In this monologue‑style podcast episode, the host draws a parallel between the scarcity and desirability of Ferraris and Rolex watches to illustrate a core business insight: customers often buy what they want rather than what they need. He explains how the long waiting lists and high price premiums for Ferraris—especially in a small, high‑tax market like Singapore—mirror the allure of luxury watches, and uses this analogy to argue that entrepreneurs should focus on uncovering true customer wants through direct conversation. Citing Keith Cunningham’s The Road Less Stupid, he emphasizes the importance of asking customers what they want and then delivering it. He shares a concrete tactic: reach out to a sample of about 12 top customers, conduct structured interviews, and use the feedback to refine product features, experience, and communication. The host also introduces his own Blueprint Operating System (Blueprint OS), a playbook‑based framework that helps small business owners transition from “rainmaker” to “architect” by using blueprints for processes. Linked to Blueprint OS is the SCALE acronym, which defines five milestone goals for businesses with $300 K–$3 M in annual revenue. He stresses that even when product changes are limited (e.g., insurance policies), businesses can still adjust positioning, onboarding, and communication based on customer insights. Finally, he encourages listeners to take a restorative break before 2025, reinforcing the message that rest fuels better leadership.
Chapters
Hey, everyone. So I just had this conversation with someone the other day. And I said, you know what, I don't think I've actually ever shared this on the podcast. And so I'm calling this one Ferraris in Singapore. So hang with me. It's an analogy, but I think it'll apply to your business. So I'm not really a car guy. I mean, I know some people that are. I've got a couple of friends that just really love cars. I mean, you know, obviously my sons can love to see a Ferrari or a Lambo or something like that, but this has never really been my thing. I drive a pickup truck and that's what I like. And maybe one day my favorite car would be a black matte Range Rover. So maybe I'll get one of those one day. Anyway, back to the point. So let's think about Ferraris. I'm actually going to even draw kind of a parallel to Rolex watches here for a second. So if you think about a Rolex watch, if you walk into a jewelry store now that sells a Rolex, or even a Rolex certified dealer, or a Rolex dealer themselves, in attempt to purchase a Rolex, they're not going to sell you one. They're sold out and they put you on a waiting list. Now you can buy a Rolex on the third, you know, on the aftermarket for sure. But to be able to get it from a dealer. Now, unfortunately, some people, I guess maybe not unfortunately, it's just the way it is. They'll actually flip watches. They'll be on the, on the list and they'll buy it and then they'll flip it and make it a couple thousand dollars on the market. But that's why typically dealers try not to do that because they want to sell it to somebody who's not going to go and just flip the watch. So the point is, is that they're oversold and they're oversubscribed, as Daniel Priestley would say. They have more demand than supply. Well, Ferraris are similar. I have heard— and again, I don't know enough about the different models of Ferrari. Apparently there's one that is the more popular one, and it, it's a 2 to 3 year waiting list, which is actually about the same length from what I understand to be able to get a Rolex from, or a Rolex in general, from one of the dealers. Now, the different types of Rolex that you may be on a waiting list for, I think a Daytona Rolex is 3 years plus, a Sub might be, you know, 12 months, etc. So let's just go with 3 years for a Ferrari. And it's my understanding those cars are, you know, certainly a couple hundred thousand, if not $300,000 or $400,000. So they're incredibly expensive cars, number one. And number two, it takes you a long time to be able to put on the waiting list to get one. And, you know, it's not like you can just walk in very many Ferrari dealerships, put your name on the waiting list. They're going to want to know who you are and vet you, etc. Okay, so now let's think about Singapore. It is a very small country, although incredibly wealthy, right? You think about the— how condensed the population is in Singapore. It doesn't really lend itself very well for someone who is wanting to buy a very fast sports car. Singapore itself has some very expensive import taxes, to the tune that it would actually cost double oftentimes for somebody to be able to get a Ferrari Singapore as it would in, say, the United Kingdom or in the United States. So we already have a very expensive car. Now it's costing us twice as much for it to be in Singapore. And number 2, what are you gonna do with the Ferrari in Singapore? The, the streets are narrow. The streets are— certainly you're not going much more over 10 miles an hour with a Ferrari. So then that leads to a question. Why are people buying Ferraris? Well, often the same reason they're buying a Rolex. People buy what they want, not necessarily what they need. If you think about in a big city, New York, my son and I were in New York recently. You know, we took the subway at times. We also took an Uber a couple of times. You're trying to take an Uber in Manhattan, it's difficult. And if you think about having a sports car in Manhattan, it's not the— probably the most ideal vehicle to have in Manhattan, right? I think it's also not necessarily the best car to have, a Ferrari, in Singapore. But people buy what they want, not necessarily what they need. So here's the— here's the application or the implementation guide to our businesses. Number 1, find out what people need. Number 2, go and give it to them. Find out what people need and go and give it to them. And that specifically is from Keith Cunningham in my favorite business book of all time, The Road Less Stupid. He says that— I don't know what chapter it is, but he talks about just find out what people want and go and give it to them. He did not say find out what people need. And go give it to them. Now, I know some of you listening to this may say, yeah, but Bradley, what