Chatting to a client the other week we were musing over the nature of success and what lessons we had learned since the recession back in 2009/10. Even though we have very different businesses, in terms of size and scope and markets, we have both worked hard to make our world a successful one and had essentially taken the same strategy to achieve success.
So when does success happen?
Success happens when planning meets opportunity.
…How simple is that.
In practice what this means is that if we introduce new products and services and keep marketing and building customer relationships then when there is an upturn we are perfectly placed to catch new orders.
If we do nothing and just wait for an opportunity to come our way then it is likely that someone else (who is better prepared) will snatch it first.
So, when thinking about our business how do we need to deepen our produce and service offering? How can we create new capacity that our customers can then take advantage of?
For single-point businesses, where one person is the key focus such as many consultancy businesses, it makes sense for the owner to be the brand. Instead of trying to grow by adding more fee earners, with no thought to the back office, it can make more sense for the owner to maximise their customer facing time and hire skilled office staff to take care of all those essential tasks which have to happen and which keep us away from value adding selling or networking.
Next week: Take a photo