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| Subject: Distinctions For Developing & Choosing Superior Options | |
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Author: Dennis S. Vogel |
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Date Posted: 00:42:02 08/29/15 Sat In reply to: Dennis S. Vogel 's message, "Distinctions In Your Business Strategy, Tactics & Operations" on 22:06:19 07/29/15 Wed Apparently, some business owners think their past success indicates they've been & are still doing everything necessary to maintain long-term success. Whom or what will they blame when they finally face reality & notice they're falling behind because competitors are moving ahead? Whom or what will they blame when they finally face reality & notice their market niche has different desires & needs? Many of those different desires & needs are apt to be in the same categories (some examples are in Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs). Did We Really Dress Like That? At different ages, people tend to choose different clothing styles. Example - In the 1960s, I was somewhat conservative about what I wore, but I still wouldn't want to wear the same styles now. Other people were less conservative & probably would never again dress like they did in the 1960s. The baby boomers (I've seen lately) still wear shirts & pants but the clothing styles are very different. If a store only offered 1960s clothing styles, it'd probably be out of business in a short time. It's an obvious distinction, so I'm using as an example. People's first homes might be quite different than their current homes. It's also true of the inside furnishings & outside landscaping & paints. Personal appearance is a common high priority category. For some people, being attractive might include multiple piercings & many big tattoos now. For the same people later in life, attractiveness might include natural skin. Demanding Lives Some differences are goals & priorities (what a person expects & others expect from him/her); time & energy restraints; budgets & other limitations. Some limitations are recent & cause people to find solutions they didn't need before. Though in general, people want to be consistent, they realize when they change they can gain benefits & avoid or reduce problems. Small changes can be part of consistency since improvement should be consistent. Some changes are incremental, yet significant especially the cumulative effects. Business owners can quickly fail when they fail to see market niche changes. Among these questions & issues, I've written below, are some I'm sure many business owners have never seriously considered. It Seemed To Work, Let's Do It Again. Repeat Repeat Repeat Doing the same thing, again & again, won't always produce the same result because other things change even if our actions are the same. In many situations, repetitious actions & inputs lead to diminishing returns. Also, the current right activities could be wrong in future situations. Distinctions are necessary for developing & choosing superior options. For optimal results, we need to know what the differences are. By testing, tracking results & studying, we can extrapolate potential & potent results brought on by changes. Look For Distinctions By checking as many relevant factors as you can, you can determine how to make your business optimally fit in the value chain. The value chain is all businesses providing at least one thing necessary to make a product. An optimal fit means becoming as integrated as practical. Note: When a boat/ship is properly built & maintained, it can be sealed well enough to keep water out. That means it has water tight integrity. Water tight integrity prevents water from occupying spaces where it shouldn't be. Water, in the wrong places, can be a threat. Like anything in life, proactivity is necessary since damage could compromise water tight integrity. Since mishaps will occur, retailers should continually assure their niche members that some problems (especially misfortunes) can be prevented, mitigated or solved. As much as practical, you should offer what niche members need to establish misfortune tight integrity in at least one aspect of their lives. To keep your business relevant, you can increase your knowledge & trade skill & improve your reputation & credentials. As long as you establish & keep improving your specialty, you don't need everything necessary for a consumer's full optimization. (I've written about modules & interdependencies in other posts. The "Search" link is above the forum title to the right of the page center.) Products & services are modules & interdependencies. When you know a consumer well, you may be able to recommend an optimally fitting interdependency that will be stable & fill a gap with little or no adjusting. Recognize Vital Distinctions If you don't recognize vital distinctions, you could miss indications that you should adjust your activities. Hypothetical Example - You close your store at 5:00 PM each day. As you prepare to close, you mentally focus on your daily obligations as you review what you've done & what you'll still do that day. You still have more things to do before you get home & hope you'll have enough energy. A week ago, many customers started walking in at 4:45 & staying until they were served. During those times each of those days, you looked at your front door a few times & noticed more people trying to get in. You might be focused on what you plan to do when you leave your store. You might only think about how these customers are upsetting your routine. You're tempted to tell them to return earlier the next day, but you don't want to miss their transactions. What Could This Mean? If an employer changed work schedules or an organization changed its meeting times, it could indicate why people are shopping later. Though people used to shop in your store in earlier day parts, now they need to change their schedules. If they didn't buy from you after 5:00 pm, they'd shop somewhere else. They need later shopping times & you need the money. Even if this happens only one day per week, your new cash flow could bring more profit as long as you don't let expenses rise too much. If you keep ending your business day at 5:00, your business could end. From an outside perspective, this seems obvious. From the inside, what's obvious is this: "successful" business routines are being disrupted. Disruption causes stress & confusion. Disruption interferes with processes that produce necessary results. Reduced results lead to reduced income plus higher expenses at the same time. Some business owners resist unexpected/unplanned success since it doesn't fit their paradigms. I don't advocate changing based on a small aberration. I suggest being inquisitive enough to notice variations, so you can proactively respond to problems & opportunities. When you only have one option or opportunity, you'll get stuck when things interfere with that option or opportunity. For optimal success, you should have multiple options & opportunities, so you can pick the best. If employers or organizations change schedules, they'll probably give advanced notice to employees or volunteers. When you see or hear any indications, you can start to determine how those changes might affect your business. Maybe you can avoid negative effects & produce positive effects. Changing can be less costly compared to the short-term or long-term problems resulting from not changing. Costs of changing can be relatively inexpensive compared to the gains from short-term or long-term benefits. Questions To Help You Add Value Which small changes can you make to increase the value of transactions for clients & your business? Which small changes can your clients make to increase the value they receive & retain? What can you make more convenient for your clients? What would help your clients justify (to themselves & others) investing more money, time, energy &/or other resources? Ready To Change When Necessary Modular processes & business practices can be more efficient, effective, smoother & faster than flexible methods, yet you need to know what should be flexible. Monitoring distinctions can help you track & determine when to continue with modules & when to introduce & use interdependencies. Until you're sure about a niche & product/service category, you should have interdependencies ready to use. The reason is because interdependencies are flexible & you need to be adaptable - especially when you test products, services & methods. Realistically, things can change quickly. When you consistently study marketing & test methods, you're also preparing for changes. Testing can bring you better ideas about what can work well & what might not. Your interdependencies are methods you've tested but not fully implemented. When you determine what's compatible & tested for effectiveness, you should install these among your current optimal business practices. You should test linking business practices for optimization: Example - After or during your book keeping/accounting tasks, you can check your budgets like marketing & sub-budgets like specific promotions. You can check your sales results & compare the sales revenue with your goals & the money you spent to get those results. Though you won't determine the causes of all effects, when you determine the main effects, you can find some causes. After you find causes, you can discover ways to avoid negative causes & effects. You can also learn how to produce positive causes & effects. Thank you for using this blog. Dennis S. Vogel thrivingbusiness@email.com Attaining & maintaining business success requires optimally connecting many relevant insights. Please check the archives (1, 2 & 3) also for more free information. http://www.voy.com/31049/3/ [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
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