It’s really easy to get complacent. Things are going swimmingly well. Then all of a sudden, boom!
Long standing clients suddenly question your value. Others go to the wall leaving you holding the debt. Competitors creep up around you, often catching you unawares.
And when you finally figure out something’s wrong, it’s often too late. The horse has bolted.
Every business needs to do two things consistently. Innovate and market.
But to do this often requires a complete mindset shift.
A recent conversation highlighted the plight of an organisation.
They’ve been providing their specialist service for over two decades. For the first few years they had no real competition. Things were rosy. The leadership team didn’t believe in marketing.
But things change. Their suppliers noted their success and thought, “We’d like a piece of that” and started to compete. Others joined in. Now the market is flooded.
Long standing clients of 25 years suddenly decided to go to tender to ensure they were getting fresh ideas and value.
Others followed suit. And long standing business was lost.
In the organisation’s defence, it is innovating with product. However that simply isn’t enough.
You have to implement a marketing mindset and implement systems which bring qualified prospects to your door.
Note, I said “marketing” not “selling”.
I define “marketing” as getting a qualified prospect to your door. “Selling” is getting them over the threshold and making them a client.
So get out of your technical mindset and embrace the mantra, “You are not in the [insert whatever you do] business. You are in the business of marketing yourself.”
Why? Because no matter how good you are, unless you can get your message into the right hands, they’ll never know about you and the wonderful results you could achieve for them.
This applies no matter whether you’re a one person niche player or Coke or Apple.
So if you’re feeling complacent thinking that 2015 has been a good year, take heed. Life has a funny way of throwing curve balls at you. That light at the end of the tunnel could be an oncoming train.
Book in for a “Two Heads” consulting session where we’ll put fresh eyes onto your business, ask tough questions and ensure you’re on track for making 2016 and beyond as successful as possible.
Go on. Call me on 0414-913-334. Could be the best decision you make all year, even if I say so myself *smile*.
