Living Your Plan

A couple days ago I met with a client who runs a very profitable business.  She is an excellent example of how to achieve success and profitability.  Since I often get asked what leads to both of these in business, I am sharing with you what has contributed to her success. 

She has a forward-looking attitude.  She constantly looks at what is going well and wonders what she can improve.  She is not content merely to take the business that walks in the door.  She pursues her target market and invites them to do business with her.  She wants to continue what is being successful for her business today and build on those achievements for tomorrow’s revenue.

That prompts her to take different paths than most businesses in her category.  Rather than following the traditional thinking of her competition, she approaches her business with an open mind.  She puts her customers first.  That is more than lip service to her.  She goes to great lengths to satisfy customers.  Sometimes she cleans up a mess left by a competitor, much to the surprise of the customer.  Customer service is not a phrase to her.  She embodies making the customer happy.

Although this may seem contrary, she has also learned to set parameters with customers.  She saves customers and her staff time by funneling customers’ dropping by into appointments.  She rewards her customers with increased focus by only servicing what her staff sells rather than servicing the sales of her competitors.  She is respectful of her staff’s need for a personal life by closing holidays so that they can spend time with family and friends.

Most notably, her customer focus leads her to be truthful in all her dealings with customers.  She and her staff ask questions and find out how customers will use an item before making a recommendation.  If the customer is looking for an item that she and her staff do not think is in the customer’s best interest, they tell the customer that it is not, give the customer the reasons why, and suggest an alternative.  She and her staff use their expertise to help customers get the items that fit their lifestyles.  She and her staff carry this truthfulness beyond sales.  They tell customers the truth in delivery and service, too.  Truthfulness permeates all the interactions of her and her staff.

A significant difference between her and other businesspeople is that years ago she sat down and wrote out a marketing plan.  She took the time to decide her objectives, target her market, understand her message, identify the uniqueness of what she offered customers, select her marketing tools, and set her budget.  She had the courage to implement this plan, make the changes it required, and exercise the persistence to stick with it.  Each year she reflects on her successes, establishes new goals, and updates her plan.  She stays the course on the plan and has experienced double-digit revenue growth through years of recession and beyond.  She has become so focused on this plan that she has internalized it.  She no longer needs to write it, read it, or consciously think about it.  She lives it everyday.

This week's marketing trivia challenge is What changes did you make in your marketing plan this year?  E-mail me your answer. 

Refreshing Honesty

After Michael Phelps came in fourth in his first race the first Saturday of the Olympics, I was all set to write an Insight about it.  However, I deliberately delayed to see what happened as he swam more events.  I’m glad that I did.  From today’s perspective, I see his Olympics differently.

In an interview, Michael said that he had tightened up during that first race.  When asked about the silver that he received in the second race, he said that he had gotten sloppy recently about finishing his practice swims, and it showed up there. 

He gave a realistic assessment with no excuses.  He said that he had set goals for this Olympics and that he had achieved them.  One of his goals was to have fun.  After his intense Olympics in Bejing where he won eight gold medals, that was understandable.  He came out of Bejing on such a high that he fell into a deep depression.  He wanted his London experience to be balanced. 

He also wanted to go out on top.  For that reason, he was unswerving in his statement that this was his last Olympics.  “Your mother says she wants to go to Rio,” mentioned an interviewer.

“I told her that we can go to Rio in four years,” Phelps replied, “but I’ll be in the stands, not in the pool.”

He also wanted to set an example for younger swimmers.  After watching Michael and Alison win their races, fifteen-year-old Olympian Katie Ledecky won the 1500 meter race, one that no one thought she would win.  “You emulate and follow the best,” she commented.

Winning and success are a result of preparing and going out and doing a good job every time.  You don’t prepare to win.  You prepare to do well every time.  Of his first swim, Michael noted, “I did the preparation that I did, and I got the results that I deserved for that preparation.”

I loved Michael’s refreshing honesty.  We can all learn from his example of setting goals, preparing to do well, having fun, and setting an example.  Most importantly, we can learn to maintain our focus.  It will help us reach our goals.  Once we have reached our goals, set new ones.  Be ready to move from the pool to the stands and keep our energies flowing.