I thought for this Blog posting I would share with you some of the content of my presentation at "The BIG Business Event" which we ran recently as Make A Difference.
The purpose of the event was to give participants knowledge, information and strategies to enable them to Grow their Business and be successful in whatever venture they are involved in.
We looked at Four Principles that I have personally lived by and implemented across private, charity, public and Social Enterprise sector work covering the 25 years I have been involved in Business Development and Growth. The principles revolve around the acronym GROW!
G stands for Grit & Determination. Successful people in life and Business especially, have to endure challenges, setbacks, disappointments and frustration which can easily sink the ship of venture. Those who succeed and see success are those who develop Grit and Determination. This is fuelled by a clear vision of what they want to achieve in life and Business and this is what enables them to see things through the toughest of times and circumstances.
R stands for Review & Reflect. Successful people are continually Reviewing what they do and the end results. If things worked out well with that particular venture, what made it work and how can we repeat this and also ensure we can do it bigger and better in the future? If things didn't work out as planned, then why not, what went wrong, what do we need to do differently to get this back on track and performing? Constant review is the key to increased performance, quality and success in life and Business. It is also good to Reflect on where you have come from, are you on track with where you are going and aiming for, and if not why not and what do you need to change. This is a process of Continual Improvement and is key to Success!
O stands for Observe. Successful people are aware of their situation, environment and area of Business and Life! They become experts in their field, monitor the competition, look at the horizon for the next innovation to come down the road and they get in there early because of what they observe! If you want to stay ahead of the competition, be Observant and scan the horizon for the next thing that the market will buy into and be an early adopter to get the lions share.
W stands for Want. Successful people stand out from average achievers as the Successful person Wants the success and to achieve. This is what drives them! Often they have put everything on the line because of their vision and belief in what they are doing and they Want to succeed, often at ALL costs. Do you have that desire, that drive, that WANT to succeed in what you are doing?
If you adopt the above as habits and a lifestyle, Success will find you and the journey will be easier.
Enjoy, Adopt, Practice and GROW!
I thought I would start my first blog on this site, with a familiar age old question: What comes first – the Chicken or the Egg?
What a bizarre thing to write I hear you say, and what does this have to do with Business?
Well, recently I have been delivering some talks around Effective Marketing and why people don’t always see the results that they should from their Marketing efforts.
What has come from the feedback of participants is a lack of clarity as to what Marketing is and in particular its role alongside the sales function of a Business.
Does Sales come first and then Marketing, or is it Marketing first and then Sales follow up?
Someone in the States undertook some research with the top 75 Business Leaders, asking them for their take or definition of Marketing. Guess what? All 75 answers were different and personal to each persons Business.
My definition of Marketing is this: “Marketing is communicating with people, to make a connection, that leads to a relationship!” For most people in Business this relationship is a sale or new client.
When I started to then look at the role of Marketing alongside Sales, it soon emerged that most people in the workshops I was presenting at were seeing Sales as the goal of the Business and coming before Marketing.
Indeed if we look at most organisational charts, job descriptions and Business Cards presented to us in Business, the majority of them refer to a Sales and Marketing Manager, Department etc. Our terminology in Business often puts Sales before Marketing.
However, going back to my definition of the role of Marketing, if Marketing is designed to communicate and make a connection then surely the outcome of successful Marketing is a pipeline of leads and referrals which can then be passed to the Sales team to develop a relationship with, which then leads to a sale / client?
If most Businesses are reversing that process and trying to sell to people, without establishing a connection that leads to a relationship, could that be a cause of poor sales and conversion rates within Businesses?
People buy from people, and unless you connect with people, get a response that allows you to form a relationship, then your Sales efforts will continue to be construed as being “Hard Sell – Aggressive and Un-welcomed”, and you are in danger of causing great long term harm to your Business.
However, if you allow your Marketing to do its job, communicate, connect and harvest a response, then your sales team will have warm leads, good relationships and natural conversions to sales / clients and your Business will grow.
I hope these thoughts have helped you in looking at growing your Business, and who knows, one day we might be able to develop an answer to ” What comes first – the Chicken or the Egg!”
This was first posted on 14 February 2013 on:
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