Art of Marketing
Chapter 21. 4 ways to change your business
What’s the secret to success?
It’s no secret.
When you discover your mission,
you will feel its demand. — Aysa Angel
In business and in life,
there are only 4 ways you can bring about significant change.
The first way is that you can “make more things”.
What more should you create?
The answer is that you should create more of the things
that can help you achieve the best results;
things that are succeeding;
activities
that bring you the most revenue and profits
and are most predictable.
It’s amazing how many companies ignore this basic principle.
They spend an equal amount of time
and money promoting their entire product line
instead of identifying the products and services
with the greatest potential
for success and profit in the market if cared for right level.
The second way is that you can change by “making less”.
And what should you do less of?
The answer is simple,
you should do less of the things
that make you less productive than what you are doing.
Continue applying the 80/20 rule to your business.
80% of your total product or service
is contributing only 20% of your sales
and profits.
Many companies have a strategic policy of pausing 10 or 20%
of their product lines each year,
while also setting a goal of 20% of sales coming
from new products and services each year.
The first two ways to transform your business
and improve your sales are by doing more of some things
and doing less of others.
What should you do more or less of?
“Just having satisfied customers isn’t good enough anymore.
If you really want a booming business,
you have to create raving fans.”– Ken Blanchard
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Break your “comfort zone”
The third way to change your sales and marketing effectiveness
is to start creating completely new
and different products or services.
It was one of the hardest moves.
Most people are stuck in a “comfort zone”
that they do everything they can to maintain,
regardless of what’s going on around them.
This explains the “not invented here” syndrome
that has led many companies like Nokia,
which developed much of the original technology for iPhones
and iPads,
to reject these technologies
because they fear it might violate them,
their current business.
This is a major weakness in marketing and sales.
Companies love their existing products
and services and are determined
to stay away from other products
and services that can swallow their market share.
That is the cause of the collapse of BlackBerry,
Nokia in particular and a series of companies of all sizes
around the world every year in general.
So what do you need to start doing to survive
and thrive in today’s market?
In the book Competing for the Future
(licensed by Alpha Books
and published in September 2013
under the title “Later,
Come First”),
authors Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad say
that every company needs to have a plan.
Plan five years in advance and prepare
to dominate the market at that time.
You should also learn this strategy.
Never assume you understand.
Ask the questions. — Brian Tracy
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Create your own future
Then, come back to reality and ask yourself,
“What will we have to do today
to be at the top of the industry in five years?”
What additional products and services do we need?
What additional skills and competencies?
What do we need to do more or less of?
What do we need to get started today,
immediately,
to be ready to be the market leader in the next 5 years?
Starting something new is always one of the hardest things.
That’s why Lao Tzu wrote,
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step.”
Because you have to start everything new in business,
the first step is always the hardest.
But the first step is always the most necessary
if you want to create the future
instead of falling victim to it.
Michael Kami,
a strategist,
once said,
“Those who do not plan for the future cannot have a future.”
There’s another famous saying that goes:
“To achieve something you’ve never done before,
you’ll have to do something you’ve never done before.
You will have to offer products
and services that you have never offered before.
You will have to be a different person than you were yesterday.”
“When you serve the customer better,
they always return on your investment.” – Kara Parlin
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Applying fundamental thinking?
The fourth way to change your life
and work is to stop doing certain things.
There are many activities
that consume your time and money
that may be worth it now,
but not in the long run.
Due to the influence of the “comfort zone”,
many people waste a lot of their time
doing completely unnecessary things.
Apply zero ground thinking in your marketing activities.
Ask yourself:
“What can I do today to not have to start over again
if I need to do it?”
Is there a product or service that you wouldn’t launch today?
Is there a business or marketing activity
that you wouldn’t start over today?
Is there a business process you use
that won’t start over if you use it again?
By asking this question regularly,
you will open your mind to new possibilities.
It is surprising and disappointing
at the number of companies buried in their “comfort zones”.
To be locked into the old
and unworkable reduces the energy needed
to develop new products
and services or new marketing methods for products
and services that are more relevant to today’s markets .
Ideas are a dime a dozen,
but people who put them into effect are extremely rare.
Be the minority and make it happen! — Brian Tracy
***********************
Always keep an open mind
Be creative.
Against the comfort zone.
Refuse to take the easy route or continue doing
what you’ve always done in the past.
Look for newer,
better,
faster,
cheaper,
easier,
more relevant and less expensive ways of marketing
and selling your products and services.
Be open to the possibility
that everything you do today will soon be obsolete
by changing markets and aggressive competitors.
Be open to change;
When you have a new idea,
execute it as fast as you can
before someone else gets ahead of you.
As rugby player Satchel Paige once said:
“Don’t look back. Someone might be chasing you.”
Everywhere I have been,
I have always found a way to make it happen. — Danny Ings
