Differentiate Your Business Methods
In October 2008 the United States Congress passed a $700 billion bill to “rescue” the credit market from a potential disaster that was created by, er, the US Congress.
Most of us do not have Uncle Sam with hundreds of billions of dollars sitting around to rescure our business from itself in a tough market. We have to do it ourselves. In order to do that, to make our business stand out from the crowd, we need to let people know that we are different.
I promise to be unique;
I promise not to repeat things other people say”
- Steve Martin
Change your thinking to change your business
Dump your old ideas
One definition of insanity is to repeat a process over and over, in the expectation of a different outcome. What we are doing today with our business is likely very similar to what we did yesterday. Are we seeing the big results? No? Of course not, that’s why you’re here. The good news is that you were smart enough to go looking for a better way.
Do this exercise in creative thinking
Think for a bit about the standard practices you use everyday in your work. The “building block” stuff that makes up your business: marketing, selling, product design, whatever.
Tip: Get a pencil & paper and write these things down on the left-hand side. On the right-hand side, write down the opposite of the underlying principle of your building block.
( I am not suggesting that this is your solution, it’s an exercise in thinking) For example, under Marketing you may have listed “Trade Shows.” Everyone knows how trade shows are supposed to work. [note: if you don't know, please contact Stephen Smith to learn how . Not very expensive either.]
When I was in the Hotel Business I was a Catering Sales Manager. I sold space for Weddings, Proms, fund-raisers, dinner parties, you know the fun stuff. I also attended or participated in plenty of trade shows.
I doubled my business with one simple change
A bridal show is a very narrowly-focused type of trade shows. Every vendor is there to put their information in the hands of these brides-to-be. On the other hand, not all of the people attending these shows are brides. (shock!) In fact, most of them are just there for free handouts (especially cakes!)
But there is one thing that virtually all of the people attending a bridal show have in common:
They have jobs. At a company. A company that very likely throws a holiday party.
So I added 4 lines to my contact sheet that these “brides” would fill out so I could follow up. The 4 lines were:
“For a chance to win Dinner for two at ____ Restaurant, Please fill out the following:”
Where do you work? __________________________
What is the main phone # __________________________
Who is the person in charge of Holiday Parties? ________________________
For the price of a couple of meals I just collected 2 sets of prospect lists. One of potential brides-to-be which is always iffy-and one ( much more valuable) list of holiday party prospects. With a reference.
What do you do at a Trade Show?
Perhaps this has sparked your imagination. What is something that you could do differently at the next trade show that you attend?
Now, apply this sort of thinking to the other items on your list. How could you do these things differently to drive more productivity, or efficiency, or sales volume?
Start a discussion in the Comments.
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