After running a successful business for 13 years, I have come to understand and appreciate the power of trusting my business instincts.
Trust your instincts!
Whenever I have gone against my natural business instincts, it’s almost always been the wrong thing to do! Even if I sometimes think on a conscious level that my ‘hunch’ must be wrong – it has an uncanny knack of being right. Interestingly, when you read the biographies of successful businesspeople and leaders, you will often find that they too have learnt to follow their instincts.
I have done some studies into why our instincts / gut feelings can be such useful indicators and it seems opinions are split. Some people believe it’s a throwback to skills we developed when living in caves. Others believe it’s our brain tapping into something more spiritual. Whatever you believe, there’s no doubt in my mind that your instinct can be a powerful business development tool; so long as you listen to it.
I experienced the power of my own instincts earlier today. I was due to start working on a project with someone next week, yet all along I instinctively knew that this person was just a time-waster. They said all the right things and tried their hardest to appear super-motivated, yet I knew instinctively that they were never going to proceed. Thus it came as no surprise, when they called me this morning to confirm that my instincts were right.
Marketing and science
Marketing is a very scientific process, based around testing and measuring. We know that if we do the correct things in the correct way, we can get a very predictable response. However, I believe there is also real value in listening to your gut feelings, hunches or instincts too!
Over to you!
Do you trust your instincts in business or do you think it’s a waste of time? Let us know, with a comment below.
I do trust my instincts, more so as the years go by and they’re usually spot on. I used to struggle with distinguishing between my instincts and my conscious thought process, never knowing which was which and I made some dodgy decisions back then.
Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink, is about this very subject and well worth a read for those interested.
I think there is a lot of merit to this. Just today I was talking about a friend who has an MBA in marketing but can sometimes lack the instinct that you need to take your clients to the next level. Science is useful, has its purposes, but ultimately what people will pay you for is your skills, your expertise and whether they want to admit it or not, your instincts… because your years of experience – past successes and failures – have a lot to do with what those instincts end up being. At least that’s what my gut tells me.
The value of the ‘gut check’ goes very far for just about everyone – especially in the current business environment. There will be ALOT of smoke-n-mirrors used over the next year or so…there will be some VERY appealing offers that may just seem too good to be true. If you give yourself the *right* to a gut check, you’ll at least be able to let some amount of reason play into your decision.
I’ve had occasions where I went forward with what looked to be a GREAT oppt’y – wanting to ‘strike the iron while it’s hot’…only to get burned.
I learned a big lesson that day – allow yourslef the time to think an oppt’y thru..if even for a few moments…it will help you gain some clarity, focus and the ability to have a nice little gut check.
Keeping all that in mind, here’s to a GREAT YEAR of innovation, sharing, transparency and GUT CHECKING (AKA trusing your instincts)!
Interesting, this.
Instincts are super-hard to measure because as humans, we tend to try to *find* patterns in the things that we do and I think instincts come under this banner. We tend to remember when we were right, forget when we were wrong. A bit like horoscopes.
I’m super-analytical. A few weeks ago my instinct told me a potential customer was a waste of time. I made a note of this gut feeling (it was strong) but had a second meeting anyway. A few weeks later, they’re a cracking customer and we’re doing them a great website which they’re paying well for.
In the past I’ve had ‘gut feelings’ that a customer was bad and I’ve been right. I’ve also had feelings that they would be good and I’ve been wrong. You only get to know this if every time you have a feeling you actually make a note of it.
Gut feelings may become more accurate after many years and many interactions with customers, but I wouldn’t trust them to run a business by.
The trick to being accurate, is in the fine-tuning!
- are you ‘listening’ to your ‘gut’, your ‘head’ or your ‘heart’?
Intuition, like any other skill needs to be developed and gets better with practice.
i have been running my business for four years and have definitely gotten better about trusting my instincts. it is hard because sometimes i wonder if i am feeling bad about someone but then – it comes out that my instincts were right all along. the challenge for me is to listen and act accordingly when i get ‘that feeling’ and not chalk it up to nerves. thanks for the post!
i go a little too far on relying on gut feelings. if it doesn’t feel right i don’t proceed. of course as a taboo marketer i’ve learned to rely on on instinct prolly a little too much to determine whether to go ahead with a potential client. had the same issue the other day. funnily i had a project to complete. the client called to say i must have been a little ‘asleep’ as it wasn’t the stellar material they’re used to. funny i told myself the same thing before submitting it. didn’t feel done. imagine their surprise when i agreed immediately it wasn’t my best work. though i told them even i have an off day. but big enough to admit.
Small business owner, eight years this year. My company is a small and stealth piranha swimming with some big sharks, and we manage to consistently outrank some of our major competitors. My attitude is brash, bold, and nconventional, and for a long time it held me back, until I started listening when that *killer* gut feeling hit me.
Listen to that voice, and make sure its “clear”. It won’t let you down.
I get overwhelmed by the gut, sometimes at 3 am it will roll me out of a deep sleep and I know…I just know….
I’d like to add in closing that I believe there is a *huge* difference between instinct and intuition. I dont trust my intuition most of the time because I cloud it with too much feeling that comes from my own wants and desires as opposed to the gut instinct reaction, an much different animal.
interesting post.
i do have to agree with mr.calloway (above) regarding the fact that we search for “success” patterns within ourselves.
i have a little phrase that pops into my head quite frequently … “If I was a bettin’ woman, which I’m not, but IF I WAS…. I’d bet…blah blah blah”. i would have to say that if i was as “lucky” with blackjack as i am with my little bets to myself, i’d frequent the casinos a bit more often.
