“We have the best widget / best service / best blah blah…but not enough people are buying.”

Sounds a lot like a marketing or sales problem right?

It rarely is.

For sure, getting your sales and marketing right is essential, but more often than not, there’s some other constraint that needs to be unblocked.

Picture this…

You just got a job as a marketing manager at fast-food chain “Freshness Burger” in Japan.

The business had a huge problem - only a small part of their customers were women. They wanted to change that, and that’s why they hired you.

More marketing, more advertising, more pushing hasn’t been helping.

You know that women like burgers, so there’s a deeper reason behind why they’re avoiding your burgers.

You noticed, that not only your burger chain is affected. Japanese women avoid other burger restaurants as well.

In Japan, tradition and modernity often dance in a delicate balance. The concept of ‘Ochobo’ - a small, modest woman’s mouth is valued by Japanese culture.

It's considered rude and unattractive for women to open their mouths wide, especially when eating something like a big burger.

This made it hard for women to enjoy eating at Freshness Burger because they felt uncomfortable and self-conscious.

You come up with the idea of the "Liberation Wrapper" – a special napkin that covers the mouth

while eating a burger.

This wrapper has a picture of a polite, small smile, making it easier for women to eat in public without worrying about being seen with their mouths wide open.

And it works like magic! Sales at Freshness Burger increase by 213% in just one month.

If you’re sales have plateaued, it’s rarely the main thing that’s at fault.

In the case of Freshness Burger, they could have kept tweaking the burger recipe, getting better ingredients, and improving the service. It wouldn't have helped…Because the problem wasn’t anything to with the main thing.

The main thing is never the main thing.

You can’t read the label from inside the bottle.

That’s where an external set of eyes is a lifesaver.

Would you like someone in my team to be that external set of eyes for you…for free?

Book a marketing audit HERE.