New Business Development – Page 15

Take The Advice That Makes Sense For You

I posted recently
about trusting customers
to know their own situations.

We are our own customers.
And we should trust ourselves
to know our own situations
also.

That means only taking
the advice
that makes sense for us
and for our businesses.

I know, for example,
that I wouldn’t feel proud
of an AI-generated cover.

And if I don’t feel proud
of my products,
I also don’t promote them
properly.

I wouldn’t sell sh*t.

That advice
doesn’t work for me
so
I ignore it.

Only take advice
that makes sense
for you
and your unique situation.

(And yes,
that includes advice
found here on client k.)

Trust Your Customer

A personal consultant
told me
to do something
X way.

I told her
my brain would fight me
on that.

I would do the something
Y way instead.

The consultant argued
I would more likely
achieve the something
with X way
and said
I was dooming myself
and the something
to failure.

I know my own brain
better than she does.

I know how I think.

I know how I’ll be
most successful.

Trust me.

Your customer likely knows
themself
much better than you do
also.

Listen to them
when they tell you
what best works for them.

And consider
at least trying it
their way.

Kill Criteria

When one of my self-published
romance novel series
started selling really well,
I told myself
I’d stop writing in that series
when pre-order sales
didn’t cover production costs.

Making that decision
near the start
of the series
was emotionally
much easier
than making it
when pre-order sales
had dipped.

And it ensured
I ended the series
(the product line)
with much of its profits
intact.

Identifying
clear ending or stopping points
is called
kill criteria
and it can be the difference
between profits
and losses.

It ensures
we don’t wait too long
to end projects.

Establish kill criteria
at the beginning of a project.

Delivering On Optional Goods Or Services

I was offered
the services of a dietitian.

It would be free
for me
but paid for by the government.

I accepted that offer.

An appointment over the phone
was arranged.

The dietitian never called.

I completed tasks
while waiting for the call
that never came.

But I had rearranged
my schedule
to be at home.

The next time,
I’ll say no
to a dietitian consultation.

Optional products or services
are just that – optional.

Deliver
or customers won’t invest in them
again.

No One Will Notice

I’ve changed my diet
significantly
and I was worried
it would cause issues
and raise questions
with a friend
I regularly have lunch with.

We normally order
similar items.
This would be…different.

She didn’t even notice.

I had to change the release day
for a story.

Many readers had already pre-ordered it.

I worried they’d be upset.

No one contacted me about it.
I suspect many people
didn’t notice the change.

There’s a lot of sh*t happening
right now.
People are worried about
a lot of other things.

They likely won’t notice
the change
you’re worried about implementing.

If that change is necessary,
make it.

Other Uses For Your Products

I plant radishes
every year.

I do this primarily
for the bulbs.

But sometimes
the bulbs don’t form.

If that happens,
I will eat the leafy part,
the greens.

Or I will allow the radish
to produce flowers
and then seeds.

That feeds the bees
and it gives me seeds
for the next season.

When I design products,
I always ask myself
what other uses
the products can serve.

Sometimes
the primary use
fails.
There’s no true market
for it
or
the product simply doesn’t work
for it.

How else could customers
use your product?

Boring Is Good

All the gardens
in my front yard
will eventually
be filled with perennial plants.

A loved one
told me
having the same plants
in those gardens
every year
will be ‘boring.’

He said that
as though it was a bad thing.

I LIKE that boring.

I won’t have to
plant in those gardens
every year.

I won’t expend resources
sourcing those plants.

The beds will be full
so I won’t weed as much.

I won’t battle
the squirrels
trying to keep the plants
in the ground.

This will free my time
and other resources
to focus on
the more exciting back yard
vegetable gardens.

Boring is good
if you’re receiving
the results you desire.

Don’t create work
for yourself
by changing things
merely to experience change.

Embrace that boring.

The Ability To Organize Is An Essential Leadership Skill

A poster on social media
presented an idea
and then said
he’d lead the project
if someone else would
organize it.

He confessed
to sucking at organizing.

If that is true,
he also sucks at leadership
because organizing
is a must-have skill for a leader.

Organization
of people, supplies,
tasks, timelines, other aspects
is the glue that holds
a project together.

Nothing happens
without it being coordinated
and managed,
which is basically
what organizing is.

And organizing is a learned skill.

If you want to be a great leader,
find an organization technique
that works for you
and embrace it.

Leaders MUST have
the ability to organize.

Paying Extra For Possibilities

Many seed suppliers
selling to gardeners
are now specializing in
heirloom seeds.

The seeds from an heirloom plant
produce plants
that are nearly identical
to the parent plant.

A gardener could buy
one package of heirloom seeds
and never buy
another package of seeds.

So why would seed suppliers
offer heirloom seeds?

They offer heirloom seeds
because they know
very few gardeners
will actually exert the effort
to save those seeds.

The average gardener will buy seeds
from them
again and again.

But seed suppliers also know
these gardeners will happily pay extra
to have the option
to save seeds.

And gardeners also perceive
heirloom seeds
as being higher quality.

Customers will often pay more
for a product option
they are unlikely to ever use.

Offer them
that option.
And charge them extra
for it.

Increasing Efficiency At The Expense Of Customer Experience

I recently took
a MSC cruise.

EVERY meal in the dining room
was served cold.

Why?

Because waitstaff waited
until every meal in their section
was ready
before picking it up
from the kitchen.

Yes, this improved efficiency.
Fewer trips had to be taken
to the kitchen
which meant
fewer waitstaff were needed.

But it decreased
the guest experience
so much
I would never recommend
MSC cruises to anyone.

Increasing efficiency
is great.
But don’t increase efficiency
at the expense
of customer experience.