Can profit be a poison?
Friend-of-the-list, daily emailer and your friendly-CFO (think of it as your friendly Financial Spiderwoman), Lauren Pearl, wrote about how profit-first could be a poison pill for businesses (bolding mine). “The industry is riddled with quick answers from experts on what works for every business. And while many of those insights are revolutionary for some teams.The same can be poison pills for others.” And she’s right. There’s no one-fits-all solution. When profit (or for that matter,…
Fits & Misfits
If you qualify your customers and prospects, you’re looking for the right Fits, so that you can help them thrive, and by extension, make your business thrive. If you’re looking to stand out in your market, you’ll be a Misfit. You’ll think, do and see things different —all to help your customers rise. You’ll be fine in not being what you’re expected to be: standard. And Misfits are also the ones who appreciate how you can make things better for them in new ways. After all, how can you stand…
Outperforming the competition
It won’t make your brand the leader. It even won’t guarantee you higher sales. And if you’ve heard that “strategy is a set of choices to outperform the competition”, don’t follow that advice. It’s bullshit. Strategy is not about “outperforming”, as many say —especially on LinkedIn. If it was about performance, why would a business be preferred over others when they underperform? Take Apple, and even their other side in Samsung. Can you find companies that perform better? Yes. Do they get…
What does it take to stand out?
Ask yourself these questions How the hell do I get to better serve my customers? What questions do I answer? What questions do I make? Don’t (over)think them. Just write them down as they come. Don’t filter them. Once you got them, take some tea —or coffee, or your drink of choice— and explain each of those. Again, don’t look for the right words. It’s about a feeling first. You’ll have time for wordsmithing. Once you have those 3 questions answered, take a day to not look at them. And after…
Reversing
Yesterday’s message was an example of what a set of assumptions —in this case, the industry I’m in— looks like. The next step about this is going all the way to the opposite. To reverse the norms, the expectations, the standard. Not to say exactly what it’d look like in reality, but to push boundaries and for you to go crazy. To go all in. Without fear of consequences. Because this is the part of the exercise that can show you glimpses of how far you could go. How you could make yourself (or…
Value, profit, revenue or costs?
Some businesses focus on how to be more cost-efficient, because that’s how they think they’ll win. Others, on how to get more sales (revenue) because the more they sell, the more often they win. Some others, on how much profit they can add on top, so that the business model they have makes sense and can win. Few, on what their customers value and are willing (and able) to give in exchange of that (money). Still trying to win more. A very, very few, on how they can get to what their customers…
Are you scared?
Brian Collins (once again) wrote this article about fear. You need fear, you need insecurity —I’d argue you even need pain. Because that’s what also lets you see into the other side of life. Where you are not comfortable anymore. And, if channeled right, it might just be the thing that leads you to something awesome. Here’s what he wrote.???? Last year, I invited my friend (and our Chief Strategy Officer) Taamrat Amaize to give a talk with me at the spectacular OFFF Festival in Barcelona. The…
Imposter syndrome will be a guarantee
There was a linkedin post talking about entrepreneurship and how “imposter syndrome will be a guarantee” of it. Brian Collins came to say something raw, and brilliant in response. […] What is not true is this:- Imposter syndrome will be a guarantee.There is no such thing as Imposter Syndrome. That expression is just someone turning insecurity into a pathology. It is the human human trait called “learning.”Yes, anything new is going to have a learning curve.Entrepreneurship? That’s a steep…
Music is not a sport.
“Music is about soul, feeling and intention.” —Mohini Dey But first, watch this for 2 mins: Most about the features “[…] Very skilled, very technical, amazing in their own ways, but what’s missing is the soul and the melody.” My guess is that you can relate to this in your own market. There is always something missing, and you intend to change that in your own ways. And when you see things that way, you will find that, sure, things in your market might focus on performance and metrics for…
Stop getting in your own way.
Make it simple for your customers to get back to you. Ditch the jargon, the brain and extra work, the coordination. Get to the point, tell them the price and leave it up to them. Help them make the decision. Simplify things. It might look like this at first. From a complex process: Mailing Text All about why “your brand is the best” Discount Click Landing page Look for the owned product and its serial number Fill in form Apply discount Send Wait for the quote Get the quote Order Results: X…