Future of Business
The Future Of Business – “Everyone” Is Not Your Customer!
Far too often business owners state that everyone is their customer, it’s wrong, it’s just not true. Even if it were true, how could you possibly serve them all, and more importantly, what services & products would you know to provide everyone? Plus, what would marketers do if they couldn’t target market your products & services.
Typically, those business owners reveal their greatest weakness when making that claim. Firstly, they clearly do not understand business, secondly, they don’t have a business plan, and thirdly….they lack vision. I couldn’t speak more bluntly now could I, and I just gave you three reasons : )
If there is one thing I preach more than any other fact, business is and has changed, and you must change the way you think about business, and more importantly, how you think and see your business. Somehow we have to get away from thinking in terms of an exchange before payment, incorporate free into your business model, and how to be satisfied with less customers. That’s right….less!
Kevin Kelly wrote an amazing piece on 1,000 true fans, it’s really a tribe model in my head, but his theory is sound, and frankly is the future of business. His description of a fan is a thing of beauty, taken from the article on his blog:
“A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.”
Now you might have an idea where I’m going, but I doubt it, I’m hard to follow sometimes. The question to ask yourself is, do you have fans / customers as described by Kevin Kelly? If you do, it won’t be hard to tell, if you don’t, you are probably wondering how to get those fans, and where might they be. If you did a business plan without knowing this description, of your preferred customer (fan), you would still be one degree off true north. Your plan would be flawed, because it would be based on old industrial age thinking, it would be based on what you know, and what you were taught in school. But that’s another topic.
Let’s stick with Kevin’s idea of a 1,000 true fans. In Kelly’s model, every true fan spends $100 per year on you whatever you produce. That means you will generate $100,000, that’s a decent pile of dough isn’t it. So there is your equation, 1,000 true fans x $100 = $100,000!! So what’s the problem?
The problem is not the equation, the problem most of the time is you, you get in the way, you begin to think too much, you still don’t understand the why. My workshops, public speaking engagements, my blog, and my book, is all about why you should change the way you think about your business. Most business owners aren’t paying attention to the why, mostly because they are paying attention to the details of paying the bills, covering payroll, and making sure there is stock. So where will you find the time to see what’s really going on, what’s changing, and how to adopt what’s changing? The stock answer, and I hear it every day, ” I don’t have time”. If that’s true, you probably won’t be in business in the next 5 – 10 years, because the way business and the consumers are changing, you will be forgotten, out of site, and out of mind.
The digital platform we call the Internet, is a game changer for sure. The real game changer has nothing to do with you the business owner, it’s the way people have shifted their buying patterns, from what to how. More importantly, these people formerly known as consumers want more control of your offerings, they want to decide, and they’re already talking about your competition. Why? Because you aren’t thinking like the new consumer, and….you aren’t listening to what they want.
There are over 2.2 billion users on the Internet, and another 3 Billion coming in the next 5 years, I know there are 1,000 true fans for your niche, now do you have time to find your 1,000 true fans? If not, hire someone who can show you how, someone with the vision to see the patterns of a changing consumer(s). You already know someone….wink, wink ; – )
Olivier Blanchard has 5 basic rules on the value of a follower, a fan, and a like, in simple terms, it’s based on the amount of money they spend on your product or service in a given calendar year. The potential of a follower and fan, that is something entirely different, and that equation has yet to be determined in my humble opinion. I think we are very bad at determining the potential value of a follower, a like, or a fan…but know this, it’s not linear, it’s exponential.
If you only need 1,000 true fans, “Everyone”, is not your customer.
Click on this link for the complete story on Kevin Kelly’s idea of 1,000 True Fans
Also read Olivier Blanchard’s work on The 5 basic rules of calculating fan/like/follower value.
The Future Of Business – The Secret To Creating Your Preferred Business
We think of the future a lot don’t we, it feels so far away and yet it’s right there, right now, right in front of you. When we were about to escape high school, we had great plans, we talked about all the fun things we were going to do, the great things we were going to accomplish. It was all so exciting and fresh, it was something new, it wasn’t school…..or was it. Some keep going to school, others stop learning, many of you just accepted what happened, we often call it the school of hard knocks. The later is also known as a dream squasher, it tests our strength, our willingness to persist, it reveals the depth of our desire, but most give up to soon.
I am a Baby Boomer, I grew up believing everything would turn out just fine, the industrial age system wouldn’t fail us, so I thought. For the most part everything has turned out fine in my little world, but yet, here I sit suffering in my sadness. My sadness comes from my own disappointments, that I haven’t done more, that I haven’t helped as many people as I thought I would, I feel that I haven’t made the world a better place. I have felt most of my life, judged, not included, and worse yet, I have always felt like an outsider. Sounds like I need counseling doesn’t it? I believe we all go through these emotional states at some point in our lives, we are all very much alike, we just execute differently.
