Oh the times are well and truly changing. In the good old days marketing was all about telling people how awesome our business is and by association how awesome we are. Unfortunately, that rarely works these days. To find out more, check my article this week on Inc.com – CLICK HERE
Andrew Griffiths is Australia's #1 small business author with 12 best selling books now sold in over 60 countries. He's a writing and publishing expert, an international speaker and leading business advisor with over 20 years' experience. Andrew presents around the world and is considered an expert in entrepreneurship and an authority on building a profile. He is a thought leader through writing, publishing and speaking and is featured regularly in mainstream global media.
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Andrew, I enjoyed reading your post for a number of reasons, but I think the number one reason was the fact it was honest.There is indeed a new wave of entrepreneurs who are now opening up and showing customers who they really are. For me, as a new entrepreneur, the biggest challenge is meeting the new requirements you listed out.
The most important one is delivering on your promises. It’s easy to promise everything in the pursuit of a deal, but it always bites you in the behind if you are over promising and under delivering. I think this is why companies of all sizes can fail. A promise is always there inside a brand, and if any part of that promise is exposed as being weak, the brand is weak.
This happened with Enron, and it happens with small businesses too. Tell a customer they can have it tomorrow and be late by just one day, and they’ll see a weakness. A promise that is only a let down.
A mentor of mine recently told me to only ever tell prospects and customers what you can do and by when. And leave it at that. People like this, they respect it.
Thank you for the great read, I look forward to reading more.
Thanks Sahail. Appreciate your comments and thoughts.
Cheers,
Andrew