Octavio Urzúa is CEO Osoji Robotics, based in Chile with offices in the U.S. and Japan. He wrote to tell me how he has used metaphors successfully at critical points throughout his business life from getting a raise to positioning his start-up to
hiring a new team. I am happy to share his letter and those stories to inspire ideas for your business as well.
A Ferrari for a Boeing
It was my first job as an engineer at Accura Systems in Dallas, TX. By then, my English was quite limited, so I didn’t talk or connect a lot with people. However, I had a great idea to implement in the company that I was working on in my free time.
One day, I met the owner in the aisle (actually it was in the restroom) and he asked me how I was doing. Since I don’t like small talk,
I said to him, “Pretty good, but it can be better. I only need a Ferrari.”
He laughed and said, “Me too!”
I said, “No, seriously. I need a Ferrari. Actually if you give me a Ferrari, I will give you a Boeing.”
He said, “What? Explain more…”
I said, “If you give me a computer fast like a Ferrari, I can build software for the engineering department so they would fly like a Boeing to provide faster results for clients”
He said, “You got it.”
Two weeks later I got my new computer. Everyone envied me for that. I was the new guy, with no experience, with the best computer in the company.
Result: Six months later, as promised, I delivered software that changed my department forever.
Honda Trumps Mercedes
Fast forward fifteen years, I have become an entrepreneur to pursue my own dreams, creating a startup called Osoji Robotics, with one dream: “build affordable home robots.”
I saw an opportunity to take advantage of the trend that today everyone has assistants, like millionaires used to have. So, you need stuff from supermarket? You call Flipcart. You need a driver? You call Uber. You need a mansion for the weekend? You call AirBnB.
But what about help at home to do daily chores? Then you call Osoji (a family of assistant robots).
The problem was that everyone knew Roomba as the best home vacuum in the market, so how can I position Osoji differently? How do I compete against this gorilla? How can I be remembered as something better or different or faster or something else and build my own Osoji category?
This winning metaphor solved that problem with my potential customers: “Roomba is awesome. It is the Mercedes Benz of vacuums. Osoji is the friendly affordable Honda, with a family of other robots to assist your home. Ask for a free trial.”
Result: In my Latin American market, that metaphorical contrast worked very well to help me build my business.
One Horse vs. 100 Chickens
So, then I had a nice problem of growing fast. I needed to hire a team of talented people to help me grow the company. I was telling a friend about my dilemma. Should I hire a young manager to train or hire an experienced senior to expand and grow faster?
My friend told me his criteria to hire in just one simple metaphor:
“One horse pulls more than 100 chickens and poops less.”
I got his message and hired the horse. Even though it cost more, it paid for itself very quickly.
All the best
Octavio Urzúa
CEO OSoji Robotics
www.osoji.cl
Cel. +569 9616 1036
Octavio also wrote, “Your book gave me new and fresh ways to use metaphors in more areas of my life.
Thanks a million.”
And I would like to thank Octavio, for sharing these wonderful stories and demonstrating once again the power of metaphor to get results.
Anne Miller
Make What You Say Pay! – with Metaphors
P.S. Check out Octavio’s company. They make amazing products and have a unique connection to Japanese values, interesting to read.
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