Focus On The Opportunity!

Focus on the Opportunity, Rather Than Simply Waiting For The Challenge

Last week I was asked after a LinkedIn post “what business problems does your business solve?” to which I replied “why does there have to be a problem? Why can’t it just be an opportunity that people are looking to realise?” You don’t need to wait until the problem arrives to force you into a backward step, you can keep moving forward.

Driving Competitive advantage is hard fought and often short lived! It is about building momentum, defined as a strength or force gained by a series of events. You can control many of those events with a positive, proactive and focused approach to the opportunity at hand!

But we do it anyway!

If you only do your preventative exercises when something hurts, don’t take your regular medication, or simply push things too hard for too long then you know you are going to have a problem.

But we do it anyway!

My golf coach tells me to go and see him when I am playing well, not just when I am playing poorly. This way, we don’t spend time and money, ‘fixing things’ to just get back to where we were, but working on understanding what works well, doing more of it and as a result focusing on improving my overall game.

I get it, it is easy to think, why am I going to invest money when I am playing great, while I also know in two months time I could be desperate to spend the same money, as a cost, to urgently get time with him, when it does need fixing!

We all know, if you go to the doctors for regular checks, then you are less likely to get seriously ill, if as a result, you balance your activity, with a healthy lifestyle you will perform better all round. Any sickness will get caught earlier and you will pay attention to the details that are important to ensure you remain at, or working towards your peak.

The thought process should be the same in business. When working with clients, PYP too often however find that they are only engaged and focused on growth when they have a problem, rather than when they have an opportunity. Revenue has flattened, costs have increased and sadly, often their whole life is affected!

It is therefore vital that PYP works in three areas, driving sales or growth, reducing costs and most importantly increasing wellbeing. This final factor being the check and balance in the triangle and vital to the process.

Driving Sales and Growth

When things are going well, don’t be lulled into thinking that it will go on forever, focus on how good it could be, how much more could you do, to protect you from those challenges you are undoubtedly going to face. Remember, the time to focus on growth is when you have an opportunity, because if you don’t, somebody else will!

Focusing and capitalising on the opportunity is all about understanding the perspective of customer value and the potential of the opportunity. Driving sales and growth, means you have to continually work to generate that top line, sell more products, expand the range, open more channels or markets, increase capacity, client penetration and sales velocity.

Doing all of that takes motivation and the investment of time, effort, energy and money! All of which is much harder to do in challenging times.

Pay Attention To Those Costs

No business has ever cut its way to greatness but even when things are going well, the intense focus on costs needs to remain in place. Costs, like finger nails, will keep growing and therefore they need to be kept cut, clean and neat to allow the benefits of the growth to be maximised.

Efficiency brings cost management and a focus on cost management brings efficiency, combining to bring competitive advantage in the eyes of clients and accountants alike, further supporting those value based sales.

Sometimes the savings can be significant and sometimes less so, but they are always there!

Look After Yourself and Your People

When working with clients on their businesses rather than their people, PYP is most often engaged by owner founders when things have flat lined or are starting to slip backwards. When the initial push, plan and strategies have been played out, the excitement has gone and it suddenly feels like work. The one thing it was never meant to do!

Increasing Wellbeing and reigniting the passion, is a focus that needs to be a check and balance for our clients, you cannot work, or work others, twenty hours a day driving sales, long term. As an owner founder your business is your baby, if it isn’t doing well you feel it, all the time. The thoughts permeate every waking minute and create too many more, when you should be asleep. Those concerns will transmit to your people, tensions might rise and uncertainty start to create unrest, at a time when leaders need to be accountable, teams need to be aligned and people need to be developed,

Knowing you will never be done, but there are times you can all stop, take stock and perhaps even celebrate, is vital to long term success!

Powering Your Potential

So keep it simple, feel like you are looking up not down, forward not back, building momentum not drag, making positive proactive choices and commitments.

Opportunities are out there.