Posted by Terrica on October 6, 2009 – 9:31 AM
Do you remember when you were little and you got your first box of 64 crayons?
MY STARS—the variety! The colors! Everything from burnt orange to blue-violet, and of course the ever so coveted gold and silver. Gold and silver were
like the Boardwalk and Park Place of crayons. After only having eight colors before, gold and silver were what the rest of those painfully ordinary colors aspired to be. Oh the possibilities! You get that gold crayon and you go to town—and I mean you get your money’s worth out of that gold crayon. Everything is gold: trees, flowers, people, cars. You name it. Soon, it loses its luster, because it’s being used so much, and just doesn’t seem natural. There is a time and place for everything, and after all—you can only have so much gold.
I have found this to be true in the wedding industry, too. Someone comes along with a hot idea, concept or piece of advice. Everyone wants to try it, do it, to be it. In some instance, it works for the picture. A little gold is nice as an accent. Other times, all your client wants is a plain ole blue crayon. Blue, albeit a far more common color has many uses and many beautiful shades.
Don’t forsake who you are for the next shiny thing: you’ll deprive of us of the true you.
Posted by Terrica on June 8, 2009 – 10:20 AM
my·o·pi·a (m
-
p
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)
n.
1. A visual defect in which distant objects appear blurred because their images are focused in front of the retina rather than on it; nearsightedness. Also called short sight.
2. Lack of discernment or long-range perspective in thinking or planning: "For Lorca, New York is a symbol of spiritual myopia" Edwin Honig.
Marketing myopia is a term coined by economist Theodore Levitt. It is defined as management’s failure to recognize the scope of its business. Becoming product oriented or product defined instead of customer oriented threatens to stunt the growth of any business—especially those in our industry. Our industry is one that deals with several people, emotions and expectations. Understanding that there is something much bigger than a day-of-coordination service keeps the focus on the client and your company’s impact on that client.
To stand out from our colleagues and competition, as well as avoid marketing myopia, we need to ensure that our companies’ goals are oriented towards our clients’ needs. Several other companies such as AT&T and Revlon have undergone intense transformations to allow them to service their clients and meet their needs. Try broadening your marketing oriented business ideas to focus on the client’s needs. In other words, don’t market as if your existence is based on your product, target your actual demographic and their needs. Instead of telling your story, show them your place in their story. Avoid pigeonholing yourself into a myopic description: e.g., “we are a wedding coordination company”. What happens when your potential client doesn’t want a coordinator—but someone to assist with full-service planning or event design? You risk becoming obsolete by defining yourself by your product, instead of how your product can service fill the needs of your clients long term. By continuously re-evaluating your business, you can find yourself a constant in the changing times and economy. Focus on your core competencies and position yourself to sell them. Simply: find a need and fill it.
How do you define your business? Ask yourself, seriously, “What business am I in?”
Photo :: Richard Kittel
Posted by Terrica on June 1, 2009 – 9:31 AM
I had the privilege of taking my children out recently, and as we were going back to our car, I noticed a woman. The purse was divine, she had on a fabulous pair of jeans, a stunning top, and a pair of shoes that I would’ve gladly have given up a kidney for. Seriously—they were that cute; if I woke up in a tub of ice the next morning, but those shoes were on the counter, it would be worth it. However, I noticed that she was walking—it was rather odd. Instead of having a Naomi Campbell Walk—fully strutting herself and outfit, she was walking as if someone had cut off her toes and ordered her to walk on hot coals to her execution.
Totally took away from her outfit.
Perhaps it would have worked if she were sitting down the entire day, she could get away with it, but that’s not realistic.
How often do we do something like this with our businesses? Buy a pair of shoes that don’t fit because they are gorgeous, but they cause us more pain than they are worth. What about the awesome website design that is confusing to our visitors or putting our site on the three millionth page of Google? Or the intern or associate that isn’t meshing well with our operation. Perhaps it’s the relationship with a vendor that causes extra work instead of lightening our load. Whatever it is, you have to decide if your current damage or pain is worth the price of the “cute shoes”. If there is anything in your business that is causing more work for you than it should, or is not working for you—it is working against you.
And you know what happens if you keep wearing bad shoes right? Corns. Bunions. Full on surgery. You will find yourself asking at that time if it was worth it. If your brand, client experience, reputation or peace of mind (and “mine”) are at risk, it’s time to toss the shoes. Throw them out. Gift it to charity. Find something better and make it work for you.
It doesn’t matter how cute the shoes are, if they hurt your feet.
Posted by Terrica on May 22, 2009 – 9:25 AM
We had a great question posed on the iWED boards—How do you get ready for a consult?
An overwhelming number of iWED members said that they get ready by playing music that gets them energized, focused and fabulous. What’s on your success soundtrack? What gets you ready to show up and show off?
Fridays are the wedding industry’s start days– so as you get prepped for your weekend’s events, I encourage you to turn on your theme music and conquer the world.
What gets you excited and ready to go?
Photo :: Paulo Correa
Posted by Terrica on May 13, 2009 – 10:30 AM
:: picture courtesy of the Merlin Mann Blog ::
I loved this web page so much, that I use it as the “Home” page any time I open a new browser tab or window– so I really have to ask myself, is what I’m doing right now really what I need to do? Tough question. Tough answers.
Owning your own business gives you the freedom to eliminate the boss constantly looking over your shoulder. The problem is that you have the freedom to eliminate the boss constantly looking over your shoulder. It is amazing how willing we are to be complicit to helping someone else meet their goals or bottom lines, or stay focused on their stringent timetables, but as business owners we can become so distracted from our own.
When I used to peddle lipstick many moons ago, we used to talk about IPAs. IPAs stand for Income Producing Activities. When you had so many IPAs, you could noticeably see a change, or shift, in your business– be it in sales, growth in team members, or other incentives. The key was to keep you accountable and to keep you working. I’ve modified an IPAs sheet for you to use as you will– make a copy for each week to keep yourself working and accountable. For each day of the week, write down the letter for the IPA you participated in for that day. Set a reasonable goal for yourself: how many IPAs can you participate in per day, per week? How many IPAs do you need to do to meet your goal? Whatever your goal is, the only way you can reach it is by staying relevant and staying productive. Download the IPAs worksheet and let me know how it works out for you!
