A friend and I went out for a nice Italian dinner while traveling last weekend.

The restaurant had a pleasant outdoor ambience…

We enjoyed a lovely prosciutto pizza to start and two signature pastas that followed…

And for dessert, we ordered the tiramisu - a classic Italian staple and a favorite of both of ours.

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Served cold in a chilled mason jar, the presentation was memorable.

Turns out, though, inside the jar was a pretty mediocre tiramisu.

But of course, both of us having a sweet tooth, we finished the whole thing.

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The next day, we were recounting our dinner and my friend said, “That actually may have been the worst tiramisu I’ve ever had.”

Laughing at the dramatic statement, I said the same thing I’ve said to many of you when breaking down a bold point of view — “Say more.”

“There was hardly any espresso,” he said. “And I needed more ladyfingers.”

Fair points. I couldn’t disagree.

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But, we agreed that the vanilla mascarpone cream that made up most of the jar was exceptional.

Smooth and light. Not too sweet.

Pretty perfect, actually.

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In fact, had the exact same dish been positioned as “Vanilla Mascarpone Pudding”, and the light dusting of espresso had been a surprise touch, this might have been the highlight of the meal.

A dessert we would’ve recommended that others at our hotel come in specifically to try.

Alas, as a “tiramisu”, the dessert was unfortunately a flop.

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When designing a consulting engagement (repeatable or customized), it can be tempting to add in a bunch of ‘features’ and focus on the comprehensiveness of your service as your main selling point.

But if you can’t execute well on all of the components in tandem, you run the risk of being a “failed tiramisu.”

Instead, if you know you execute one thing exceptionally well, lean into it. Don’t muddy it by padding your engagements with additional components you’ll struggle to deliver.

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So, what’s your crowd-pleaser—your Vanilla Mascarpone Pudding?

Is it central to your positioning?

Could the rest of your ‘features’ be causing your broader service offering to flop?

💡

-Wes

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