Jim's Marketing Blog

Clearly, we are living in very uncertain times. And your prospective clients hate uncertainty. It makes them anxious. It creates confusion. It causes them stress.

What does this have to do with you and your business?

When things feel uncertain, people proactively look for leadership. They are powerfully drawn to those who display clarity, confidence, direction and a cool head.

So.

• If you’re a leader, there’s never been a better time to demonstrate your leadership. (This shows you how).
• If you’re thinking of becoming a leader, there’s never been a better time to get started.

Because that’s what your marketplace is eagerly looking for right now. They value it more than ever. And no matter what industry you serve, the opportunity is immediately open to you.

It’s important to feel optimistic about your business. However, the wrong kind of optimism will crush your chances of success.

Let me tell you about the meeting I had with Bob. His story explains exactly what I’m referring to.

I last spoke with Bob (not his real name) regarding his business, back in 2015. He’s the friend-of-a-friend and seems like a really nice guy. He’s also very optimistic about the future of his business. Optimistic enough to refinance his home, something he said he’d already done “more than once”. I found his optimism interesting, as in the 7 years since we last spoke, his business has barely limped along.

And back then, he’d already been struggling for years.

So, his business has been going nowhere for a very long time. And based on the plans he shared with me, there’s no realistic chance the business will see any future growth.

That’s because his business development ‘strategy’ totally fails to address his actual problems. Sadly for him, he’ll simply be repeating the same common errors that have been hurting his business all this time.

So, why is this happening and what’s the lesson?

The 2 types of optimism

Like I said at the beginning, it’s great to feel optimistic about your business. In fact, we have to be optimistic. But only if our optimism is justified. You see, there are 2 types of optimism. One is essential. The other one is toxic.

I’m referring to justified optimism and unjustified optimism.

• Justified optimism is based on sound planning. It’s the confidence that comes from knowing you’re doing the right things, correctly. And the knowledge that your business is making measurable progress in the expected timescale. This kind of optimism is clearly justified.
• Unjustified optimism is very different. It comes from ignoring the reality of your situation. It comes from hoping things will ‘just get better’, without making the ESSENTIAL improvements your business is screaming for. It’s rooted in fear; the fear of change and ironically, the fear of loss.

Unjustified optimism comes with a very dangerous side-effect: It has the exact same power on your mind, as justified optimism. If your business is stagnating or even shrinking, yet you choose to believe everything is going to be great, it acts like a narcotic.

A narcotic?

Yes, a narcotic!

Why?

Because pumping yourself up with optimism, even unfounded optimism, takes away the pain (or urgency) you need to feel, in order to motivate yourself to fix what’s wrong.

Here’s an example I use, when explaining this to groups of young entrepreneurs.

It’s like seeing black smoke bellowing from the back of your car, but choosing to ignore it and instead, telling yourself that your car is doing great. Even if you 100% believe your car is in amazing shape, the engine will still get trashed if you ignore all that black smoke. The unjustified optimism does nothing to solve the problem. It just stops you doing what’s required.

Business owners tend to be optimistic. Let’s face it, we have to be! The fact we started a business in the first place, with zero guarantee of success, takes a lot of optimism.

The key here is to make sure that our optimism is always justified. And that our optimism is grounded in the reality of our situation today, along with the plans we’re making for tomorrow.

Today, I’d like to share a business development idea with you that’s seldom talked about. However, it’s a key factor in the success of some absolutely remarkable people and businesses.

Let’s go!

Malcolm Gladwell was once asked in an interview, if he would reveal his “secret sauce” for writing a best-selling book. After all, he should know! His reply was extremely interesting. Here’s a snippet from what he said:

“The moment you write a book hoping it will be a best-seller, your chances of it becoming a best-seller go downhill. […] You write the book you would want to read.”

He then went on to make an excellent point about Steve Jobs. He explained that Jobs never commissioned the development of a product or service, based on what he thought would be a smash hit. Instead, Jobs developed the type of products that he himself wanted to own.

Now, let’s unpack that and look for the common thread. Because it’s pure gold!

• Malcolm Gladwell writes the kind of books, which he would want to read. And interestingly, his books are unlike any other books in his niche. (Until ditto-head authors decide to rip his ideas off). Gladwell’s books are also among the best selling non-fiction books of the last 2 decades. And those 2 factors are directly connected.
• Steve Jobs created products he wanted to own. He famously shunned focus groups, deliberately striving to produce the kind of remarkable products he longed for. In doing so, Jobs’ success with Apple led to his company being the most highly valued in the world. Again, those 2 factors are directly connected. Recommended reading – Steve Jobs, marketing and liars!

In short, deliver the level of service that you’d love to receive. Create compelling products that you would love to own. Develop solutions for pressing challenges, which you’d love someone to solve. And make the experience of doing business with you so exceptional, that it would knock you off your feet if you were the customer or client.

Success leaves clues. Our job is to find them and apply them into our businesses.

Photo: Shutterstock.

I’d like you to consider the following, seemingly unrelated facts. They’ll provide you with a really useful insight for your business.

• Although it’s 2022, we still remember Sir Roger Bannister as the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes.
• Apple became the world’s most valuable company, largely from the profits of its iPhone; the world’s first smart phone.

There are a couple of really valuable business lessons here.

When you are the first to do something, it’s talked about and it’s remembered for a very long time. We remember Bannister, even though Australia’s John Landy broke Bannister’s record just weeks later. Landy was faster, yet remained relatively unknown because he wasn’t the first person to go sub 4 minutes. The first person was covered worldwide in the media of the day. Landy was largely ignored.

Secondly, it doesn’t have to be perfect. The first iPhone was really buggy. It even lacked a basic copy and paste facility for over a year! However, it was extremely useful, compared to the so-called feature phones that preceded it.

You and your business

Here’s a highly valuable question to ask yourself: What useful adjustment or change to your product or service, could you be the first in your industry to provide (locally, nationally or globally), in response to the current economic challenges?

Here’s why that question is potentially of so much value to you.

You don’t need anyone to tell you that we live in very uncertain times right now, or that lots of business owners are struggling. However, other businesses large and small are innovating and inspiring their marketplace, just like they did at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Again, just as in 2020, the businesses that will thrive are the ones willing to adapt to the new, commercial realities.

It’s easier than you might think

Fortunately, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. For example, an idea that’s common in another industry may be unheard of in yours. It just needs to be new to your locality, industry, profession or marketplace.

And it absolutely doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to be useful, based on the 2022 requirements of the market you serve.