Think Of ALL The Possibilities In Front Of You

Peter Drucker once said that all businesses should be interested in doing one thing, and that is to bring in a customer. He also said that this objective is accomplished by two things a company can do, only two things, namely by marketing and innovation. He said that everything else in a business is just a cost.

With that in mind, you and I as entrepreneurs have to be constantly trying to come up with new ideas which are high on the upside (profits) and low on the downside (risks). You have to focus on thinking of all the possibilities in front of your business. How can this be accomplished?

One way is by analyzing who’s impacted by you getting either one new client. Think about these questions often:

• Who benefits when I make a new sale?
• Who is interested in helping me make a new client?
• Who wants to watch me succeed?

The obvious answer to these questions would be: You benefit; your company benefits; your employees benefit; your investors benefit. Are they the only ones who are impacted when you make a new sale?

How about your VENDORS? Do they benefit when you make a new sale? Of course they do. Unless you manufacture your own products, and even if that’s the case, you have vendors who benefit when you make a new sale. They obviously want to help you succeed. Your success will mean, in turn, their success.

Now, I want you to follow my train of thought here. Think about these questions:

• How can you help your vendor become more than just a supplier of goods?
• How can you turn them into your business partner?

One way would be to approach them and ask if they can pick up some of your advertising costs. Most of them will be happy to patronize some, if not most, of your advertising ticket. If you give them your word that you will be loyal to them, chances are very high that they´ll be more than willing to help you.

This is what I did recently with a company I was consulting for. They are in the precious metals industry as a reseller. I helped them design a strategy in which we approached the vendors with the proposal to increase the quantity and quality of products we were ordering from them if they helped us advertise our products. One vendor picked up 100% of the tab for the next quarter. Another picked up 60%. We were then able to increase the business exposure, which resulted in an increase of 200% in orders to both suppliers. We were happy; they were delighted with the results!

Trust me on this: You have to be bold and approach your vendors. Remember: They are betting on you to succeed. All good suppliers will be happy to help you. What happens if one particular vendor refuses to give you what you ask for? Then you can ask them to help you in other directions. 99% of the time you’ll find they’re willing to help you in other ways if they can’t help you with your specific request to pick up your advertising tab. But you won´t ever get anything unless you ask.

Be bold, therefore. Think of ALL the possibilities that lie ahead of you. Act on them with determination and you’ll increase your chances of taking your company to the next level.

Fred Recinos, Ph.D. is a prominent solution strategist and marketing consultant. He’s been a trusted advisor and business growth strategist to businesses from the SMB level all the way up to the INC 500 as well as Fortune 500 companies for the last 16 years.