Reaching for the light

There is a tree that stands next to the extension we built at the farm.  I am sure originally it was upright, reaching to the sky, but with the new building, it now bends away so it can still capture the light and continue to grow.

It makes me think of what we have to do to stay relevant in our business – lean towards the light, listen to what the market is saying it wants.  The tree’s roots are strong, so it is not in danger of falling over and if you have built your business on a strong foundation, your company won’t be pushed over either.

But the key is to stay flexible; to stay current and nimble enough to adapt and change to what the new marketplace wants and needs.  So often we get stuck in our ways. “We’ve always done it this way.  People have always loved this program.”  Well, maybe yes, but as the song goes ‘times are a changing’ and to stay alive, you may find you have to change your offering too.

I find that when we are insistent in offering what we want to offer, rather than what our customers want, we really run the risk of getting it wrong.  Keeping our ear to the ground, listening to what people are saying (and not saying), helps us to stay on track.

Changing it up, making it fun is one way to keep your clients happy.  Truth is, the same old, same old – is just that, and personally I find that boring.   I am always looking for new light, and like the tree I am willing to bend to find it.

Time for change?

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.