Positioning Systems Blog

It’s 1960, and you borrow $500 to open your business. You and your brother are partners, but a year later your brother wants out, so you trade a Volkswagen Beetle for your brother’s half. You’ve got some ideas, probably strange ideas for the business you are in [pizza restaurant] and in 1967 you are finally ready to launch these. You remove the tables and decide that instead of placing your restaurants in high traffic areas you’ll place them close to your customers, in easy driving distance. You shrink your ovens so that you can cook your pizza faster, and viola! Dominos Pizza is born! 

You can look at Dominos Pizza and be impressed with their growth and the 30 minute pizza guarantee, but if you only look at the guarantee you miss the point. Everything Tom Monaghan did in creating Dominos was designed with the intention of meeting that delivery guarantee. The message might have been brilliant, but without the design and model behind the message it would have never worked.

In our Rockefeller Habits Two Day Workshops we work with our customers on helping them develop their Brand Promise. Your Brand Promise is the key fact that sets you apart from all your competitors. It brings your customers to you. 

We tell our Gazelles Clients that your Brand Promise must be:

§ Unique

§ Measureable

§ Fill the right customer’s needs.

Can one argue that Tom Monaghan did exactly this with his 30 Minute Delivery Guarantee?

At one time I was a big fan of Dominos Pizza. When I was single I’d guess I had one Domino’s pizza a week for a 4-5 year stretch. Yikes!   I was always disappointed when they bowed to public pressure and eliminated their 30 minute guarantee. My feeling was that a minority of people were outraged with the accidents that happened and that everyone could forgive and understand how one bad driver doesn’t destroy the work of a company. Still Dominos moved away from their 30 minute guarantee and arguably their distinct differentiation moved away with it.

They are back now attacking the 30 minute delivery guarantee, and while I’ve either outgrown their pizza or they’ve changed how they make them so much that I’m not a big fan anymore. However I am a believer in their Brand Promise, and respect and admire the intense work that they did to create a significant differentiation in the pizza business.

At the Fortune Small Business Growth Summit in New Orleans, Verne Harnish told our Gazelles Coaches that a Brand Promise should be painful. It should be hard to do and hard for your competitors to duplicate. Ask yourself if that’s true for your Brand Promise. You do have a Brand Promise don’t you?

Next blog we’ll discuss pricing and whether lowering your price in the present economy is a good idea.

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Positioning Systems helps business owners and entrepreneurs transform their business.   We provide the tools and coaching to help you take control of your business -- rather then having your business control you.