This is a common practice I find business owners embracing lately and it may be related to the economic uncertainty each of us faces every day. The fantasy is this: if your company is a reasonable success, you can hold that position by making incremental changes (“tweaking”) until you “click up” to the next level.  Tweakers find comfort in numbers, decimal points, percentages and line graphs.

 

Don’t misunderstand my position. I do believe in monitoring your business; after all, you cannot improve what you do not measure.

 

I do not, however, think you will see big changes in that line graph or sales percentage until you make purposeful changes in the way you do business.

 

As someone once said, “Incremental change is the path to quiet evolution. Significant change unleashes noisy revolution”.

 

An example is Sony’s blockbuster, the Walkman. It was a compact cassette tape player with lightweight headphones that enabled the user to take his music with him while walking, shopping or jogging. I was 16 years old when the Walkman debuted in 1979, and everyone “had to have one”. Sony retained a 50% market share in the U.S. for more than a decade even though the Walkman’s cost was at least $20 more than its numerous, constantly emerging rivals.

 

Sony seemed invincible. They kept making small improvements over the next decade or so to perfect the Walkman.

 

Then Apple introduced the iPod.  Boom. No more clamoring for a Walkman.

 

Almost every Friday, I email my students at USC my wish that they ‘have fun this weekend and be safe’.  I want them, as well as my two sons, to be safe.  Your family, friends, staff and customers want you to be safe as well—and the safest thing you can do, in their opinion, is to conform to the accepted norm. Don’t rock the boat, baby.

 

That’s why they express concern when you stray from that path.

 

I truly believe ‘playing it safe’ is the least safe path you can take with your business.

 

Sony kept on the safe path, methodically improving the Walkman; Apple came out with the iPod.  Think about it.

 

That kind of success is rare. It requires audacity and a willingness to change.

 

I don’t believe big ideas come out of thin air. They come from

top-notch research, valuable customer insight, and talented people working with you to exceed your expectations.

 

It begins with a call; a conversation to discuss your business—where it’s headed and where you want it to go. I leave you with one thought: whatever problems your business faces now, others have faced the same problems—and overcome them—before.

 

Let’s talk about your business, your concerns, your goals and ambition, and together we will build a roadmap of effective marketing to get you there.

 

Visit us at marketingperformance.net to learn more.

 

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