Melinda’s Gone – Is Your Business Next?

The shocking conclusion to American Idol
Has profound lessons for your business

Even if you’re not a fan of American Idol, you’ve probably felt the shock waves: Melinda, the overwhelming favorite to win, was voted out of the competition this past Wednesday.

The most amazing voice. The best set of pipes. Undeniable talent. Performances that kicked butt.

Yet the verdict from viewers: She’s gone.

Unfortunately, it can be the same with your business and your products.

You can have a great idea. Super qualifications. Great content. And positive, can’t miss reviews from your colleagues.

Yet when it comes time for the ultimate test, you may still come up empty.

So what can you do to insure you and your products make it all the way through and receive that resounding vote of approval the fate of your business may depend on?

While its just a TV show, the stunning conclusion to this week*s American Idol vote holds out some important clues for product creators:

Leverage your unfair advantage

Everyone loves a great story. And someone who isn’t old enough to vote winning American Idol is a great story. And while Jordin didn’t totally milk the fact she’s 17, a show didn’t go by when either she or the judges didn’t call attention to it.

Call me a cynic, but if Jordin was 27, instead of 17, she would have been gone long ago.

It may not be fair that folks are enamored with underage achievers. But as long as it’s the truth, why not make it work?

My guess is that somewhere, YOU also have an unfair advantage. It may be the folks you know, your rags to riches back story, a skill no one else in your field has. Don’t be afraid to get as much mileage from it as you can.

Stay within yourself

Even his most ardent fans will admit Blake’s voice is adequate at best.

But rather than fight it, he did a brilliant thing: He chose songs that would minimize his liabilities and maximize his strengths. The flakier and riskier the arrangement, the better. It doesn’t matter he's not a belter, when he can get folks focusing on everything else he's doing. It’s the ‘ol misdirection ploy. And Blake’s catchy sound effects and outside the box take on popular songs took everyone’s attention off his thin pipes.

Weaknesses don’t become liabilities when you can hire others to handle them for you or, as in Blake’s case, focus your customers’ attention on what you’re good at so they don’t notice where you fall short.

It ain’t over til its over

Don’t give up! Remember back in the Idol Gives Back show? It looked as if Jordin would get the boot as the other five finalists were all declared safe.

But . . . surprise! In a shocking twist, no one would be voted off that week. Everyone would return.

The same thing happens in business. Market conditions change. A skill nobody cared about two months ago is suddenly the hot thing. Out of the blue, a friend hooks you up with a powerful JV partner. A speaking gig with 20 people in the audience leads to one with 2,000. The darndest things can happen.

Until you’ve absolutely taken it to the wall, don’t take yourself out of the game.

Take advantage of market conditions

Dumb luck! Blake found himself as the only cutie pie boy matched against two women. Guess who gets 100% of the cutie pie boy vote? And because of the young TV demographic (many adults are simply to busy to cast votes on a TV show) you have a large, youthful segment of the market hungry to cast their votes for a cutie pie.

It’s the same principle that catapulted n ’Sync and the Backstreet Boys to mega success. Are they the very best musical product? No. Did they give the market what the market wanted most? Yes.

You can do the same. And you can do it without compromising your principles.

The Visibility Tack: Position yourself away from the crowd

Sorry if this is sounding like the Blake Show. But the guy truly deserves the Taylor Hicks “You’ve got to be kidding me” award, for getting the most mileage from simply being different. I’m not saying he purposely chose to be the Artsy Idol. That may just be who he is. But you can’t argue with the results.

Sure, you probably can’t compete with the Internet Marketing Cartel, and their in-breeding joint ventures. But if you’ve got a unique asset, talent or skill set that your market might find desirable, why not position yourself as the go to person who delivers on it?

Don’t fish in a pond crowded with other anglers (some with boats a lot bigger than yours). Find a pond stocked full that no one else has discovered and cast your lot there.

Got your own Idol Business Analogies? Was I too hard on ‘ol Blake?
Would love to hear your take.