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What is Your Real Business?
February 12th, 2013
by Bill Boyajian

People mistakenly believe that the business they’re in is the article they sell. “We’re in the automobile business.” “We’re in the clothing business.” We’re in the jewelry business.” They always mention the item sold, not the product fulfilled.

At Apple, the product isn’t an iPhone or an iPad. Those are instruments they sell, but access to the world is their true product. At Loreale, the commodity is cosmetics, but the true product they deliver is the hope (or promise) of beauty. In the jewelry business, items of adornment are finished pieces of gold, silver, diamonds and colored gemstones — beautiful as they are — but the true product delivered is love, status, and emotional fulfillment.

You see, the commodity is what your customers actually walk out with, but the product is what your customers feel when they leave. Too often, we take the romance, the emotion, out of selling without realizing the devastating effect it can have on our customers. We rob them of the joy they should feel when we reduce beautiful jewelry to mere commodities, instead of emotional intangibles.

I’m a consultant and coach. I’m not in the consulting business. I’m in the advice and solutions business. The sooner we get our arms around our true business, the more our business will grow, and the better off our clients will be.



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“I needed help orchestrating a succession plan for our business. I had heard that Bill Boyajian specialized in assisting owners to transition their business to the next generation. He knows how to bridge the generation gap and deliver what each needs to hear. I would recommend Bill to any business owner who needs advice on succession planning from a trusted outside professional.”

–Charles Denaburg,
Managing Partner,
Levy’s Fine Jewelry
Birmingham, AL

"Our family needed some guidance on business transition and succession planning. We asked Bill Boyajian to help us because we knew we could trust him to tell us what we needed to hear. Bill became a valuable resource for our company and our entire family. He has the ability to meet each of us where we’re at and it has served us very well."

–Ceylon Leitzel
Leitzel Fine Jewelry
Hershey & Myerstown, PA

“We needed a plan to transition our business to a non-family member and we asked Bill Boyajian to help us. His experience in the area has really paid off, but we didn’t expect the added value of putting us together with a financial planner who helped organize our retirement needs. We now have the fundamentals to transition our business successfully, and we have Bill to thank for it.”

–Ernie & Debbie Cummings
Kizer-Cummings Jewelers
Lawrence, KS