Driven to Business with Eddie Mayfield

Major league hitters sometimes go into what’s described as a “slump.” The time honored advice- is to “bat your way out of it.” That’s actually sound coaching, because slumps get worse when you stop swinging the bat.

It’s the same for us in business; the worst thing you can do is resign yourself to being in a slump, because just like the batter, it will become a self fulfilling prophesy.

One of the temptations is to think that the business environment in which we live today is somehow, not the norm. Here’s a news flash.. it is! Accept that, and learn to be successful in the new normal.

Here’s a couple of quick ideas to help you swing your bat.

Play the paradigm game: It goes like this.. gather your team around you and ask “what is impossible to do today, that if it were possible, would make a substantial positive impact on our business?

Let everyone run pretty wild with this; after all, you’re talking about the impossible right? Write the answers down on a notepad or whiteboard. If necessary, trim the impossible thoughts down to two or three.

Then ask a harder question.. ” is there any part of the impossible situation that actually could be possible?” Here’s a quick example: Let’s say your lunch restaurant would do incredible business IF you could serve everyone their meal under ten minutes. But, that’s impossible because it takes longer than that to cook much of the food.

But, boring deeper, what food could be prepared in less than ten minutes? And, would there be a market for having a “quick serve” menu that people could order from if they were in a hurry?

Maybe yes, maybe no, but these kind of exercises put energy and creativity to work for you.

Here’s another idea..

Take a look at your customer list with your team, and spend some time talking about who actually buys from you. Then consider what that same person might be buying from someone else, that you could supply at a profit.

It costs a lot less money and is a much easier sales effort to sell additional products or services to people with whom you already have a relationship than it does to prospect for new ones.

Here’s one more..

Brainstorm about how you can “add value” to your customers and prospects.

Do you have expertise that would be of value to them, even if its not directly related to what you sell and service? IF so, then offer “lunch and learns” (or webinars) and add the value of your expertise to them at no cost.

This allows you to earn the right to their business, and puts you in a much better position than your competitors who are simply trying to sell them something. Remember the adage, people love to buy, but hate being sold. Add value to your customers and prospects

That’s this week’s discussion on Driven to Business. Tune in Saturday at 11.

Driven to Business with Eddie Mayfield airs each Saturday at 11 AM on Atlanta’s Biz 1190 AM. The show is podcast on eddiemayfield.com and itunes, and streams live on biz1190.com

Simply the best business radio in Atlanta.. Driven to Business.