Are you riding the right horse?
Is your business riding the right horse?
Copyright Henry James. All rights reserved. 2022-2023.
If you have been to my blog before you will know I often pose questions. Questions, I hope, to get you thinking about your business, your people, and how you are going to make your business results and your life better.
After all, it's what I do as a consultant - I ask questions. And good consultants should have, and display to you, a constant curiosity when it comes to how you are trying to defend or grow your business! If they are not asking questions, and drilling down to the real issues you face, then say: "I have just the solution for you", I would run a mile. You will get a "canned", cookie-cutter solution that may/may not get you results.
Whereas a scaleable, repeatable solution, to your specific business issues, WILL provide results. And it would be much harder for your competitors to follow!
So, for this week's blog:
At a time of recession - if you are struggling - and I know many businesses are, ask yourself this question; "Is your business riding the right horse?"
1. What, in your marketplace, is the next big thing, or trend, that can grow your business - or put you out of business?
2. Is that something you need to position yourselves for, either to sell it or use it for the better?
3. Regardless of the next big thing, are you actually, at the core of your business, in the right business?
4. What could you have done/should be doing to reposition yourselves in your client's and prospect's minds that show you are great at what you do?
5. Are you targetting the right segment of the market for what you are capable of delivering?
Having been in a new business sector when it first launched in the UK over 40 years ago, I was in a business that seemed to grow regardless of the mistakes we made. I just did not analyse it at that time. We were too busy enjoying the fruits of our labour (plus I did not think much then, I just "did" - we were just constantly busy and grew).
But the success came because we had a great horse to ride.
I fell into it, partly by luck, partly by knowledge, partly through connections, and some [lucky] good judgment :-) as the thing to do when it came along, and at a time that just felt right. So, "let's do it".
We grew the business to over £1.5Million t/o at 1992 levels, so the equivalent of £3.66 Million T/O in today's money.
Since then, over some years, I have spent hours of midnight oil, numerous discussions on building or rebuilding businesses I worked in, or in client businesses, in sectors or with products or services, which, in major retrospect, we had made as hard for ourselves as possible to achieve anything with.
Why?
Because in some of these other businesses, we chose a hard horse to ride.
And making business choices in your business, as the owner, is what you have to do. To choose the right horse!
A few years ago, when training to add copywriting to my skill set, I came across something that summed it up nicely.
I have it posted on my wall to remind me of how to use smarter effort and "accurate" thinking to get and stay ahead.
In this case, it applies to encourage copywriters to find great products to promote but can be applied to any business situation.
"A gifted product is mightier than a gifted pen"- Rosser Reeves - Reality in Advertising
Choice of product or service to write about can separate a great copywriter dying a death over a poor product, versus an average copywriter who happens to write about a great product and makes a fortune.
But how can this analogy benefit you and your business?
It is these observations:
1. Whatever your business attach your attention to the BEST products and IDEAS
2. They will make you more money
3. They will help you achieve more success more quickly and more sustainably
4. If you FAIL to do that then be prepared for a life that is much harder than it need be
5. Start developing an eye for great products/services/improvements/systems/solutions; by which I mean those products or services that have a clear-cut, in-built, unique superiority supported by powerful social proof
6. Execute items 1-5, and you will find yourself riding a stallion of a business into the winners enclosure. Rinse and repeat.
7. Apply that same thinking to your customer base - are you working/servicing the right type of customers? Should you be being all things to all people with a home to sell or rent, or offices/warehousing space, or should you be specialising in one sector of your market or one property type, or one service? Are you being a "Jack of All Trades and Master of None?"
And if you need help in checking which horse you should be riding, just let me know.
Yours, Henry.
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About the Author:
Henry James is a marketer with a passion for estate agencies and the property sector and specialises in marketing systems for estate agents and those in the property transfer sector.
He helps you attract, convert, and retain clients and grow your business to help you make more money!
