Gut Check: Is your Business Being All That It Can Be?

In your business, you might be enjoying the highs of profitability and success. Perhaps clients are walking in your doors without relief. Or, maybe you and your business partners are struggling to influence sales and growth like you thought you could. Either way, the goal is the same. You want increased revenues and business growth in a way that will set you apart competitively in your marketplace. Right? Well, I’m here to help you accomplish that.

In a recent article published by Fast Company magazine, the businesswoman who wrote the article, Michelle Randall, closely examined one of today’s more profitable and high impact companies, IBM, in an effort to break apart three keys to what makes them one of the best. She writes, “Ever wonder what it takes to truly become the best of the best? For 100 years? If you’re going to be the best, commit to it–not once a year during strategy formulation or an annual event, but everyday in your culture, hiring and financial decisions.”

Well, through the course of her article, Randall reveals her analysis: she claims that IBM’s outrageous success is the direct result of their choices to “create a freak show,” “cultivate frustration” and “commit and recommit and recommit.” The word, “freak,” here, is actually strongly positive. Randall explains, “In this case freaks are those rare individuals whose unique insights and approaches create an extraordinary impact and singular working environment. Great leaders are freaks who catalyze extraordinary results. Breakthrough scientists are freaks who change our understanding of possibility. Exceptional salespeople are freaks that every company would be thrilled to have.”

Frustration, she explains, is “passion combined with impatience … As a result, frustration has an important place in achieving results, and the frustrated freaks will lead the way.” IBM is successful because the company is lead by individuals who are highly skilled and bold enough to think outside of the box. Furthermore, they are passionately driven to pursue product improvement and serve a niche of the marketplace that has not yet been filled. Does your team have the best leaders in place? And have you set the bar for a standard of success in serving your clients, customers, or patients?

Finally, the best of the best in innovative businesses have an ability to commit and recommit to the company’s financial success. The leadership must have an “unwavering vision and quarterly financial recommitment to push the forefront of research,” says Randall. The truth is that just like a scientist or researcher, many business owners start their company because they have a passion for serving their customer market’s needs, using the training that they specifically have that suits those needs. A doctor just wants to help heal patients. An author just wants to write without restraint. A fashion designer only wants to create the award winning masterpieces of clothing from fabric and thread.

However, the key missing link is the importance of committing to the business vision and financial performance. Here is where marketing and sales come in. If you have built your staff up with passionate, talented people, but not provided them with the tools that they need to position your business for sales success, then you will never be the best of the best. By using the right advisors and consultants on sales and communication techniques, you can see your influx of business shoot up. Call us today for a consultation!

Reference:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1764060/three-things-you-must-learn-from-the-best-of-the-best