Do you know the difference between the Montblanc customer and the BIC customer? Understanding it will change the way you talk about your business. And, as a result, what you earn from it.
Marketing talks endlessly about niche, target and buyer persona. These are useful ideas. But when you work with handmade, creative or high-end products, there is a distinction that matters even more. There are BIC customers and there are Montblanc customers. And no, this is not about income. It is about why they buy.
Because a product like yours, to stay profitable over time, cannot live on its technical features alone. If it could, the winner would always be whoever produces fastest and charges the least.
This is where a frustration I hear again and again is born. "To make a living I would have to sell enormous quantities." "I do it for the love of it, because financially the numbers never really add up." The problem is almost never the quality. It is that you are looking for BIC customers with a Montblanc product.
The BIC customer
When someone buys a BIC, what are they really looking for? Not a pen, but a practical solution. They want something that writes straight away, costs almost nothing, is easy to replace, can be lent without a second thought, can be lost without regret, needs no care and does one job and nothing more. The value is in the convenience. Not in the story, not in the materials, not in the emotion.
The Montblanc customer
Now think about the person who buys a Montblanc. They are also buying a pen, but they are not buying it to write. They are buying decades of savoir-faire, materials chosen with care, workmanship of the highest precision, time spent on every detail. An object meant to last a lifetime. Timeless design, exclusivity, prestige, identity, the quiet pleasure of owning something few people will ever have.
The function is identical. The meaning is completely different. A Montblanc does not compete with a BIC, because its customer is not looking for the same thing.
Where so many businesses go wrong
They produce like Montblanc and communicate like BIC. They make pieces that take weeks of work. They use extraordinary materials. They pour skill, culture and attention into every detail. And then the entire conversation with the market revolves around price, technical specs, discounts and the word "quality."
So they end up attracting people who are simply looking for the cheapest option. And when those people ask for a discount, they are not the ones getting it wrong. They are only responding to the message they were given.
There is no better customer, only the right one
The person who buys a BIC is making a perfectly intelligent choice. The person who buys a Montblanc is making an equally intelligent one. These are two completely different needs.
The problem begins when a business built like a Montblanc communicates as if it were a BIC. In the end no one is satisfied. The customer does not find what they were actually looking for. And the maker feels unrecognized for the value they create.
This is where strategy comes in
Not to convince everyone. But to make sure the right customer recognizes the right value.
This is the mindset shift the last article pointed to. Before any tactic, before any channel, you decide which customer your work is really for, and you let everything you say line up behind that choice. In the next piece we will turn it into method, with the 18 Laws of Artisan Anti-Marketing.
At Buscaroli Studio, this is exactly what we build: communication that connects the right product with the right customer.