You and Santa Both Need The Same Thing

Santa would be redundant if little children didn’t believe in him…. He stops coming if you don’t believe, that’s the way it works.

The elves would be laid off, the reindeer would be put out to pasture, and the Big Man would probably retire to a beach in the Maldives. If your product or service doesn’t have a market, you won’t last long. According to a 2012 survey, Santa has a potential global market of 526,000,000 Christian children under the age of 14. That market size in impressive, but how many are true Believers? 100 million? Maybe…. That is still more than enough to justify his strict fitness regime every autumn.

Santa runs a hugely impressive operation, making use of modern day technology wherever possible, and using cutting edge market research to slice and dice the wishes of the children. However, with the accumulated wisdom passed down from the Santas before him, there is only one number that truly matters:

The number of Believers (yes, with a capital letter).

Ok, enough of the sugary Christmas metaphors, but this example is very valid for any business, no matter what size. Do you know how many Believers your business has? How many Believers do you need to break even? How do you go about collecting and retaining your Believers? Are you delivering something unique and compelling that makes their life that little bit more worth living?

Santa has a great feel for all of this, but do you?

How many times have you done something thinking that it is a great idea, only for the reaction to be lukewarm? Did you approach the idea from your customer’s perspective or your own? It is so easy to “talk up” an idea in your head (and in the heads of your colleagues) and before you know it, it morphs into something totally different from what the market actually needs.

How many times have you talked up a project to your superiors, knowing full well that the basic numbers didn’t support it? Getting a feel for the potential support from a certain initiative isn’t always so tricky. Get close to a representative selection of your customers and a small “straw poll” will often suffice. Why don’t we do this more often?

On the flip side, how many times have you tried to dictate the “rules of the game” to your Believers? They have free will, they can choose to stop believing at any time, and the moment you attach some strings to the relationship or go back on previous promises, they will be more likely to drift away. If Apple products suddenly become cumbersome to use, they will lose their believers overnight.

In my opinion, the biggest aspect of retaining your believers is offering them a value-added service that they understand, saying sorry when the service isn’t up to scratch and acting on their feedback to delight them even more. Believers are your ideal marketing team – they will spread the word if you deliver what you promise. 

I’d like one of those hoverboards please Santa. I do believe, honest.

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