Laziness Does Not Create Growth

Well as you can see by the massive void on this blog I’ve been lazy (well I’ve actually been very busy) but as far as this blog is concerned I’ve taken a lazy attitude to contributing towards its growth.

That got me thinking about how attitude contributes to growth in business and how that growth can in the beginning take a backwards step before moving forward.

So is a business growth attitude always a positive attitude ?

From Success Consciousness

Positive attitude helps to cope more easily with the daily affairs of life. It brings optimism into your life, and makes it easier to avoid worry and negative thinking. If you adopt it as a way of life, it will bring constructive changes into your life, and makes them happier, brighter and more successful. With a positive attitude you see the bright side of life, become optimistic and expect the best to happen. It is certainly a state of mind that is well worth developing and strengthening.

- In the face of adversity a positive attitude can be what sees you through.  However I think that being overly positive can blind you to the realities of your situation and sometimes the routes to resolving them

From shine.com

You are what your attitude is. The term “attitude” refers to our disposition or state of mind, whether to a specific event or to life in general. Is attitude the result of one’s perceptions? Yes, how we perceive an event or experience will largely determine the attitude we develop about future events and experiences. A positive attitude can help us journey through the rough patches in life. When an event affects us, it is we who give it the power to control the way we think.

- So, our experiences of business growth whether they be good or bad can affect how we perceive growth and whether its a good or bad thing.

From selfawareness

Avoid complaining and refuse to think in negative terms. Focusing on the positive things in life and business rather than going over everything that can and will go wrong is beneficial in many ways. It reduces the stress chemicals racing around in the bloodstream that wreak havoc on health and energy levels, and it also keeps the mind in a problem-solving zone rather than a problem-finding mode. Every time a complaint starts to rise to the surface of your brain or mouth, hold it back and replace it with something positive. You’ll soon discover that you’re much more efficient at work and at home.

- A mental positive attitude creates physical positive outcomes and our physical being is as equally important as our mental state in resolving a situation and creating positive growth. So if businesses created a more positive physical environment for working in, people would be more mentally and positively motivated to grow.

From gurusoftware

Each of us is made up of various physical, vital, and mental parts. There is our physical body and its organs, muscles, etc; the vital being with its sensations, emotions and feelings, and the mental part with its thoughts, memories, reasoning power, beliefs, etc. Somewhere between our emotions and our thought processing lie our attitudes — our emotional perceptions about ourselves, others, and life itself. Attitudes generally express positively and negatively. E.g., when I have good feelings towards my work or co-worker, my attitude is positive. When I feel reluctant to do certain things that are necessary, or show hostility towards certain individuals, then my attitude is negative.

- So the mental and physical states we create have a causal affect on our attitudes and therefore actions.  Maybe if I had been more positive towards this blog, it would have grown more ?

So, now I’m going to flip this on its head.  In the beginning of your personal or business growth you may have to find your place in this world, what you stand for, your voice, ideas and strategies.  This requires you to ask tough questions like Why ? How ? When ? If ? and can take you on a difficult journey along which your negative attitudes or responses to these questions can bring about positive outcomes and eventually attitudes.

Just look at some of the worlds most creative artist who have left us with a positive impression of art, or comedians who keep us laughing for years after they have gone. Digging deeper into their past you may find depression and hardship all of which brought about unbelievable and positive creativity given the right circumstances.

Sometimes you have to go backwards into negativity before you can go forwards into positivity.

I find that I am constantly dealing with problems which I may overlook or even avoid if I was overly positive and did not embrace or accept they existed or were coming.  Its the nature of being in business.  There is always some problems with a supplier, customer or piece of technology but you don’t have to make it worse by being negative either. It’s a tricky balance.

When was the last time you went backwards before you went forwards ?

7 unwritten business growth rules

Favourable Market Conditions

1 – Supply V Demand

Understanding who you are and what you do is absolutely crucial to establishing yourself in any given market.

Being all things to all men (and women) only creates uncertainty as to what you stand for and the problems you can help your customers solve.

Carving out a niche by narrowing your focus is essential, and one of the best places to start is with your existing customers.

Look at what types of customers you have and what generates the most profit.  That’s your niche.

If you don’t have a niche then look at what interests you and what experiences you have.

Why Should I Buy From You ?

2 – Why Your Business

The question that most buyers are unconsciously asking is “Why should I buy from you”.

If it isn’t clear from the beginning then it will come down to one thing and one thing alone, PRICE.

What you do and how you do it could be a reason why people buy from you.  The product or service itself maybe the reason or how you position yourself and interact with your customers could be another.

Again, asking your current clients is a great place to start and often the best source of understanding why customers choose you from the customers view point.

It was coined in the title of a famous book called Differentiate or DIE by Jack Trout and that about sums it up in the world of business.

Information That Sells 24/7/365

3 – Information Widgets

Most people want to do one of two things.  Learn something that can empower them or just buy something.  A lot of the time the sales process gets in the way by inappropriately selling or pushing people unnecessarily and at the wrong time.

Structuring your sales and marketing in such a way that it educates and shows your customers that you understand clearly their situation and problem and have an ideal solution is essential.

Often, it’s not what you say, but what others say about you that are most important so use testimonials and examples to show how you can help your prospects and clients.

The Law Of Business Attraction

4 – Attract Or Polarise

Having an idea of who you are targeting with your product or service is only the beginning.  You must now find a way to attract and polarise that audience to you, turning suspects into real prospects.

Getting people to identify themselves, sometimes shyly, is a great way of focusing your efforts on what/who should become customers.

Offer information as one way of letting prospects raise their hands and then take them on a journey to becoming a customer.

Jumping in straight away and selling, may not be the best way to get them on your side so you may need to draw them closer to you before selling.

Once they have identified themselves though, your communication should continue to address their interest or need more closely.

Test, Test, Test

5 – Never Assume

Sales and marketing is a science, there are rules, laws, principals or fundamentals that give a predictable outcome.  However the details require in many cases some trial and error to get them right.  Testing.

By testing what you do and measuring the results you can begin to understand what really works or does not and then modify it to get the desired results.

Running similar adverts or marketing pieces in split tests or showing people different headlines to your marketing piece and measuring how they react will guide you in the right direction.

Smart marketing people test and measure everything they do until they get it right.  It is also the safest way of avoiding wasting a ton of money in sales and marketing by committing to an assumption.

Business Leverage

6 – The Fulcrum Point

To move a massive weight or achieve great things you need a leaver and in business we can do the same thing using leverage.

Many businesses keep harvesting for new customers and forget about their valuable and existing customers which are usually the source of their existing profit and most likely the source of much more.

Finding ways to serve them better and tap into the trust and open door you already have with them is one of the simplest ways to grow and they will continue to rely on you as you grow your business with them.

Create A Growth Formula

7 – Formulation

Create a formula for getting your customers to spread the word like a virus is a low cost and rapid way of growing your sales.

Make sure that they understand it’s a condition of doing business with you so that you can keep servicing customers and avoid wasting time prospecting all the time.

Set the expectations correctly so they understand that you help them to get what they want and in return your customers give you referrals.