Misguided Positioning

"Murali Medicals A/C" screamed a banner in front of my eyes. This set me into a trail of thoughts.. Ok another medical shop has come around in the neighborhood. That's ok, there seems to be a place for many more given the number of people I see queuing up in the doctor's clinics. What though puzzled me was the suffix they had added in the banner - "A/C".

I don't remember spending more than two minutes in a medical shop ever. There is a prescription, the guy behind the table is normally well aware of the positions of these medicines and he gathers them deftly. A bill is presented in the end and I walk back with my picks. The only reason I may end up spending more time is either when the shop is crowded or if the guy behind the table is incompetent. (I am assuming that the medical shop guy has mastered the art of deciphering the doctor's handwriting, which usually is a superhuman quality in itself). In both these cases, I am frustrated. Speaking for myself, in both these cases, whether there is a A/C or not, my frustration is not going to reduce.

Given this scenario, whats the use of having an advertisement which tries to build out a differentiation argument, based on a metric which is irrelevant. I understand that an A/C can keep the owner comfortable. Period. However, to try and build an argument of differentiation around it, is non-sensical.

Murali Medicals, is not alone in this madness. I see it all around. Misguided differentiation is actually omnipresent. I see hotels advertising that they are specialists in Tandoori and Chinese, I see airlines positioning themselves as low cost and full service, I see products/ services trying to achieve a position of being cheap and best. In my business school days, I have seen some of my classmates trying desperately to bring out their differentiation by including thoroughly non-sensical information in their CVs.

All these instances are sure-shot recipes of disaster. Firstly, identify and understand things that matter; Build competencies on these relevant metrics and then go ahead and confidently cement your positioning. Rise and shine.