9 tips to change the direction of the business

In my last article we looked at the 8 signs that your business can’t change direction. Now that you know what they are, let’s look at the opposite view on how to change direction.

Changes in business direction can occur as a reaction to economic conditions or as a decision to change your business objectives. Change is difficult and we all react to change with varying degrees of resistance. So if change is something you want to do or have to do, here’s how you can make the process easier.

1. Stop selling products and services. That’s what most of your competitors are doing. Start selling desired results or solutions to problems. No one pays a copywriter a fee to write copy; They pay a fee for the results of the copy you write.
2. Stop thinking that your clients, clients or patients are different. Dan Kennedy says, “There are no yogis in the woods. There is no such thing as being smarter than the average bear.” Unless you’re selling to aliens or different life forms, you’re selling to people.
3. Listen to your customers, clients and patients. If you don’t have time, survey 30-35% of your top customers. Find out what they think and why they do business with you. You may end up very surprised.
4. Get out more. At a minimum, join your local association and a group of multiple business owners. Maybe it’s your local Chamber or Service Club, a business forum, or some networking group.
5. Start an idea and slide the file. Great ideas are all around us. The best ones are impossible to hide and someone else has already paid to prove that they work! Great marketing lands in your inbox and in the posts you read every day. Begin to become a collector of ideas and advertisements. Write them down, but don’t file them; start using those ideas.
6. Turn on Google. Find other great companies in your field outside of your market and see what they are doing. Pick up the phone, call the owner, introduce yourself and start a dialogue. Try it out with a non-competing company in your own city!
7. Read. Read the trades in your own field or industry, read the trades in any target market, and read to broaden your general knowledge. Hint: add a novel of two to the mix, there are ideas in them too. Caution: Don’t start reading all day thinking you’re accomplishing something. Just one hour a day. One dose, 2 30 min. sessions, or 3 twenty min. sessions It goes directly to investing in yourself.
8. Get responsibility. Family, friends, and associates are not good advisers. They have their own agendas and opinions about what is right for you and how what you do might affect them. Get a business coach, not to advise you, but to hold you accountable for your plans to do things differently and set new goals.
9. Get into, or get into, the habit of taking action. Without action, deliberate action, nothing happens. Of course you know that, so keep up the good work.

The ability to change direction comes directly from your determination to remain flexible. When something doesn’t work, you need to make changes to get the results you want. When you find yourself resisting change, remember:

Anything else has a higher chance of success than what isn’t working right now.