How Inversion Thinking made E@RTC a Success

Recently, a friend sent me an article about inversion thinking and it hit me hard because it identified how a group of us thought about business. The article got me excited because it clearly defined the very process we used to make Exotics at Redmond Town Center the largest and now oldest weekly gathering of exotic and rare cars in the US. Over 30,000 people attended this 2017 season.

We sometimes have upwards of 550+ cars show up on a summer Saturday morning, out of a pool over an estimated 4,000 with total values exceeding $100 million in exotic and rare cars on show days. This all-volunteer organization is the very finest of its kind. We are both the biggest and the best at what we do, something someone once said was impossible to achieve and no other show comes close to our achievements. So how did we do it?

The secret is simply inversion thinking. What’s that? Well, it’s building an organization around what NOT to do, rather than focusing on what you want to do. Rather than get all excited about an idea for a show we dreamed up, we instead looked at all the Saturday morning car gatherings around the US and studied the true cause of why they failed. Inversion thinking is to look at something from the opposite point of view of what seems to be the normal process.

We went down the list of reasons so many other Saturday morning car shows were failing, or failed, and came up with a list of criteria that was necessary for us to achieve our success. We discovered the same patterns of failures and we constantly checked and rechecked our theories and conclusions to make sure they were correct. We merely fixed what led to their failure!

This analysis took six months to complete, along with the formulation of solutions to every identified problem and it gave us a list of criteria we would have to meet to build a successful event. Criteria included points such as location, freeway access, noise issues, ambiance, and so on.

We began our analysis by learning about who attended these events and why. We talked to participants to find out exactly what drew them to the events, what mattered to them in the form of expectations, what they didn’t like and why, what they loved most and how often they attended. Though these conversations, we learned where and how to look at potential problems.

One participant talked about the territory that some would claim was their spot. Others would talk about the problems with various levels of maturity. Our counteraction to territorial issues was to not allow anyone at the event to create any sacred ground for their brand of car. We achieved this by moving the display sections each week.

We kept hearing over and over again that the majority of the problems were caused by one particular type of owner who felt the need to demonstrate the capabilities of their car. To better explain, when you look at a Lamborghini, you don’t need to know anything more about the car to know it’s fast. Look at a modified Honda and it can’t express its capabilities just sitting there, so what does the owner typically do? Immediately go racing off to prove its value. Ban mainstream modified cars and the problem could be solved. We heard over and over that “modded” cars or “tuners” as some call them, were a central problem.

We read every forum, to see what people were saying about various car events and we learned that unmanaged clubs, could displace cars that were strong spectator draws. So, we set a rule that clubs could attend by invitation and reservation only. It solved the problem.

We learned that local noise complaints if the event was held near a residential neighborhood could become a substantial problem. The was the cause of one event’s demise. Our solution was to define our location criteria to avoid noise in residential areas.

We went as far as to learn what causes exotic owners to feel welcome and what doesn’t, and in that process, we learned that a sense of community was a key ingredient to any event's success. This was not any community formed by just showing up, but one that felt more inviting and fun and irreverent. It’s why the website and blog are written the way they are. Everything was designed to defuse the large egos and to make the point that if you’re not there for fun, then it’s probably the wrong place to show off.

Once we covered every point on the list, our event began to grow every season until it is what it’s become today. We never stopped inversion thinking and we’re constantly making modifications to E@RTC before there is an issue. We don’t ever call it good enough. When we think we’re heading to a problem, we address it ahead of time.

Last, our success is about our people who have the forethought to consider problems and solutions. It’s nearly impossible to use inversion thinking if people aren’t thinking in the first place.

If you’re thinking about starting a new business, you may increase your chances of success if you first become an expert in what can go wrong in your business and come up with solutions and make that a cornerstone of your business plan. This could ultimately keep you out of trouble while guiding you to a very successful outcome.