, but highly devoted, segment of customers who are eager to buy.

"Its counter-intuitive, but it works extremely well," says Bob Serling, founder of Idea Quotient, a business innovation think tank. By deliberately designing products or services that generate a strong emotional charge in your customers, you can polarize the market and capture tremendous market share."

Serling cites the example of Renault, the automobile manufacturer that deliberately designs ugly" cars and turns off as much as 75% of the market. But that other 25% become devoted buyers and evangelists for the brand," he says. And these days, owning 25% of a market can easily put you in the dominant position."

Any company can learn how to do this. Its really just a matter of adjusting your perspective," Serling continues. Ive seen companies create polarizing strategies that have quickly resulted in sold out products along with large waiting lists of customers wanting to buy."

Serling has written an article on this unconventional approach, called Make a Big, Loud Difference". It describes the process for creating a polarizing product or marketing campaign, relates two case studies of this strategy in action, and demonstrates how significant increases in sales and market share can be produced without any additional cost. The article can be accessed for free at www.IdeaQuotient.com/bigloud.html

Bob Serling is the founder of Idea Quotient, a firm that specializes in creating breakthrough ideas for products, services, and marketing strategies. His firm has helped companies outperform their competition in a broad range of industries including software, toys, insurance services, training products and services, food containers, household products, and gift items. He is also the author of the forthcoming book, The Eureka Project -- How Individuals and Companies Turn Ingenuity Into Profits".

# # #