What Do You Think You Are Doing? Deliver Better Value

“Every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things.”

-G.K. Chesterton The Presentation I attended a local meeting for a networking breakfast where a business coach was the featured program. His presentation was on “The Value of Coaching.” As a business coach, I wanted to see what methods he used and learn about other styles. When the program was finished, I knew every reason to hire him as a business coach except one... What would he actually do for me? He spent more time selling his business than telling members how to grow their own businesses. Not once did he coach anyone in the audience. He spent most of the presentation doing meaningless exercises and showing famous people who advocated coaching. For instance, he displayed a photo on Powerpoint of a gentleman and asked who it was. The photo was smaller than half the size of the screen and only the first few rows could read his slides anyway. I guessed “Steve Jobs or Bill Gates” since in most motivational presentations, those are the usual answers. It turned out to be Dale Carnegie. Darn! Same idea, just about 100 years too late. In the end, people walked away knowing more about what he thought was his business and less about how they would do their businesses better on the job. This was a wonderful opportunity to deliver usable value that people would come back and ask more for in the future. But the coach thought the morning was about him and getting more clients to fill his calendar.

Most presentations to networking groups are very similar in my experience. However, their methods are center-focused; not customer focused. The saddest part is that in a business growth presentation, customer focus is what your business is supposed to be. The rule in business to get MORE business is this: Don’t tell people what you do; just do it! They’ll get the idea and want more, even in a short time if you convey value.

If your greatest fear is giving away your "secrets," that may be your problem.

By the way, if all of your business secrets can be revealed in an hour, you don’t have enough secrets worth stealing! Home Delivery Sears is in deep trouble. Their stores are closing at amazing rates. Most business forecasters do not predict a bright future for the former retail giant. They purchased K-Mart over ten years ago and it has gone downhill with them. As a child, I remember receiving the “Wishbook,” their annual Christmas catalog, and tore through it before Christmas. They were known for their superb service of products delivered to your home. So how did they get in this mess? Sears and Roebuck started out in the catalog business in 1888. Richard Sears began publishing flyers to advertise items he was selling to people who couldn’t get to a department store could order by mail. In short, he began delivering products to people who couldn’t come into a store. This was an early model of what Amazon does today. The 1943 “Sears New Graphic” wrote that the catalog, “serves as a mirror of our times, recording for future historians today’s desires, habits, customs and mode of living.” Sears is now struggling to meet the demands of a mobile society (and so are most malls and many brick and mortar department stores). Why? It started when Sears moved away from delivering products to people at home. They began imitating other department stores. Now the internet has become the catalog.

Someone will always find a way to deliver value faster, cheaper and better. Amazon is starting to open brick and mortar stores on the West Coast. If Amazon moves away from the business they are truly in, they will go the way of Sears and their once great catalog. Your Agenda vs. Theirs I had a visit with a new dentist to get my teeth cleaned. They scheduled a preliminary examination and I found out the purpose of my examination was a “front” for selling services. They told me that I needed a “deep cleaning,” orthodontist work, all crowns replaced, gum massages and teeth whitening. I knew that I didn’t require all of that.

Selling more services and programs was on the dentist’s agenda. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t on my agenda. Did I get my teeth cleaned? They told me to make another appointment. I am going back to my former dentist, even though I have to drive farther.

Your difference should be worth the distance. Your business is in trouble when you make it about selling products and services that YOU want to sell instead of what your customers want to buy. Banks build million dollar lobbies and complain that people go online without ever entering the building. If people can’t find what they want from you conveniently, they won’t come in your lobby. They will go to a competitor who delivers benefits and value more conveniently. You don’t need to push what you do; just do it in a way that people benefit. If customers want convenience, don’t build a lobby - build a great app! The Value of Purpose You need to provide unique value that people feel they can’t get from anyone else. If customers can get their needs met somewhere else for less money, they will leave you “en masse.” I spoke for a chamber executives conference where the evening before the presentation participants attended a reception. It was in a mid-sized room, featured tables for people to talk and they provided light refreshments. A band at one end of the room began playing oldies and everyone enjoyed the music. Later I went to a restaurant for dinner. The same scenario was there… a mid-sized room, many tables, people talking, food and music. Both events offered opportunities for networking and business growth conversations. I networked at both locations. The next day, I described the second event, but the audience thought I was describing the reception. They were amazed to learn that there was little difference between the two. Many chambers that I work with around North America offer the same opportunities business leaders can receive at restaurants and wonder why their memberships are decreasing. People join a chamber to grow their businesses; not to have more additional opportunities to network. You can “network” in almost any place you find yourself… on an airplane, in a restaurant, at a transit stop, in line at the store, etc. People come to the chamber to get information on building business, get more customers, gain insights on marketing and profit growth; not restaurant/receptions to just meet other people without solutions to the common problems they all face. Why do people come to your business? Why was your business founded in the first place? Have you strayed from the original mission? Ray Kroc started McDonald’s as a family-friendly fast food hamburger drive-in restaurant. Then they got into chicken and fish sandwiches, salads and the dining

experience. They added children’s playgrounds. They added breakfast and smoothies. They added gourmet coffee. They tried to become everything to everyone. Now McDonald’s struggles to stay in business without a clear picture of their original purpose. So how do you find what people value most? Tell me if your sales customers ask people why they like your business. Do you ask people what they want most from you? Do you remember the original purpose on which you were founded? There are three perspectives for you to consider:

1. What you THINK you are doing.2. What customers WANT you to do. 3. What you SHOULD be doing for people.

If you aren’t doing Numbers 2 and 3, you are fooling yourself with Number 1. What do you think YOU are doing? Failure to find out the value people want from you will put you in the same position as doomed companies like Sears, J.C. Penney, Forever 21, Crocs, Radio Shack, HH Gregg, Applebees and many others. But that’s a story for another day. Meanwhile, find your unique position and ruthlessly exploit it to customer’s advantage!

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Jim Mathis, IPCS, CSP, MDiv. is The Reinvention PRO™, an International Platform Certified Speaker, Certified Speaking Professional and best-selling author of Reinvention Made Easy: Change Your Strategy, Change Your Results. To subscribe to his free professional development newsletter, please send an email to: subscribe@jimmathis.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject. An electronic copy will be sent out to you every month. For more information on how Jim and his programs can benefit your organization or group, please call 888-688-0220, or visit his web site: www.jimmathis.com. © 2017 J&L Mathis Group, Inc.