Start-up entrepreneurs, independent professionals and
business leaders may be equally deeply passionate about
their product or service model. Despite, or in fact because
of that passion, their success may be at a stand still.
In the late 1990s I worked with a woman who had a brilliant
cosmetics idea that had HSN (the Home Shopping Network)
interested. In order to play to that audience, the product
needed to be displayed in a fashion other than the one the
entrepreneur wanted. She was adamant. It was her baby after
all. More than 20 hours of explaining and cajoling and
analytically demonstrating the potential for sales if done
"the HSN way" produced no shift in her devotion to her
model.
The boxes of her prototypes are sitting on her closet floor.
So what's the Catch-22?
If you are completely, absolutely, positively set on your
model, be it fixed OR flexible, you're not running your
business, it's running you.
There is NO single best model to use - every model is a
blend of the internal forces of the personality, decision
making, skills and processes, and of the external forces
where that effort is aimed.
What sets successful businesses apart from the ones that
are languishing is that the key decision makers step back
from the market, the product, the model and re-check
whether the formula they are currently using is getting
them the result they say they want: profitable growth;
competitive differentiation; stability; and so on.
Contrast that with the jewelry designer whose original
model was "I need to make every piece because they must be
made exactly the way I want them to be." However, she
hated making duplicates, so her business was stalled. She
was willing to test a new model. In four hours of our
discussions and one month of research she located people
experienced with the materials she used in her jewelry
making who could demonstrate their ability to reproduce her
pieces exactly the way she wants.
Her jewelry is now being sold in Hawaii, California and
Canada.
The President of a business in transition from one
generation to the next informed me flat out that they
couldn't change the model for how they market or package
and provide services "because everyone else in the industry
does it this way." He and his management team were unable
to imagine a single other way to package their expertise to
change the game. In a single brainstorming meeting with the
management team, I was able to suggest six ways to do so.
In the second meeting I was able to walk them through the
entire discussion of the pros and cons of each and they
outlined what the required changes in materials for sales,
sales training scripts, and customer service activities
would need to be if they decided to pursue it.
Now they'll need to decide which are the High Payoff
targets they'll pursue.
My attorney client "Mike" called this week and said "I'm
sick of training, I want a different model!"
I've been working with him on the management skills he
needs to develop using his current model: bringing in entry
level junior attorneys to grow and expand his legal service
offerings. The root of his decision is that his market is
changing and he wants to establish a firm that can flex to
meet the regulatory and seasonal waves that influence the
flow of work coming to his firm while also growing the
business.
He's tested his first model, the time and content of the
training he needed to commit to bring a less experienced
person up to speed. He created a way of evaluating the
trade off between time and effort, and so on. In reaction
to the experience he's having with training, he's now
asking himself if he'd rather bring in much more
experienced and much more expensive lawyers to build his
business.
I'll be working with him to explore that approach, to test
it, analyze it and learn from it.
If you're completely fixed, you're not testing where
opportunities, efficiencies, and profits might come from.
If you're relentlessly flexible you're probably not
gathering enough information to identify where you could be
more systematic in order to gain efficiencies that will
make you profitable.
If you found yourself wincing at the idea, it's probably
time for you to step back and challenge your model.
----------------------------------------------------
© 2008 Linda Feinholz Management expert, consultant,
and coach Linda Feinholz is "Your High Payoff Catalyst" If
you're ready to focus on your High Payoff activities, boost
your professional and personal results and have more fun,
get her FREE audio mini-course "7 Quick & Simple Steps to
Increase Your Focus, Ease Your Effort & Accelerate Your
Results" and the free weekly newsletter The Spark! Visit
http://www.YourHighPayoffCatalyst.com
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