Have you seen the new GM ads that tell you about a new car company? We’ve seen them, and they are actually quite nice—soothing and relaxing. But have you seen the local dealer ads about wanting to sell you a new car? They haven’t changed much, have they?
Wouldn’t you think that if GM really wanted to convince us they were a new car company, they would change their approach to local car advertising?
Wouldn’t you think they would lose the screaming announcer?
Wouldn’t you think they would stop selling on price and on terms?
You would think that. But it will never happen. And it won’t happen because GM has not changed its “thinking” about what it means to be in the car business.
You might think that I pick on the auto business a lot in this blog, but I do so only to prove points and help you see your business in a different light.
It’s Hard to Change Thinking
When you grow up in an industry and what you’ve done for years stops working, it’s easy to reach out and change tactics, but it’s very difficult to reach in and change thinking. After all, we define ourselves by how we think about the world, our product, our opportunity, etc. When someone comes along and says: “you’ve got to change your thinking about this,” it throws us a little bit.
You May Need to Change Your Thinking About Your Business
I challenge you to look at your business through the unbiased eyes of an unemotional observer. If you were to start your business over again, knowing the success of certain companies in creating a new world of opportunity, how would you design it? Would you create the same website; would you create the same brochures; would you pay your salespeople the same; would your approach to the market be the same? Probably not.
And then there’s that old saying: “you can’t get to second, if you keep one foot on first.” That is a perfect quote for our time. We will try to keep everything the same and make minor changes. And the fact is we always default back to our old philosophies.
Assignment:
Over the next few weeks, check out the things you do in your business to pursue new clients and see if it really has changed much in the last 20 years. If it hasn’t, you may be up for some new thinking.
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