Banana Profits? Why the funky name?
How a trip to the grocery store changed me forever
One day, several years ago, I was grocery shopping with my wife. I hate grocery shopping in general so I was sort of spacing out walking around with her thinking about things that I normally think about like whether there’s a Red Wings game on, if the new SI Swimsuit Edition is out yet, and what’s for dinner. You know – typical guy stuff. So I was walking with her down the produce isle when suddenly something happened that I’ll never forget. What I saw actually changed me forever.
I saw something unmistakeably amazing!
I saw a bushel of oranges.
Tada! Crazy huh!?
Here’s the “rest of the story”, as Paul Harvey says.
From the distance I could see something on top of that bushel of oranges. I couldn’t quite make it out until I got a little bit closer. As I approached this thing on top drew me in like a magnet and made me want to go check it out. Whatever it was on top of the oranges was different and it definitely did NOT blend in. It was yellow and oblong and not round and orange-colored, like the bushel of oranges supporting it.
What is that on top of the bushel of oranges?
Within about 25 feet it became crystal clear to me what it was atop that bushel of oranges.
A single fresh banana
Tada!! Ok ok, there’s a little bit more to it.
By now I’m completely tuned in to this banana on top of the oranges. I couldn’t stop staring at it. I wondered: Why is it here? Did someone place it there on purpose or was there another reason? Why was it one banana instead of a bunch?
Then it hit me like a load of bricks.
This wonderful yellow banana was actually telling me a story.
The oranges below that support the lone banana represent our competitors. There are so many of them that from a distance the oranges blend together and have no individuality. Orange A = Orange B = Orange C, etc. From a fair distance it almost appears that there is a sea of orange in the bushel, as they blend together so well.
And then there’s the Banana
But that lone banana on top is so different that one has no choice but to notice that it’s completely different from the others. Yes, it’s still a fruit, just like our competitors are cleaners and restorers too, but it’s so different from the others that it has aPeel. (har har – lame – sorry)
The Bananas make the world go round
Since that fateful day I’ve looked at every business I work with as working to become that Banana amongst a bushel of Oranges. I want the companies I work with to stand apart and be noticeably different in good ways from those oranges that blend in below it. Every day I strive to be a Banana so that prospects and customers know that me and my company are not like the others. We’re different. We’re appealing. We have taste. And there is only one that can be a Banana in that bushel of Oranges. That’s us. And that’s going to be you, if you want to join me on the way to the top.
Banana Profits was born
The parallels hit me so hard that I named Banana Profits, LLC in its honor. If we want to thrive we MUST be that Banana because blending in with the Oranges is a horrible place to be. When we bleed excellence in our business and lives, we become one with the Banana.
How does being a Banana apply to your company?
Before sending out any marketing piece or implementing any new system ask yourself this: “Is this Banana?” Is it fresh? Does it stand apart from the crowd? Is it inviting? Does it have appeal? If it passes the “Banana Test”, do it. If not, make it Banana or scrap it completely. Being a business owner is one of the most exciting “jobs” in the world! We can really underscore this excitement, make it fun, and leave a positive mark wherever we go and wherever we clean by being the few, the proud, the Bananas!
Scott