It’s taken many years for me to see the world differently, in fact, it’s taken 55+ years of study, hard knocks, bad decisions, raising a family, holding high level positions, and learning to love the unlovable. I am the sum of all that I have experienced, all that the world has thrown at me, and yet, I still have hope, I still have much to do and to achieve. I was told by my Father, just as you probably were, the world is not a friendly place, it doesn’t care about you, so you have to be in control, take charge of your future. Some of us believed our Fathers, we took it to heart only to find out the world is different. My Fathers world is not my world, in fact, I don’t have control of the world, and never will have, but I do have control over how I respond to it. And that my friends is the secret to a great life, and a great future in business should you chose to.
You see, the future of business needs a world that doesn’t keep score on individuals, and that’s where the rules can be broken, because the world doesn’t care, we just think it does. You see, most think the world will come them, give them what they want, whenever they want it, or at least believe that’s how it should be. If it was, there would be no need for Lotteries, we all eventually would be rich beyond our wildest dreams. Somehow, we have built a world unwilling to wait, unwilling to work, the world now expects, it’s an entitlement theology. We have taken what we already have for granted.
We sell ourselves short far too often, we don’t believe in ourselves enough, we all say we don’t care what other people think, yet we wait to be picked. There it is, the problem becomes obvious. We attach our happiness on things, on whether or not people approve, and if we get picked. We all on some level are waiting to be picked, it’s what happens when you submit a resume, when you play sports, even when you pick your friends. The future of business doesn’t play by this rule, that’s the beauty of it, you get to decide how you will respond to this broken idea of being picked. As Seth Godin says, don’t wait to be picked, pick yourself.
You get to decide your preferred future, your preferred business of the future, chose to respond by picking you first, then your business has a far better chance of making a difference in the world. If you are in business or even have a Blog, we are waiting to be picked, waiting for someone to buy our products / services, waiting to like our blog posts, hoping someone will like what we have to say or offer. It’s a catch 22 isn’t it? How do we escape this seemingly inescapable, vicious circle? The secret is in how you respond to it, you still get to decide, you still get to pick you.
You now have the power to build your preferred future, your preferred business of the future. The question you really want to answer is, is your preferred future or business going to change the world, make it a better place. Forget about being famous or rich, focus on small random acts of kindness, provide service with caring behind it, do something that helps others first before yourself. It’s been said, if you help enough people get what they want, you’ll get what you want. It sounds corny, it sounds and feels uncomfortable, it’s called humility, and that’s always uncomfortable.
Humility is another key to success, it is the heart of small town rules in business, it’s why we build barns for our neighbors.
I’m a little long winded today, but it’s on my heart because so many are struggling. We give away our power to others, hoping we’ll get picked, take your power and us it for good, pick yourself, stop giving it away and create your preferred business of the future. Build a human business.
Tire Kickers
It amazes me how many business owners and entrepreneurs write off the power of the Internet, the value people in Social Networks can bring to a business, it’s astounding! Too many spend far to much time complicating something that is as simple as the telephone. The GURUS & EXPERTS would have you believe it’s hard and complicated, you better spend thousands to figure it out. I’m not suggesting you should get help, or even pay for that help, but do some diligence before hiring the snake oil salesperson.
Yes there are parts of the Internet that require and investment, you will invest time, you will invest money, but you should invest first in the plan. More importantly, you should have a clear understanding of why. I don’t teach people how to do this badly named thing called Social Media, how to setup an account and so on. I show you why you should pay attention to these networks, why you should investigate the game changer, the Internet. Why is everything. If you knew what I know, if you could see what I see, you would be concerned. Why, because everything you think you know about business and how it’s being done won’t work in the next 5 – 10 years.
Too many spend ten minutes using Twitter or Facebook, then cry foul that it doesn’t work, you / they…are the tire kickers, they don’t respect the digital shift. They don’t know why they are kicking the tires, they got told or sold a bill of goods, or worse yet thought they could figure it out on their own.
Business owners / Entrepreneurs that take their business seriously don’t use Hotmail, Yahoo mail, Google’s Gmail, they are where the hackers and spammers live. Many businesses reject email from these carriers because of attempts of fraud! You are asking for trouble if those are your primary email carriers, especially if you take orders on your site and allow those email addresses. I can speak intelligently on this topic, I get attacks or attempted fraud orders everyday from these email domains.
Many merely poke a stick at the Internet thinking it’s easy and it will make them rich over nite, you’re wrong! It takes time, it takes a plan, it takes a well thoughtout marketing strategy, and then near flawless execution. Anything less means you are probably a tire kicker. Check your pulse, and be even more concerned about who you take your advice from, your business deserves it.
There is a reason why the upper percentile is considered rich or even lucky, they for the most part, respect themselves and their business. Of course I’m talking about legal, legit….not crooked business dealings, businesses with integrity, businesses that understand you the customer is everything. It’s not all one sided, it’s a two-way street, the business owner also counts on you having integrity, and is honest with them.
