EnTrends

Most new business owners expect to
devote a lot of time and effort to getting
their business established. Then, they plan
to relax as the business "runs itself" and
continues to grow. This was an achievable
goal in the past. It isn't today. Aggressive,
innovative competitors and rapidly

changing technology make it impossible to
establish a system today that will
automatically meet all future challenges.

EXPECT CHANGE

Develop a "change is normal" attitude.
Realize you're never going to reach the
point where you know your business so
well you can stop learning. Just when you
think you've mastered the operation of
your business something will change and
disrupt your growth.

Make it a habit to look for changes that
may be a developing trend. Then try to
determine how this trend may impact the
growth of your business. You can develop
the best solution to a problem when you
catch it early and take your time to
carefully work out your response. There's
nothing more difficult than trying to make
good long term business decisions at the
same time you're trying to rescue rapidly
falling sales.

#1. TAKE DEFENSIVE ACTION IN
ADVANCE -- DIVERSIFY

Diversification is your best defense
against the impact of change. This applies
in 2 major areas:

* The products and/or services you offer

* Your marketing activities

The primary reason you want to offer a
variety of related products or services to
your customers is to maximize your
income. But there's a second reason.
Changing market conditions or an
aggressive competitor can cause sales for
a product or service to decline, often
suddenly. The impact won't be
devastating if a variety of other products
and services continue to produce
business for you.

The same applies to your marketing.
You'll reach more prospects and generate
more sales by using a variety of marketing
methods instead of just one or two. But it
also protects you from suddenly losing a
substantial volume of business because
one of your marketing methods stopped

producing results.

TIP: Keep looking for and testing new
marketing tools and old ones you haven't
tried yet.

#2. LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITY HIDDEN
IN CHANGE

The challenge of change often forces you
do discover a hidden opportunity you
can exploit to gain more business. I
recently spoke with the owner of a
sporting goods store near a fast growing
city in the Southeast. 2 years ago a large
retail chain started building a new
superstore nearby. The store included a
large sporting goods department. Jeff
wasn't going to be able to compete with
their prices and stay in business.

Instead he set up a used sporting
equipment section in his store and started

advertising to buy and sell used
equipment. Today most of Jeff's income is
generated by sales of used equipment. His
total income has almost doubled and he's
even planning to expand his used
equipment business to the Internet. It's an
opportunity Jeff wouldn't have recognized
without the challenge of competition from
that superstore.

The biggest challenge to business
success today is change. Develop the
habit of looking for the early signs that

something is changing and confront it
before you're losing business. Take
defensive action against the impact of
change by diversifying the number of
products and/or services you offer and
using a variety of different marketing
methods. When you decide how to
respond to a challenge, look for a

hidden opportunity to increase business.
You may find a source of additional sales
and profits you previously overlooked.

Bob Leduc retired from a 30 year career of
recruiting sales personnel and developing
sales leads. He is now a Sales Consultant.
Bob recently wrote a manual for small
business owners titled "How to Build Your
Small Business Fast With Simple
Postcards" and several other publications
to help small businesses grow and
prosper. For more information
mailto:BobLeduc@aol.com?subject=Postc
ards Phone: (702) 658-1707 (After 10 AM
Pacific time) Or write: Bob Leduc, PO Box
33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133