Beth Ewen,
Upsize:
bewen@upsizemag.com
dev.divistack.com
true blue
by Beth Ewen
I PULLED ON A PAIR of Cowgirl Tuff jeans in the dressing room of a fancy boutique at 50th and France in Edina. For once, I could call an afternoon of retail therapy “research,” because this is the brand made by our Upsize Business Builder of the Year, and I was duty-bound to check them out.
The jeans fit, as CEO Lisa Bollin promised they would, and in one size smaller than I normally wear-always a sure hit with women customers.
The rise is higher in the back than the front, nice for everyone over age 16 who doesn’t like the exposure. The bling is epic-far too much for someone like me, who doesn’t care to add rhinestones to a backside already substantial. The denim is super-heavy, perfect for a barrel racer or a horsewoman, but for anyone else it just seems hot.
It made me think about one part of my interview with Bollin, one of the savviest entrepreneurs I’ve ever met, with an authentic and compelling way of expressing her ideas. She talked about knowing her target market completely, because she is one of them: a woman who loves clothes and horses.
Bollin has built Cowgirl Tuff Co. by bringing fashionable jeans that fit to that customer, who was unable to find the same elsewhere in the Western wear industry, she says. She is being lured just a bit into the mainstream jeans market, and was proud to report she had gotten her line into a Jackson Hole resort boutique and that tony shop at 50th & France.
I’m not convinced that’s the way to go, though: Now she’s competing with five stores in one block that all sell multiple brands of premium denim, and likely with very few horsewomen walking in to buy. I have no doubt Bollin will figure out the right mix for her company, but the experience illuminated the importance of staying true to your core customer.
The distractions are legion for small-business owners from that central business tenet, and I was interested to hear how each of our four finalists for the Upsize Business Builder Awards wrestles with the issue.
At our private judging and reception event in November, Bollin at Cowgirl Tuff politely refutes the judge who suggests she add children’s clothes-profit margins are too low, she says-or jewelry-that’s not where her company excels.
Tom Salonek at Intertech explains the investment his company has made in virtual training for their core customers: programmers who teach other programmers how to make software. When asked why he doesn’t apply that model to other industries, he simply repeats what his company does best.
A third finalist, Jim Bergeson at Bridgz Marketing Group, details how his company is rolling out a new data analytics tool for Fortune 500 companies because those companies are the ones drowning in data. He is immediately asked if Bridgz can use the tool for smaller companies as well. The answer is yes, but you can tell he has committed his team to a target.
The point? Staying true to your target customer is an ongoing effort, and many, many people-your customers, your advisers, your vendors, your colleagues, your management team and even yourself-hold up bright, shiny objects to lure you in other directions. My vote is for those business owners who can articulate their brand so well-as Bollin and her fellow finalists can-and continue building it despite the distractions.
