I think so.
Unless you are in the tinyiest of markets, there are businesses, organizations, and people competing for the attention and beliefs of your customers. You will have allies and enemies and periods of active and behind-the-scenes aggression. You can set out to not fight, but if someone brings a fight to you… you’d better respond strategically.
It is naive to think, as I’ve seen some “experts” promote, that if you just think good thoughts and kiss up to your competition, that you’ll all just “get along.” Just like companies that train their negotiators to take advantage of the “win-win” philosophy of negotiating, there are sharks ready to take advantage of naivity in all aspects of business.
P.S. Back to the office again, and the blog will shift back to the normal frequency.
Dan Sherman posted about the luxury cinema business — essentially a theatre that caters to a higher-end customer, providing service and comfort beyond the norm.
We’ve got one in the DC area, in Chevy Chase, Maryland. When they built the cinema, only one of the theatres was in the “high-end” mold. Plush leather seats, large trays for food and drink, a full bar and mini-restaurant. I don’t go often because it’s a 30 minute drive from Northern Virginia (other side of DC than Chevy Chase), but I recall a ticket being around $10 or so. It was nice. If it were closer it’d be the only theatre we went to.
A few months after the opening, the owners said the luxury theatre just scratched the surface of demand, and if they did it again everything theatre would be in that mold. This is not a new story. People will pay a significant premium to avoid inconvenience, discomfort, and get a higher level of service. Smart small businesses can serve this niche very well, but most don’t out of fear, ignorance, or lack of marketing knowledge.
Dan’s post is worth reading. See: Luxury Cinema Business.
