By Jane Quinn
A friend of mine told me he walked into a petrol station and was confused when asked if he would like two rabbits with his fuel. Frowning, he asked why and was told that a local girl was looking for a new home for her pets. Now the offer of rabbits made a little more sense yet he still declined as he had no need for rabbits and had only come to the petrol station for fuel.
When I heard this story I was reminded of the Roman proverb,
A man who chases two rabbits catches none!
I speak to many business people and one of the recurring replies to my question, “Why do people buy from you?” often begins with a statement of what they are, for example, I am an accountant or a web designer and then every so often I hear the dreaded, “I do lots of things”
Now that last answer is the one that worries me most, then I hear the stories. About how they started out as a photographer say, and things were going quite well but then the business slowed down so they started doing some business mentoring.
How do these things link together I hear you ask? The sad news is they don’t and the poor guy who initially discovered that he couldn’t run a profitable photography business has now discovered that it’s still not profitable whilst he now runs an unprofitable business mentoring service as well.
That’s the story of a man chasing two rabbits!
Often businesses go through difficult times and we need to strip it back and look at the core. Start with a few hard questions that require serious consideration and contemplation:
- Where do you see your business in the future? 1 yr, 5 yrs, 10 yrs from now?
- What really makes you different from all the others who provide a similar product or service to you?
- Who benefits most from your offering and why?
- Where do they go? How do you reach them?
This gives you a focus on your offering, what it is and who it is for. With a clear message delivered precisely to the exact people who will benefit from it, you position yourself as an expert in your field. You already know that buyers want to trust and feel confident in the people they are buying from.
When the guy walked into the petrol station he expected to pay for petrol. When you speak about your business, be clear about your offering, your expertise and leave the rabbit selling to the pet shops!
Jane Quinn, miworld
www.miworld.org.uk