Why Please Everyone?

I saw some private research yesterday which tested reactions to a variety of propositions and displayed them in pyramids of popularity. The implications were obvious - those at the top were worth pursuing, those further down were not.

But, the researchers didn't have the courage of their convictions because I also noted that a number of the propositions were asterisked. Asterisks are never good and this was no exception because these asterisks indicated propositions which had "generated a highly polarised response." The implications of that were again obvious - this polarisation was a worrying thing.

Of course it wasn't - it was a very good thing. If an asterisked proposition stood at the top of a pyramid it meant that a large number of respondents were really passionately in favour of it. As I have written before, that's exactly what you want.

If you worry about displeasing people who will never be your customers, you end up trying to please everybody. The only way you can get close to that is by being average and being average is nothing to shout about.