99 Cows (Book Review)
Over the last weekend I got around to reading Seth Godin’s follow up to Purple Cow (which I admit I haven’t read yet) titled 99 Cows. Its a list of just over 100 examples of businesses which have been remarkable – worthy of being remarked on by sneezers (people who talk about your product, service, company). Each example is short and basically tells you what they do to be remarkable to their customers.
The thing that you won’t find in this book is a single generalist. None of the businesses discussed has aimed for the centre of the pack with a mediocre please-everybody response. Its a book about businesses that are successful because they operate on the fringes and target niche clients in a particular way.
When you think about how you purchase, how you make decisions on price and value most examples make instant sense. How many times do we slap ourselves on the forehead and wonder how we didn’t think of that first? Or, worse, you may see an idea you had but never moved to achieve. After all, in today’s economy anyone can get something manufactured cheaply so its our ideas which are going to make us rich.
From 99 Cows I found a little inspiration and a lot more confidence. I’d like to see Seth come up with a current version of 99 Cows, too. The only failing of this one is the feeling that some of the extraordinary purple cows are now more than common place. Still, in context, the book makes its point. Mediocrity isn’t a sales pitch – remarkable is.
