It is Election year in the United States and candidates faced with shrinking support and dollars are beginning to drop like flies. High profile candidates who seemed promising last year are now out of the race.
As I read the latest list of casualties I realized that for business owners every year is an election year. Political affiliations aside, the now former nominees were filled with hope, and ideas for a new America. They marketed those ideas vigorously finding favor with many people. Yet, in spite of their expertise, talents and marketing their bid for the presidency is now over.
Although each former candidate could list their own reasons for failure, the end result is the same –They lost the race to be in the race. Ouch!
Education, experience and great plans mean nothing when you simply can’t connect with enough people to keep you afloat.
Business owners must stump for votes day in and day out. Thankfully, unlike the nominees, our “voters” can choose more than one front runner. Yet, we still must win them over day after day. And like the candidates, if we fail to connect with enough people, we too will be out of the running.
My own solution is to stay focused on my mission of helping others move their business forward. I have a genuine passion for helping others to give birth to their vision. In order to continue to be a solution I must remain open to always learning, growing and sharing.
What about you, how do you remain relevant to your customers? What do you do to stay in the running?
Karen Swim says
Luke, I love your point about the first 100 days! When I was in Sales I remember well the lesson of #2, my mentor used the Hertz and Avis examples to explain why we needed to strive to win but when we lost, we should strive to be the best #2. I implemented this and even when I lost a deal when things went wrong with #1, we stepped into the #2 spot. The cool thing about #2, and #3 in business that you still have a huge share of the market. 🙂
Luke Gedeon says
One huge difference is that 2nd, 3rd, etc. place pay-off quite well in business. In politics, the guy in 2nd place usually spent the most with no (or very little) ROI.
What am I doing to stay afloat? Trying not to make too many campaign promises. I tend to over-commit. If everyday is election day then everyday is also the 1st 100 days. The time when we have to deliver on all those campaign promises.