The Secret Is The Secret Recipe

I grew up in Gbegbeyise, a little town in the outskirts of Dansoman. In our little vicinity was a banku seller who was known to have sold the best banku.

People travelled from far and near to buy her food right from late afternoon into the deep night. It was even rumored her food sold that much because of some “juju” she used. Her customers just couldn’t have enough of that famed banku.

It was not until later when we had grown up that we all knew what really her “juju” was that made her customers keep coming back to her. It was how soft her banku was.

It was how nutritiously garnished and tasty her soups were. There was something about her food that made it stand out from the whole bunch. That was her secret? her secret recipe!

I was recently having a conversation on brands with my friend, Ama Buatsin, whose startup, Cookies and Crumbs (check it out on social media), is into bakery of banana cakes, cookies and many other edibles.

Drawing inspiration from the above story, I asked her if she had ever wondered why someone will drive all the way to KFC when they could get jollof and fried chicken across the street.

The reason was in the secret recipe that made KFC products taste the way they do!

Every brand (whether big or small) that becomes your first choice of a product has a secret recipe you may never know or have not even thought about. There’s something they intentionally do each day to make them stand out of the whole lot. They have a secret that makes them exceptionally distinct from their competitors.

Coke has a secret recipe that makes it taste the way it does. This recipe is what its overwhelming sales hinges on. Many beverages may want to taste like it but never can. Apple has a secret recipe.

That’s what makes it stand out from an Infinix and that’s why almost everyone wouldn’t mind selling their brains to get an iPhone. The secret is in the secret recipe!

Every being on earth is a brand. Every profession you’re engaged in is a product/service which needs to sell. Secret recipes, thus, are not a thing for only the Samsungs, Hisenses among others.

Everybody needs a secret recipe to be a giant among their competitors. This secret recipe lies in how different we are from all the others and how this difference makes us stand tall.

If you’re a preacher, you’re a brand just like every other profession. Every career comes as a brand, thus, behooves on us to treat it as such. Though all pastors may preach about salvation, for instance, the masses may throng to a particular church because there’s a secret recipe being served there at every meeting. The secret of success is in the secret recipe!

The secret recipe is how we uniquely meet the needs of our customers. It is the lasting experience we give to people who get exposed to our products/services. The great value and taste our brand gives to those who patronize it is the reason they can’t stop telling others about us.

In life, we can only stand tall when we stand out. Blending in is the easiest way to bow out! Every moment I set out to write a play, I, first of all, ask myself how unique it is going to be from the others. If it’s just another of the many, it’s better not written because the world celebrates innovations, not clones.

The world celebrates uniqueness, not joining in the queue of trends. Be intentionally unique. Make an intentional effort to have products/services that taste quite differently from all those that already exist.

Be diligently excellent at what you do so that you become the first option of a product/service. Your products should brighten the world of your clients. They should keep them asking for more because they have never tasted such anywhere before. That’s the power of a secret recipe!

Success is intentional. It’s not some fluke. If you see a man whose success has stood the test of time, it is success that has consistently been built over time. The secret to your success is how you’re going to discover a recipe only you will be a master of. The success secret is in that secret recipe.

Each day you wake up in the morning, know that you are a brand. Be preoccupied with how to make this brand stand out. Whether you know it or not, there’s something you are consciously or unconsciously selling.

How you uniquely meet the needs of others is why they will never get fed up with you. You don’t need voodoo. All you need is a secret recipe!

Wondering why you’re reading this piece and not something else at this point in time? Well, call it my secret recipe.

Columnist: Kobina Ansah