As you enter 2014 what are your plans to take your business
forward? Will you be repeating what you
did last year, or making changes? Have
you considered doing the same thing, but delivering it differently?
Kudos to Tim Hortons for going where the trends are
going. They could so easily just have
stayed where they were – with a Tim Hortons on every corner, and their cans of
coffee sold in local supermarkets, but no.
They realized that more and more people are using the fancy coffee making
machines, that require individual packages of coffee. And not wanting to lose
out on this market, have set about packaging their coffee that way.
They saw where the future was going, and went there too,
instead of providing the same old, same old.
Last year we started to offer webinars in a big way – with
three sessions a month – and apart from some technical glitches beyond our
control, it has gone well. We recognized
that women don’t always have the time to travel and meet face to face, in order
to benefit from the knowledge of others, and with webinars, they can be in
their PJs taking in useful information when it suits them best.
My goal for 2014 is to do more online, and maybe even
deliver a few webinars myself. Now this is
a stretch goal, because I am technologically-challenged, but I am determined to
move with the times.
I challenge you to ask yourself if there is something you
are doing that you need to change? Is what you are offering still attracting the
same audience, or do you need to change it up?
What are the new trends in your industry? Think about it. When we put our
client/customers’ needs front and centre, instead of what we want to offer or
sell, we provide what they want to buy.
As Henry Ford said
“if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you
always got.” Maybe it is time to
change. Take a risk, venture out and
offer your programs or services differently. You might be surprised at the
results.