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Okay, I’ll admit the title of this post is a bit odd for a marketing blog, but it relates specifically to the title of a book by this week’s guest on the Duct Tape Marketing podcast, Mike Michalowicz.

Michalowicz has written a book called The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field

As goofy as the title may sound, the book contains the essence of an idea I’ve been promoting for many years and that is – if you want to stand out you must narrow your focus and get really, really good at one thing.

According to Michalowicz the idea for the book came about after reading an article about a local farmer who had dedicated his life to growing giant pumpkins. Michalowicz realized the same process could apply to growing a business.

Here are few of the nuggets contained in this quick read.

Plant the right seeds: Don’t waste time doing a bunch of different things just to please your customers. Instead, identify the thing you do better than anyone else and focus all of your attention, money, and time on figuring out how to grow your company doing it.
Weed out the losers: In a pumpkin patch small, rotten pumpkins stunt the growth of the robust, healthy ones. The same is true of customers. Figure out which customers add the most value and provide the best opportunities for sustained growth. Then ditch the worst of the worst.
Nurture the winners: Once you figure out who your best customers are, blow their minds with care. Discover their unfulfilled needs, innovate to make their wishes come true, and overdeliver on every single promise.

The ideas contained in this formula may seem simple, and they are, but why aren’t more people doing them? Take the advice contained in this book and you’ll discover the best way to stand out in your field.