It’s time to grab a seat before the music stops for Aussie businesses
The rise of social media and increased engagement means it is important to understand how your business can adapt to the changing business environment. Glenn Mabbott explains how it’s necessary get the right advice from the right people.
In the last two weeks business owners have been warned by the head of one of Australia’s biggest miners that if we don’t change our business models we will die. So where do we turn for advice?
In advertising industry magazine, AdNews the marketing head of one of the big 4 banks reveals advertising agencies don’t get digital and the CEO of one of the biggest media planners in the country said if anyone in the media industry claimed they new what was happening they’d be lying.
How many consultants does it take to change a lightbulb?
Too late, fibre optics and LEDs have changed the market.
Every manager who has grown a business understands the value of seeking advice from specialists, you can’t be an expert at everything. Today we have the added problem that most so-called experts learnt their skills pre-Internet. Most business coaches are dinosaurs, as the world of commerce changes at ever increasing pace, learning old ways to convert won’t save your business if the customer has evolved to a new way of life. Leave big budget consultants to big business.
Think biz is tough? It’s even tougher for big businesses
Don’t panic. Unless you are number 1 in your category, you have less to lose by changing the way you play to fit in with the new rules that are being written by the customer.
If you are a mid sized business today you have an advantage that in the past was a handicap. Yes, smaller is more nimble. Big businesses with big investments in infrastructure, systems and sunk costs can’t easily re-invent themselves.
Think of all those silos of managers in big companies who have to hang in there for another 5 years because their super was decimated. They are a dead weight that slows down change.
Here’s an enlightening couple of facts:
Forget the past, where’s the future profit coming from?
Most likely from something you are good at now, but not focused on. If you are a mid market player and still in business, you obviously have enough retained knowledge to draw on. Here are some examples of where my clients have found profit opportunities:
· For a manufacturer it was cutting out the wholesalers.
· For a premium winemaker it is leaving Coles and Woollies to the major brands and growing high margin club membership.
· For a financial services B2B supplier it is repackaging bite-sized insights for the consumer market.
Today more than ever, get to know those who know
What you most need now is a trusted advisor who can draw upon a network of today’s specialists. They can help you re-invent your model, refresh your offer and relaunch by integrating traditional and new ways to market.
Forget incremental improvements. A few percent saved on input costs and a couple more from efficiency gains won’t save you when the competition pockets a whopping 30%+ of margin by removing an entire step in the route to market.
There’s an idea. Better to do it now, or be done over?
Glenn Mabbott has over 30 years experience in marketing communications, helping build brands with entrepreneurial creative thinking.
Garry Bedford
November 1, 2012 at 11:17 pm
What a great article,
What a great article, succinct and to the point ,the whole idea of digital is to speed up the process ,something that it is lost on most businesses owners …. it is meant to get you to the customer quicker faster cheaper ..not add extra layers of complexity…