What Business Are You Really In

You’re not in the accounting, consulting, restaurant, shipping or delivery business – get this out of your head!

You’re in the marketing business!

Your raison d’etre is getting new business – just as every human’s primary reason for existence is procreation.  If as a species, we fail on our primary task of replacing ourselves we will disappear. The same is true for our businesses.

Many readers will not like to read this but the chances are that your professional skills (what you sell) are probably sufficient to deliver the business you need today but your marketing skills (how you sell) are not good enough to continually acquire new business.

This is true 93% of the time!

Doubt this? How often have you raised prices or fired customers in the last year to manage growth?

That’s what I thought!

As they say in Alcoholics Anonymous your current thinking got you here – you’re part of the problem not part of the solution.  What grew your business to this point will not grow it to the next level.

If you run every morning for five kilometers at the same speed you will quickly improve your fitness but once your body adapts your progress will plateau. This is a life principle – you either grow or die – status quo is death!

In order for a business to grow you need to be building your marketing skills. You need to get better at finding business.

The marketing and sales skills that got you the last ten clients may not be sufficient to get you the next ten. Your competitors are getting better and more sophisticated so by staying the same you are really going backwards!

Companies that focus too much on process and too little on sales and marketing will slowly erode the current position.

Too many businesses mistake initial success as a sign that the sales system works. Initial success is often based on the relationships brought into the start-up and the initial burst of energy! Success can be an illusion and can hurt you!

New client acquisition is at the heart of any company’s success. Make it the heart of your business and you will thrive. To know what is at the heart of our business ask yourself what takes the majority of management focus – that is the answer – it probably is not sales and marketing.

“In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment.” – Charles Darwin

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