What makes a cult a cult?

My definition revolves around the scary “I sold my house and gave the cash to my leader” mentality of the truly trapped.

I guess a cult is defined by the behaviour of its members… or in cases where cash changes hands, I guess we could call them customers.

In the world of business, achieving “cult-status” is kind of like the holy grail of marketing. Apple computers did it and they made no joke about it – officially dubbing sales executives “Software Evangelists!

Cult-Status means that your customers are very much a unique, separate group of people to the competition’s customers… they’re either “in” or very much “out”.

Cult-Status also means that people who are not in the market for your business/product will not understand your customers (they may even fear/ridicule their dedication). The geekery of the IT world lends itself well to cult marketing.

If your business turns customers into cult-members it means your sales results will reflect the cult’s fanatic loyalty.

To model a highly effective, Cult Business, I thought we could take a look at FergBurger of Queenstown NZ:

FergBurger is a gourmet burger joint that has achieved a international cult-status with thousands of fanatical customers.

Living in Sydney, I have heard the praises of this little NZ success story song by travelers from Sweden, Canada and South America.

In Queenstown recently, I couldn’t resist a fergburger or two… I witnessed a non-stop, super busy restaurant turning over thousands every hour (they’re open 21 hours per day).

So how has FergBurger achieved this Cult-Status… and what can smart entrepreneur’s do to replicate this result?

Exclusivity: FergBurger offers something that McDonald’s does not. Total scarcity and exclusivity. It’s location (right at the bottom of the world, really) makes it very easy to lust after from America or Europe. If everyone could go down the road to get a Fergburger (as you might with Starbucks), the magic would be lost!

Positioning: Whether by luck or clever planning, FergBurger positioned itself to enjoy a healthy boom when it offered late night, outstanding food to Queenstown’s young and drunken party animals. This NZ town’s population triples in peak tourism seasons – the influx of internationals fuels FergBurger’s international profile.

No compromising: FergBurger offers a burger called “The Big Al” – featuring a half pound of beef, two fried eggs, bacon, “heaps” of cheese”, salad and a “wad” of aioli. This is a serious burger for the seriously hungry. Want a salad? Then don’t join this cult.

Shocking quality: … shockingly, unbelievably awesome quality. These guys simply do not cut corners. Simply google “Fergburger” and you will find oodles of websites referencing it as “the best burger in the world”. It really is that good… good enough to shock you and any expectations you might have.

So here’s the thing: If you can create a product and business that offers jaw-dropping, un-compromised quality to a cleverly positioned group of potential customers with absolute the need and desire and then create exclusivity to the extent that everyone feels the need to tell everyone about it…. well, you can have Cult-Status too.

It isn’t that hard. In the world of fast food (not exactly a hotbed of innovation), Furgburger did it by simply selling the best burgers in the world to the starving folk of partying Queenstown.

How can you create one (or more) of these four, Cult-Criteria in your business? Post a reply in the comment section below…