Goals and resolutions run rampant this time of year. For entrepreneurs, aspirations for our companies in the year ahead, and thoughts about how to get there, loom large. Sitting on the plane on the way back from a five day off-site executive planning retreat, I thought I would write about two great questions every entrepreneur should ask themselves, and their teams.
- How do we double sales this year?
A lot of people's response to this question is, "Spend more on marketing!" But that's the easy way out. I urge you entrepreneurs to consider another angle and think about approaching sales by looking at relationships and expectations. What can you do today that you are not doing, or even thinking about, that will have massive impact? Add an amazing new service that will enhance customer perception of your company? In your position of power as an entrepreneur and business owner, what new strategic relationships can you put in place that will benefit your customers? Make sure you remove all limitations of the current reality to get your thinking to the next level. - If you were starting a business that would compete with the one you currently run, what would you do to put YOURSELF out of business?
Crazy concept, huh? But if you spend time thinking about it, answering this question can be an incredible tool for thinking about your goals in 2010. It forces you to think about what you're doing right as a company, and what you're doing wrong. I guarantee if you truly are honest with this question you will find amazing insights, both positive and negative.
I personally found these questions powerful, useful and the results very insightful over the past five days and so did the rest of the executive team.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Mark Moses, who facilitated and participated in our retreat. Mark challenged us to think about these questions and to be brutally honest with ourselves.
Sometimes, the second question may actually not be such a hypothetical. I recently visited a fellow entrepreneur whose answer to #2 was so compelling that instead of using it as a thought experiment he actually left his company and started a competing one.
The shortest path is not always the incremental one, even if you created the thing you're now considering incrementing.
Sometimes, it's better to creatively destruct one's own creation.
Sam,
Great point and that shows the power of the question.
"Eat your own lunch before someone else does"
The big problem here is if the new business model is much cheaper with lower margins. But if someone else will knock out your business by accepting lower profit, shouldn't you do it first?
Interesting story.