Narrowed Focus — Expanded Success: 3 Brilliant Company (and Leadership) Examples
In a world of endless choices and ever-expanding product catalogs, there’s something refreshing about simplicity. Imagine a restaurant that serves only three items on its menu, a tech giant that crafts just a handful of groundbreaking devices, or a retail giant that offers a limited selection of bulk goods at unbeatable prices. These companies have mastered the art of focus, deliberately narrowing their offerings to achieve excellence. In doing this, they are well known for what they offer and have a loyal following of customers. Customers that come back time and time again, and sign their praises every day. You don’t have to imaging them, they exist.
In-N-Out Burger keeps their menu simple. Burgers, fries, and shakes. That is basically it for one of the most popular fast food restaurants out there. Not only do they limit their menu, they limit where they expand because quality over quantity keeps them regionally focused to ensure they can maintain the freshness of their ingredients. In-N-Out Burger, while well know, only serves the western part of the United States. Most restaurants are located in California, but they have expanded to Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and even some in Texas. Longer-term plans will bring them to expanded areas, but only when they can ensure they have the infrastructure to support the same exacting standard they have for their existing restaurants. This narrowed focus ensures that they do not compromise what they were founded on. Simplicity and quality.
Most technology companies have a sprawling number of products, and they continue to offer more and more each year. Apple bucks that trend and keeps their line up of products much more limited to maintain the product excellence they are known for. They primarily offer three products, iPhone, iPad, and Macs. Yes, they have a few other complimentary product lines (AirPods, HomePods, and accessories), but those are there to support the pillars of their offering. In 1997, when Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he immediately reduced the product offerings and culled the product assortment to be more simplistic, so the company could regain quality standards and improve innovation on the products they did offer. That foundation remains today.
Even when they do offer new products, they come after years of deliberation and perfection, rather than rushing to market to be fast or first. The new Apple Vision Pro has been in development for years. Many companies have AR/VR (Artificial or Virtual Reality) headsets. Apple wanted to make sure their offering would stand apart. They have largely done that, and even with that, limited who the audience would be to further gain insights to build excellence for this product in the future.
None of the Apple product lines focus on being the first to offer new technology, but when they do innovate, it usually leap frogs the industry and neatly ties into what the customer expects and can easily transition into. Their mindset remains, ‘it just works’ and they sacrifice quantity and speed to deliver on that promise to their customers.
Most retailers want to add more products to the shelves to help grow sales. New products are often the difference in comp sales year over year or not. Costco bucks that trend. It is not about the number of products Costco offers, it is the quality and value of the products they sell that makes the difference. Costco buys in bulk on limited sku counts to ensure they can always get the best price. They buy packages that are larger to add value. They limit their markup to ensure the customer gets the best price. And they have a core of products that their customers can rely on month after month. From there, Costco creates excitement for special offers (known as the treasure hunt) for those unique (limited time) or seasonal buys that Costco specifically targets for their customers. Costco is highly strategic on a sku-level basis to ensure they will find products that will excite the customer, show value, and sell quickly. It keeps customers coming back multiple times a year. All of this in an environment where the customer pays a membership to have access to this offering.
Costco may offer the best, most complex example of narrowed focus and expanded success. Their business (like In-N-Out and Apple) continues to grow. They do it in a more dynamic, faster paced environment than the other two. Costco has retail stores across the world and is a direct competitor, in many ways, to Target and Walmart, who easily offer twenty times more skus than what a typical Costco has to offer. Yet, Costco stands out. Their service is consistent, the team members are friendly, and customers love them. And, as a bonus example of simplicity at its finest, check out the Costco food court. Narrowed menu, low prices, high quality. Hot dog and a soda, $1.50 forever. And, it’s a darn good dog.
Translating this concept to leadership is not a stretch. These companies lead industries because of their strategies. They can be applied to everyday activities as well.
Bring clarity to what you are communicating. Don’t try to share too many things at once. Keep your message simple to what is most important right now. (In-N-Out small menu, Costco’s limited sku count, Apple’s narrowed product lines)
Focus on excellence and not quantity. Do a few things really well. Hand off other things to people who do those things well. Play to your strengths. As a leader, know other team member’s strengths and play to those as well. (In-N-Out doesn’t offer chicken sandwiches. Apple doesn’t make TVs.)
Saying ‘No’ opens doors for the right things. Narrowing a focus means turning away many possibilities and opportunities. You have to weigh the costs of adding complexity versus staying true to what you do best. I don’t think In-N-Out will ever offer chicken on their menu. Apple is never going to offer all the products that Samsung makes, and Costco will not be on ever corner with tens of thousands of skus in their stores. They say no to opportunities that do not fit what they are best at. Certainly, they each expand when it makes sense. Costco, at one point, didn’t offer gas stations at their stores. In-N-Out does have a customizable menu (all from items they already have). And Apple does introduce new product lines (when it makes sense and connects to what they already offer). You can do the same as a leader to stay true to what works best for you and your team.
These are some of the best examples of what ‘focus’ really means. As I’ve written before, I have a love/ hate relationship with the term, mostly because it gets overused and misused. This is the case where focus means focus and it is a powerful tool. This is how companies and leaders can strip out the distractions by saying ‘no’ to the noise, and concentrate on the ‘yes’ to excellence.
What can you say ‘no’ to, ensuring you narrow your focus, and concentrate on greatness?
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