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Your Status Quo is No Longer an Option...
14th June 2009
The successful businesses of the future will be those that are hardwired to, and fully embrace creativity - no matter what business they are in.
It's no coincidence that Dell recently announced results down 60% whilst Apple’s were 31% up nor that Virgin Atlantic has doubled profits whilst British Airways has hit record losses.
No matter what our business we have all got to get out of any belief that the status quo is an option. We need to be creative (and not a little risk-taking) in firstly identifying new markets, deciding how we are going to approach those markets and in developing new, innovative, products or services.
This creativity does not have to be earth shattering. There is a Volkswagen car dealer in the north-east of England who have increased their service income this year by offering a choice when you book your car in for service:
"Would you like a loan car or an office?"
What they have done is to set up mini-offices with all facilities - WiFi, computer, scanner, printer, copier etc for use by clients whilst their car is being serviced. It’s done wonders for their business.
Maybe one day a legal practice will fully embrace e-mail and indeed communicate with Clients using this medium and maybe website downloads of important documents. That would be highly creative for that profession -- and the first to do it will have an edge on the competition.
For others it may be that you will need to recognize and embrace the fact that the top economies within a few years will be the so-called "BRIC" (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries and go out and sell to them now.
No matter your business
No matter how successful you are, or have been,
- you need to change.
This downturn, slowdown or recession – like all the others before it leads people to buy more rationally.
Your customers will be questioning everything do and sentiment, longevity of the relationship or reputation will no longer be seen as a strong reason to buy from you.
I've had people say to me:
"- but I'm not creative and I don't know how to become creative or get my people to be creative - I don't think it's possible"
Yes it is!
My good friend and colleague, Ayd Instone (www.aydinstone.com), can prove it to you. Get him to run a workshop for you and your people and he will, simply, unlock the creativity of everyone in the room - those of you, for example, who say: "I can't draw" won't say it any more by the end of the session!
Let me make a prediction:
More businesses will disappear in the next year due to a belief in the status quo than for any other reason.
I've just delivered a speech at the prestigious event of a major international industry - an industry that worries me considerably due to their apparent belief in the status quo being maintained. I told them that there is a basic rule of business that if your customers needs change then you must change – and extremely quickly.
I told them that I believed that they had to turn their entire industry on its head and recognize for once who is their ultimate paymaster.
I was at the IMEX exhibition and conference of the Meetings, Incentives and Events industry in Frankfurt. This is an exhibition packed full of the most lavish stands funded by, and promoting, just about every country on the planet. Each one is trying to persuade meeting professionals to bring their event to their country, town or specific venue.
That's how this industry has always been - a rich and successful industry full of middle-men, brokers and consultants.
What appears to be missing, however, is a recognition that times they are a-changing !
Ever since President Obama’s predictable reaction to the excessively indulgent large internal event put on by the loss-making, and now US government-owned, AIG insurance group earlier this year we have to believe that at the least the incentive part of the business is probably in terminal decline and every event will need rational and hard-nosed justification.
The ultimate paymaster for the meeting or event - be it a Corporate, Association or government entity will now treat its investment just like it does any other. They will want to know what the payback will be on their investment and to see a full business case ahead of that investment and a “playback” after the event demonstrating that the returns have been achieved.
Are you sure that you are not in an industry like this where the tectonic plates are moving, where every member of the food chain in future will have to show demonstrable added value to survive and where the status quo is simply no longer an option?
The problem that some sectors have - and it's not their fault, perhaps - is that they've never had to prospect for new customers, they have never had to evaluate their target markets, establish their needs and then go out and win them.
Whilst, perhaps, it's second nature to most of us it is not to many - including many accountants, lawyers and certainly the Meetings, Incentives and Events industry!
I ran a workshop last month for the 22 partners of an accounting practice. In when I shared my "Sales Management Matrix™” with them - and asked which rooms the practice was in there was universal agreement that the it was in:
"COW moving to DOG"
- a frightening place to be, but not unusual in my experience.
The status quo is really no longer an option.
There are many, many opportunities out there - no matter what your business but you need to get back to the basics of business - all business - from the creative prospecting for potential new customers, creative products and services all the way through to delighted Clients who wants to buy from you again.
It is in your hands.
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