31 May THE INNOVATIVE BUSINESS – 10 SIMPLE RULES
We live in an era definited by speed, and sometimes it seems that time and money are setting the rules. While this is undeniable, we have the power to decide how to develop our business.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHANGE vs. ECONOMIC CRISIS:
- more durable
- a stronger impact on our life and our idea of business
An entrepreneur must navigate these socio-economic changes and strive to make their services and products irresistible to clients. How can this be achieved? By asking: What does my customer really want?
Every new project is a new start-up that lives in a climate of uncertainty. The period that a firm has to make the most of its innovations becomes shorter with every passing day, and this forces us to act in a QUICK and FOCUSED way!
HOW? BY FOLLOWING 10 ESSENTIAL RULES:
- THINK IN AN INNOVATIVE WAY: in our mind we establish paradigms, models which we consider to be absolute truths. Following these archetypes with uncritical acceptance can be deleterious. Going beyond our paradigms can help us to improve! Choices concerning business are ours and can be made by us consciously, if in fact we know where to go, we are able to reach our destination. Having an idea without having a method is, of no use, but having a method without a good idea is not at all useful as well. We must have a clear project and set a clear target because before the physical creation of our business there must always be the mental one.
- IMAGINE: we all are not only business professionals but also parents, sons, partners and individuals. In business, people sometimes tend to underestimate a fundamental question that is “WHY?” What is the meaning we want to give to our job? Are we satisfied with what we have built? Concentrating on what we desire to achieve is essential to start the project in an appropriate way, and to carry it forward to success.
- FOCUS ENERGIES: on two key concepts: NICHE and MARKET. NICHE: we must divide our big reference market into smaller segments. MARKET: considering all its aspects allows us to create a niche market, dividing into segments the topics of interest. In this way, we can find a more specific client and become known as experts in that sector. We should always create a product that represents our experience, knowledge and passions.
- CHOOSE THE MARKET: to choose the niche that best matches our potential, we must think about the ideal customer we want to attract. The research into the niche must be well thought out, so that we don’t waste our energies. Rearranging your firm to target a specific niche can help you to obtain several advantages: standing out from the crowd, feeling freer when deciding the price (more profitability), achieving visibility and attracting curious clients, opening new specialized sales channels, and creating a reputation spread by word of mouth inside the niche. It is also true that this could entail some negative consequences, such as a reduction in the catchment area. Nonetheless, if the choice is strategic, you will also become more appreciated inside the niche you chose that will feel particularly exclusive.
STUDY: informing yourself and studying your topics is important because the world is evolving, and you need to keep up with it. You should do it carefully but constantly as taking time to study is a conspicuous investment! The management of your own activities and knowledge in order to be recognized and perceived positively by the public is called PERSONAL BRANDING.- OUTLINE THE PRODUCT: the value of our product can be defined in the form in which it solves a problem. We must be careful and not think that if we like something this means that our customer will appreciate it. If we create a need in our client and meet this need with our product it will become essential and successful.
OUTLINE THE CLIENT: when thinking about our customer, we must be precise and imagine a specific person. We can set some questions and listen to their answers so that we can understand what people really want and on which criteria they base their choices on.
One of the core aspects of communication is LISTENING. Unfortunately, generally people concentrate more on the best answer to give, but do not listen carefully to the question. The most important thing is to become empathetic listeners interested in understanding what our interlocutor is saying.
- STUDY THE COMPETITORS: defining who our competitors are is essential to create our most effective and original offer. We wrongly consider a competitor as the firm that produces the same goods or operates within the same market, but this is not entirely correct. Each category of marketplace normally has 2 or 3 leader companies, for example Pepsi and Coca Cola or Burger King and Mc Donald’s.
As a result, in each sector there are few firms that possess 80% of the market and the others share the remaining 20%. Hence, studying competitors is not necessary to imitate them, instead it is useful to become more attractive. What we must look at very closely about our competitors is their target audience, in fact competing on the same target will be useless because you might not have enough marketplace.
CREATE THE ORGANISATIONAL MODEL: having a clear idea of how to organize your resources in order to develop innovative activities together with ‘traditional work’ is fundamental. The perseverance you put into your new project will reward the time you have devote to it. It is really important that there exists coherence between resources and the target we set.- ANALYZE THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL PLAN: the analysis of a concise economic plan on a 5-year time horizon is indispensable, so that we can verify and eventually modify the progress of the project. Here you are some useful reminders:
KEEP IN MIND THAT you must be aware that you are living in a world which is totally different from 30, 20 or 10 years ago. Technology is changing our business, so we can passively accept it, or we can use it according to our needs. This new digital era needs your imagination. The changes that are required are proportional to the need for innovation, which cannot exist without imagination.
We should redraft our business, being aware that past is the base for our knowledge, but our professionalism is measured by our ability to make our business innovative through specific products that meet our clients’ new needs. This process can help us not to stick to past habits, as what is not current will slow down our development.
Common products will be found everywhere, which is way the right strategy is to INNOVATE. An INNOVATIVE and PROFESSIONAL product is the big secret for success and future!
V.G.