The Better Mousetrap Myth of Business

You have probably heard the saying, “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.”  I have always disliked this saying, because it’s not true.

Many small business people think they can create a great product, get funding, and start producing that product, and everyone in the world will flock to their business to get that product.  It’s not going to happen.  The “better mousetrap myth” ignores one concept: you have to tall people about your mousetrap so they know where to find you.  Even more, you have to convince them they want that mousetrap, need that mousetrap, and can’t live without it.

Napoleon Hill, author of the classic motivational work Think and Grow Rich, said:

In the end, the customer doesn’t know, or care, if you are small or large as an organization.  She or he only focuses on the garment hanging on the rail in the store.

And Peter Drucker, probably the greatest management guru, said,

“Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for. A product is not quality because it is hard to make and costs a lot of money, as manufacturers typically believe. This is incompetence. Customers pay only for what is of use to them and gives them value. Nothing else constitutes quality.”

if you want your small business to succeed, it’s not enough to build a better mousetrap.  Think first about what problem your customer has and how your mousetrap can solve it. That’s value.  That’s what will make your business successful.

Image: sxc.hu