Photo by Jesse Martini.
Here’s a powerful little thought experiment I often use, to help people massively increase the growth of their businesses. I thought you may find it useful, so here it is.
I’d like you to use your imagination for a few minutes and consider the following.
- Picture a business, which offers a unique blend of services, rather than the same range of services as it’s competitors.
- Picture a business, which dedicates time every week to the improvement of at least one key area of their operation.
- Picture a business, which has a dedicated customer retention program, so it seldom loses a client or customer.
- Picture a business, which goes the extra mile as standard.
- Picture a business, which uses professional, highly effective marketing strategies, so it attracts the best clients or customers.
Here’s the kicker: Now, imagine what would happen if that business moved into your area, targeting your clients and your future clients.
Don’t wait for them to arrive. Do it first
Before something like that happens to you, I have a suggestion. Do it first! Take action on every item on that list and watch your business grow like never before.
Most business owners wait until their business is under a sudden, unexpected threat, before they seriously improve their game. As a direct result, their business achieves a tiny fraction of its true potential. All because they waited for something negative to happen, before they took action. That’s the price you pay for being reactive rather than proactive.
For example.
- Sometimes a smart, highly motivated agile competitor comes to town and takes a chunk of their market share.
- Other times, a business owner will lose a major client and see their revenues suddenly drop dramatically.
In either case, the business owner is forced to improve as a reaction to a problem. They no longer control the situation. They no longer have control of the time line. They’re forced into defensive mode. It’s about surviving, when proactive action would have seen them thriving instead.
In short: Don’t wait for a threat to arrive. And one surely will, because that’s what always happens. Instead, do it first. Be the threat. Choose to become the proactive, uniquely valuable, constantly improving, professional threat to your marketplace.
This is a smart way to operate in business at any time. But right now, with the global economy in such a precarious position, it’s the only way to move forward and plan ahead with realistic confidence.