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Reversing the business flow |
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There are few things I quite do not under stand in the way we ( I mean, the business owners, the professionals, the institutions, the associations I am in contact with ) approach “Business”
This time I would like to ask your help to try rationalize these apparently contradictions.
From the celebrated movie “ a beautiful mind “ : Nash’s theory explained simply. The mother of all wastes: Sales Operations
Just have a look around yourself. Dozen of Companies, Entrepreneurs, professionals, are doing the same thing you do: looking for business opportunities. What is incredible from a bird’s eye perspective, is that each of these organizations are putting their effort independently.
Each Company has its own commercial team, looking for its own channels to market, trying to build its own local hub or branch or service shop, collecting fragmented information about the market landscape, the technology trends and economic/regulatory drivers of their business.
Each one sheltering the information , voluntarily or involuntarily, from the company travelling on the same route (most of the time on the same flight and next seat )
The ineffectiveness of this way to proceed is obvious. Only the largest corporations, with dozen of employees hunting business on the ground, collecting and sharing information across business divisions, benefit and prosper thanks to this cultural behavior.
The Small business, the one with limited resources, most of the time followers in a business area (if they were first movers, probably they would have chances to grow faster and become one of the large players), are left with just one business tactic: bond their ties with a Leader, become its preferred supplier, and hope for the best. I.e. hope to get enough business from the Leader, hope to have limited competitors so to command acceptable margins, and hope that the technology/idea on which is founded the Small Business itself, can survive long enough to recover the investments made.
Another way is possible:
So: here the contradiction: if you are a Small Business, you need a commercial capacity to grow, but if you are a Small Business, you haven’t and you can only rely on your “main Customer” to be confident in your future revenues.
In reality a man called Nash has demonstrated a way to overcome this contradiction: In a well celebrated movie ( a Beautiful Mind) this way has been even popularized.
“the best for the each will come when each of us will do the best for him AND the team”
This sentence bring in a couple of concepts that I would like to reassume like this:
1) you have to consider your neigh borough ( even your competitor ) part of the team.
2) you should start add a new routine to your way to look for new business. This routine enables you to collect information about opportunities, not only related to your strict business, but also to the business of the other members of the “environment” you are swimming in.
3) You should have as a habit to try to understand, collect and recall not only the Key skills and abilities of your Company, but also the one of the companies you are in contact with.
4) You should freely and openly match those opportunities with those skills, as you normally do with the opportunities you match with your own skills.
The common objection is: I do not have even time to look after my business… But my Competitors will know as much as I do… etc. The reality is that doing so you will see your synapses with the market will grow exponentially. You will receive more than you give, Your image on the market will be sharpened and echoed by a new crew of ambassadors.
Reversing the business flow:
What I like of this way to make business, is that you are not pushing your offer on the market. Is the market pulling their need to you.
And do not think that this is so unusual or naïve. There is a company that is already doing this, and you help them every day.
It’s name is Google: and is exactly doing this: pulling in your direction the needs of million of potential Clients everyday.
If you have any comment and suggestion: Just call me at +39 02 8719 8498 or drop me a line!
Flavio
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Flavio Tosi |
