The term “no-brainer” is one you may hear in conversations about a business deal, product development or simple observation. It’s not always used in a complimentary fashion, but it makes a succinct point. It’s something so obvious that it requires no brainpower.
Take for example a story connected with this month’s Uniquely Cleveland on the Cleveland Grays Armory Museum, the site used by a private militia called the Cleveland Grays in the 19th century as a storehouse for weapons and equipment.
When Vice President Dick Cheney came to Cleveland in 2004 for the vice presidential debate at Case Western Reserve University, a post-debate rally took place at the armory.
Grays President William Roediger said a female security detail from the Secret Service was inspecting the site in advance of Cheney’s appearance to make sure there were no potential problems that might affect Cheney’s safety.
“Sir, this place is full of guns,” the agent told Roediger with alarm.
“Lady, what part of ‘armory’ don’t you understand?” he asked her tongue-in-cheek.
End of story — but not of the lesson.
The point is, Roediger was teasing the security detail that her comment was a “no-brainer” — and a little research might have helped her to ask a more intelligent question.
Some months ago when I interviewed Grant Cleveland, founder, president and CEO of DuneCraft Inc. he told me about two opportunities he called no-brainers.
DuneCraft decided to launch children’s garden kits that licensed Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants.
It didn’t take much thought to expect that 5-year-olds would take to the products. But the character labeling took away the broad appeal for other consumers. Only 13 percent of the products sold, compared to the usual 93 percent of other DuneCraft products.
And it wasn’t just Dora or SpongeBob that sunk.
“I had a bunch of licenses. I thought for sure this thing would have a great payoff. But it absolutely didn’t,” Cleveland says.
His second opportunity, which seemed like a winner, was to add confetti, foam and glitter to the water in floral vases to make a 3-D scene.
But Cleveland discovered that the floral industry was different from industries with which he was familiar — it was controlled and exclusive. The powers-that-be threw roadblocks in front of him, and he was frozen out of the market.
These were both learning experiences for Cleveland. While they may have been expensive, they are excellent examples of not being afraid to try something new. The business landscape is scattered with missteps and failures. It takes stepping out of your comfort zone to grow, and all those steps are lessons that teach a principle to remember when the next product or service is launched.
Dennis Seeds is editor-at-large for Smart Business. Reach him at [email protected].