I sell, you know, if you're an insurance agency owner as an example, you know, I can't just go and give it to them. I can't change the policies. I can't change the products. You know, that those, that this is not applicable to me. Hang with me for a second. Okay. Because I'm going to apply it for you as well. But the person I was talking to did have a product where they actually were— could make changes to the product offering. In fact, he was beginning to consider making some changes. So we had had some discussions about what that may look like and some new product ideas. Classic entrepreneur. That's the new product ideas that he wanted to spin up for 2025. I said, before you do that, I'd like for you to reach out to some of your top customers. And reach out to 12 people and have a discussion. And he has that. Matter of fact, he's had 8 conversations, about to finish the rest of them. And he was so excited for the insight that he had gained by speaking to his customers, by speaking to them and finding out exactly what it is that they love about the experience that they get with his company. And also, he's able to share, like, what are some of the frustrations that you have? And so what that does is helps him to pinpoint the product changes that he needs to make to his current product, but also consider what things he might want to add to his product ecosystem going into 2025. For me, we've also done this. There was at the beginning of the year— look, I'm a huge believer of an operating system, that there's a place where all of your systems and your processes get put into playbooks and those playbooks get organized a certain way. And all that together forms a comprehensive operating system. We call that Blueprint OS or Blueprint Operating System. The reason it's called that is because if you're going from being the rainmaker of your business, you become the architects. What architects use? They use blueprints. And so that's, that's why it's called Blueprint OS. And so one day I had a discussion myself with someone and they said, It was actually after one of our webinars that we had done, and he would jump on a call and follow up, and he, he just continued to share, yeah, I need to do that, I need to do that, I need, I do need one of those operating systems. And unfortunately, he actually didn't join. He's come to several other things, but he hasn't joined to become one of our members yet. It's totally fine. But it was from that that made me really kind of I had to go back and take a step back myself to say, yeah, people do what they want, not necessarily what they need to do. People do what it is that they want. And so it was really from that conversation at the beginning of the year that I started to make some edits and changes to where things are ultimately. Now we rolled that out to our members, etc., so on and so forth, to be able to help small business owners to be able to scale. Now we use SCALE as an acronym and That's outside the bounds of this podcast, but we specifically have come down to 5 specific milestones for small business owners doing $300,000 to $3 million in annual revenue. Okay. So when I was able to start surveying both our members and prospects and trying to figure out what it is that they actually wanted, not necessarily what they needed, by the way, the operating system is absolutely still a big part of, a huge part of kind of what we do. But when you started to survey, so to speak, and even surveying kind of informally, I would float questions out and I actually had a document. I could begin to start to formulate some conclusions. So what's the application to you? What's the application to you if you have a business that maybe you can't make changes per se to the products or the policies that you may offer? You can still survey your customers to find out how you can cultivate the experience that most of your customers are looking for. How do they love to be communicated with? Do you get an idea that the majority of them love and prefer text message? Or maybe they prefer email, but we don't communicate via email as much. What about in the way that the phone interactions are? And here's my one cautionary tale. You've got to do this with enough of your customers to make sure that you're not just getting it anecdotally from one person. So covering a wide swath— a wide amount, a lot of different of you. People that are your customers to find out what is it that they're looking for. And even though you may not be able to change the product itself, it may be— might be able to change how you even position it. So if you've done something for a long time, you can kind of get in your head about what you think people are looking for. Whereas if you go and find out and actually survey your prospects, but also survey your customers, You begin to find out, no, what they actually want is this. And so how can we make changes to maybe the way we interact with our customers, or maybe the way that we onboard prospects who become our customers, to make sure we simplify it and we're using language that they use every single day. So the whole point of this is, for Ari Zinssouber, people buy what what it is they buy and then experience what it is they want, not necessarily what they need. And the way that we do that is through periodically surveying your customers. This is a great time of year to do that. Call some of your biggest customers, but also call some of your maybe not as big customers. Maybe call some of those that are really like, hey, this is a standard. Customer. This is like our average customer here. Really want to hear from them. Also, they will love hearing from you. Most businesses don't do this. I know I certainly had not done this before, but actually speaking to customers— and I'll leave you with this last one, and I don't know where I picked this up, I wish I would give credit to it— but almost All of your problems in business can be solved by just speaking to your customers. Hope this was of great help to you. Hope you've had a great 2024. Hope you're looking forward to 2025. Take some time away. Take some time away for you to get away from the business, to rest, rejuvenate, recharge, so you come back with even better energy and enthusiasm about the year ahead. Lead well and go be great.
