Nobody Goes There Anymore, It’s Too Crowded
Yogi Berra was the catcher for the New York Yankees for nineteen seasons, making it to fourteen World Series and winning a remarkable ten world championships.
Yet Berra is remembered for his “Yogi-isms” as much as he is remembered for his incredible success on the baseball field. Many of those Yogi-ism’s are still used today.
“It ain’t over till it’s over.”
“It’s déjà vu all over again.”
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
“If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.”
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
“Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.”
That last one might be my favorite of all of Berra’s classic lines.
Once, Berra was in St. Louis with famous ballplayers Stan Musial and Joe Garagiola, and they asked Berra about his recommendations for Ruggeri’s, an Italian restaurant in The Hill District. It was a popular spot where he and his teammates and friends used to frequent. But Berra didn’t give a glowing testimonial of the place.
“Nobody goes there anymore,” Berra said. “It’s too crowded.”
That classic line has been repeated countless times since he said it back in 1959. In fact, there are many instances of a version of that line being used for decades prior. But Berra is the one that is essentially credited with the witty response.
As humorous as the line is, it is prophetic and a warning to those in business who are endlessly focused on growing bigger. More clients, more followers, more members, more volume, more…more…more.
It’s in business. It’s in cities. It’s even in our churches.
The endless pursuit of getting bigger.
Now, you might wonder why that could even be a problem. Why would you not want more? Why would you not want to get bigger? What could be the harm in that?
To get big in business, you have to do something small first. And you don’t have to just do it small-you have to do it small really well.
When you are small, and you do it well, you gain loyal and faithful followers. They are the most important people in your story. They are the ones who not only believed in you, but they invested in you. They invested their time, their money and their word of mouth marketing.
They are the ones-like Ruggeri’s in St. Louis-that created a raving fan base that made up the heart of the customer base.
Again, not unlike other businesses, towns and churches. Those aren’t just any customers-those are your raving fans. Without them, the business would not have survived or had the opportunity to thrive.
But something happens when there is a focus on growth and growth alone.
More and more people start coming. Which is the dream for the business owner. More money. More customers. More volume. But the heart of your fan base-the ones who know the history, the ones who feel like they are a part of it, the ones that fanatically brought others in- stop coming.
But it’s easy not to notice because it’s so crowded.
And then, one day, your biggest fans and most loyal customers stop showing up. And then they get asked about it. And they shake their heads and say that nobody goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.
A few loyal customers who would be there through thick and thin are replaced by a higher number of customers who are much more transient and not nearly as loyal. They don’t have the history. They haven’t formed relationships. They can’t tell the origin stories.
And in the endless pursuit of more and bigger, the business owner lost the heart of what made it special to begin with.
I guess it all comes down to how you view success. Bigger for bigger sake might be exactly what you want. You might not care if the heart of your community- whether in the people or the spirit-stays intact. You could be a bottom line person looking for bottom line results.
I’m speaking to those who want to build something meaningful for them, and to their people.
Great success doesn’t always come from amassing large numbers. That success-both financially and meaningfully- is often achieved by having a loyal focus on the passionate few rather than the endless, exhausting pursuit of more.
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