(This is the third in a series on The Power of Choice – Leveraging Configuration Technology to Differentiate, Simplify, Perform and Win, by Mike Shields, Co-Founder and CEO of eLogic Group.)

WHY “Thin-Slicing” & “Long-Tail” Marketing?

“Listen to ME and respond…

…so it’s easy (and even fun) to buy from you”

“We will celebrate your order tonight with liquid refreshments”

A CIO friend of mine recently called me to tell me about a GREAT experience she’d just had. She had seen a handbag somewhere and it led her to do an inquiry to Freitag, a small, fast-growth designer bag company. She was basically ‘over the top’ satisfied with what she found – and ordered two bags… each one custom. She told me that the entire process was engaging, fun and satisfying… and these are expensive bags.

Freitag started as a company making bike messenger bags… from canvas. How did they end up selling internationally to a high-end consumer market?? What these two young entrepreneurs did was to create a unique product and service experience for each potential buyer. You can actually go to the website and pick a canvas (one of the ones that cover transport trucks in Europe)… select a section of that canvas for your bag and then select your desired features for the entire bag … openings, pockets, straps, etc. It comes to you as YOUR bag. Not only that… the correspondence was timely, efficient, friendly and very ‘new and fresh’… My friend couldn’t wait to stop by our office to show us the bags… as well as the order documents… NOW Freitag has both another customer AND another salesperson.

This was a game changer …from bike messenger bags to boutique/designer fashion products – enabled through the power of differentiation.