Memecast #34: There's No Such Thing as a Commodity

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I hate the word commodity. When I see product managers or marketers or salespeople using it, it makes me think they're lazy.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It makes me think they haven't thought through what they're really saying because there really is no such thing as a commodity. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Think about the ultimate commodity product for second and that's gold. I could look online and tell you what the spot price is for gold right now. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And then I could go to a webpage and I could buy a gold medallion and it turns out if I go to more than one gold broker, I'm going to get a different price for that gold coin.</span></p> <p><strong>“There is no such thing as a commodity. There is no such thing as a commodity. There is no such thing.” - Mark Stiving</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now, why is that even possible? </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is a commodity. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">How could one company be charging me more money than another company would?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Well, there are lots of reasons. Maybe the company that charges more has faster delivery or better credit terms, or they've built a reputation with me, or they have a better looking webpage or they do a better job at marketing and attracting customers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There are lots of possible reasons. Maybe the gold itself is a commodity, but there's so much going on around any acquisition, any purchase that we shouldn't be thinking about our product as a commodity, because the moment we think we have a commodity, we stop thinking about how can we differentiate it?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">How can we create value in the buyer's mind? So repeat after me. There is no such thing as a commodity. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We hope you enjoyed this podcast. If