SusiB: i think the decision you make about WHETHER or NOT to trust your instincts comes from your head or your heart. But i also think that the act of actually following through with the response you get from your gut is more scientific [test & measure] than we think it is.
now – mr.jim – i saw some other interesting articles… i think i’ll give you a follow on twitter if you don’t mind!
and if I could learn to spell at 3 am, it would be a good thing….SORRY
I ask God about tough decisions and business decisions. Except when I ordered some printer paper last week, he let me make that decision on my own.
I’m on my second own company. I’ve learned not to trust my guts… Perhaps they are just not that well trained, or I’m to dreamy, I don’t know.
The first company didn’t do well because my partner and I trusted our guts.
This time around I’ve partnered with someone with great gut feelings, that everyone recognizes as “on the spot” most of the time.
We all here have learned to trust (his) guts, although most of us don’t trust our own…
@Fernando – I’m not sure what you are saying here about your own gut feelings?
Also, when you take on a new member of staff, will they also need great gut feelings? Is this a new field we need to add to our CVs?
Nice post Jim,
I heard this ancedotal story once.
The military conducted a study to test instincts. It put a group of stock brokers in a military strategy game against generals.
Completely shocking the military the stock brokers one every game. They chaulked it up to the stock brokers learning to act quickly with limited information and trust their “gut” call.
The “gut” is useless if you don’t hone it. It is actually a finely developled tool just like anything else.
“Trusting your gut” is critical to success. I firmly believe that it is reflective of a divine spiritual connection that we have with God.
Of course, I can think of many times where I did not trust my initial gut instinct as I tried to reason things out instead. I regret not trusting my instincts in those times. However, I have learned my lesson about that.
Trust your initial gut instincts as they usually don’t steer you wrong. Even more important is to trust God. Create that relationship and your gut instincts will be super precise.
To Success,
Joseph Parton
There’s a lot of new research on the unconscious and how it works. Trusting your instinct or intuition is really about taking action when your unconscious procesing guides you. Largely our unconscious is adaptive and helpful, but not always. I write about this in my book: Neuro Web Design: What makes them click (www.neurowebbook.com). Oh, and my answer is YES I try to always follow my intuition at work. When I don’t I always regret it.
Yes, trusting your instincts is something everyone needs to learn. Unless you’re George Coztanza.
The gut or intuition check is critical to business success.
However, I have learned to temper my need to act with a healthy dose of patience (thanks to my Polish mom for enforcing this trait).
While my instinct may be to move one way, and to do so quickly; by stepping back and taking a moment to asses the landscape infront of me I find that I can act more intelligently and not make rash decisions based entirely on emotions or hunches.
Instinct, tempered with patience
is how I work today.
I have found that there are different aspects to instincts.
a.)I have an uncanny ability to identify hot business trends.
b.)I do not have the best instincts about people!
Conclusion:
In business, I have always surrounded myself with successful business leaders, cutting edge technologist and those types that think outside the box. It has lead to early participation in hot business trends and handsome profits – I will continue on!
With people, I am a nice guy and a believer! I have found that if you are not diligent and very careful, there are many that will take advantage of you in a heart beat – I will listen to my wife a lot more when it comes to instincts about people (would have saved me lots of $$$ and avoided many mistakes
As a type A personality I trust my instincts implicitly…after I’ve done all the research
I would like to add that I love your site and will use your good advice to help improve both my tech and solar power blogs.
Agree completely Jim:
I spent 30 years in the radio business, so I agree with much you have been saying about marketing. Especially about Marketing not being Advertising. Marketing being the research and testing prior to Advertising of course. Funny how so many people actually think they are the same thing.
As far as “gut feel” goes, that’s just executive experience my friend, which in time becomes an intuitive “knowing certain things”. I spoke with several HR people recently who would love to model executives who are able to hire on “instinct alone”. It’s just plain old fashioned years of good and bad experiences that we now call “intuitive hiring”.
Of course I poo poo the whole HR modeling idea because it just can’t be done. Experience becoming intuition is not something than can be modeled or cloned to become just another “process”. Or at least let’s hope not!
In lieu of not being able to model my own so called “hiring intuition” I suggested that they would just be better off with a Holistic Recruiting process. You know, look at the whole package, well beyond education & work experience. You’re a research marketing guy, so I know you get that in a second. I have written several articles on just that, Holistic Recruiting, and hope to finish a White Paper soon as well.
Great blog Jimmy .. you certainly found your voice my friend.
Best Always,
Mike Perras
…Jimmy!
All the time … now. I made a few mistakes back when but now I have learned that God put me in the position to start my own business for a reason … He gave me the instincts I need to make my business successful. I am not going to ignore them any more.
i love the way so many people equate “gut instinct” to “experience” (i’m not being sarcastic, just a bit flippant).
sure, as you move through the world you build your own “internal trust-yourself database”. you fine-tune it over time.
but in the “dog-eat-dog” side of the world (which we all experience from time to time), you had better have enough instinct to know which dog is gonna rip out your throat (given a chance) and which one is gonna sniff you over and follow you down the path.
it is in the new, the unexpected, the untested, and the unknown where you can really take your gut instinct out for a spin and do some self-analysis.
Jim,
Once again you have hit it on the money! I have ignored my instincts in the past and paid dearly. Now after reaching my ripe old age, my instinct is what I listen to without the aid of a hearing aid! LOL
Thanks,
Jim
Great article Jim, you always know the right things to say.
.
Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Edward Brown
Each morning I thank God for everything he has given me and I tell him “God, I’m putting everything in your hands”. I feel a “gut instinct” is a spiritual gift and 99.9% of the time, I have been correct.
[...] we probably won’t act on it unless it is backed up and proven correct. In Jim’s blog (http://jimsmarketingblog.com/2009/01/06/trust-your-instincts/) he talks about a gut feeling about a customer that turned out to be correct. This feeling was [...]