by David Shavzin
“We are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet.”
Anonymous
Trying new things is always a good idea. We get stuck in ruts as individuals and as companies. “We have always done it this way, so why change?” It can be hard to get out from under the day-to-day fires and step back to THINK.
Even in the best of times, we need to keep reinventing how we do things. But certainly during these challenging times! Even if the years since 2009 have been an economic anomaly, they have clearly changed the business environment, including every industry and every aspect of the economy.
You’ve likely heard the definition of insanity (attributed to various people, including Albert Einstein): “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.” If you have not been hitting the sales targets you had set, are you going to keep doing what you have been doing? What are you going to do to ensure a successful year? What are your customers doing differently? How can that impact you? How can you adjust to take their new habits into account?
You cannot – and do not want to – change everything. But, how about one thing? Just one “crazy” idea.
Here is an example: Sales at The Home Depot were down due to housing market problems and lower consumer spending. Sound familiar? So, they decided to sell off parcels of their parking lots. They are taking pieces of those giant parking lots and selling them to retail outlets such as fast-food, pet stores and auto parts. Imagine being in the boardroom when that idea was suggested!!
Here is my advice: Get together with your partners, your management team, your employees or a couple of friends or colleagues. Brainstorm and come up with your “parking lot” idea.
Get in a room with a white board, a flipchart or paper and pen. Ask everyone to help you brainstorm new ideas…laughing is allowed, criticizing is not, everything gets Written Down, as reasonable or wacky as they sound. If you can, have someone facilitate to keep you on track – they should not participate but keep you focused. Alignment and agreement among the owners or the management team is critical.
The ideas may be slight twists on something you are doing today, or they may be the most ridiculous-sounding ideas you have ever heard – at first! They may have something to do with operations, finance, human resources, production, marketing, sales, customer service or any other part of your business. New markets, new products, new staff member, an improvement to your production or sales process.
How can you make at least one of these ideas fit your business this year? It may or may not work. If not, go back to that list and try something else!
David Shavzin is President of Shavzin & Associates, Inc., a Certified Management Consultant, and a master of crazy ideas. He can be reached at (678) 795-1750 or [email protected]