Unless you are willing to invest properly in using the Internet / Social Networks, don’t waste your time, more importantly, don’t waste the time of those who work hard to teach you, who try to guide you, those who respect their business. Don’t be that person, don’t be a tire kicker in everything you say & do. Don’t waste people’s time, including your own.
The Future Of Business has changed, it’s always in a state of FLUX, are you investing or tire kicking?
What Makes Your Business Unique?
What Makes Your Business Unique?
Some always asks this question, it’s a way of measuring whether that someone should do business with you or not. I was on a Forum this week and someone posted the thread title exactly as this post.
Let’s do this, let’s say you own a business with a saturated market, you and thousands like you sell and support the exact same product & service. You have the same inventory, you have almost identical costs. You can’t just say you have the world’s best support and get away with it. So what is more important, uniqueness, or solving a problem? Do people do business with you because you are different (unique), or because you actually solve a problem?
Is it a chicken & egg thing? I frequent a restaurant here in my community, it’s unique only in that they do something to the food. They have tables, waiters & waitresses, menu’s, alcohol, friendly staff, and good service. How do they make it? I mean there are literally hundreds of restaurants in my community, why should I eat at this location? Because they are unique? I don’t go there because they are different.
They do solve a problem for me, but I can get my problem solved anywhere, so why do I keep going back to this establishment. It’s simple really, and it should be for you. The common denominator for me is not uniqueness or a problem being solved, it’s because of the relationship I have with the owners. Ya, the food they serve is different, it’s an acquired taste for this old man, the food is fabulous. I know we don’t think of hunger as a problem that needs to be solved in this country, but if we were in a 3rd world country with a food shortage, that would be different. They would be solving my problem of hunger…if I could get in, or could afford to eat there.
All businesses should do one thing extremely well, and that is to make sure, no matter what the cost, your customers don’t have a reason to speak poorly about you and your business. How are you doing with that, and how do you measure your success & failure, better yet, how quickly do you fix the brokenness?
While sifting through the Forums posts on this topic, someone posted a funny, in reference to the question of uniqueness. They said, we’ve got a dragon : ) that is kinda cool isn’t it. I would probably come see you if you had a dragon.
So, is it more important to be different, does being different bring you business? It might if you solve a problem in a cool unique way, in a way no one has ever done before. But it still has to solve a problem, it can’t just be a novelty, or an amusing thing.
I do believe it’s a combination of being unique, solving a problem, while maintaining and or building on the relationship with your clients. It’s a small town rule thing, everyone wants to be treated special, with respect, and most of all, they want to know you care before they do. So which is it, uniqueness, solving a problem, or is it the relationship? By today’s standards, not yesterdays. And just what are those standards anyway?
What do you think is more important, uniqueness or solving a problem?
The Future Of Business – One Thing You Must Eliminate
The Future Of Business – One Thing You Must Eliminate. I was working with a client this week, and a common problem almost every business suffers from arises. It’s human nature of course, but it inevitably shows up on some level. It’s the one thing you must eliminate if you plan to survive the future of business, the business world of tomorrow. There’s very little room for it.
Most of us move forward by feeling, we tend to allow our emotions to make decisions for us, not really a good idea. I’m not suggesting you eliminate it completely, intuition is important. Gut feeling saves us from our selves sometimes too, we need to have that instinctive sense. But that’s not the thing, it’s bigger than intuition or instincts.
Almost everyone I know suffers from fear, that’s easy peasy, it’s not the fear that’s the problem, it’s the worry that something bad might happen. It never does, well, 90% of the time it doesn’t.
No, the thing to eliminate is the fear attached to risk, the word risk is a bigger issue. It’s a double-edged sword isn’t it, damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. There is always going to be some level of risk in business, it’s the engine that drives success really. We all make decisions based on this fear, big and small, the fear of things not working out and so on. Calculated risk is the best place to be, as long as you have good perspective, all the information you need, and everything has been well thought out. Then everything comes down to one question:
Can I survive the worst case scenario?
The hidden question is, What’s the level of risk?
You see, the price of doing nothing is much higher than doing something, there is always going to be risk, so embrace it. There is always going to be failure, so embrace it, it’s how we learn.
Eliminate risk, risk tends to mean there will be a winner and a loser, don’t do that, fear will handle that for you….move forward always, don’t look back.
The reason most people don’t do something significant in their lives, is because they won’t pay the price of taking a chance, taking a risk. It feels painful, and we tend to stay away from anything that makes us feel bad. These people don’t learn, and they don’t tend to change the world, and we all want a better world.
Risk is good, but it’s only good if you have done the hard work to assess it, so make it a calculated risk. Once you have done the hard work, execute! You must eliminate the fear of taking risks, your businesses future depends on your taking risks to move forward, in order to make it more profitable.
