This is good advice and again it is along the theme of becoming an excellent business observer. Whenever you find out about a really successful business, perhaps they have won an award or your family and friends are talking about them or there may have been an article in the newspaper, I suggest you pay the business a visit. What they sell really doesn’t matter; how they run the business does. What makes it so successful? Why do people keep coming back? Why does it win awards?
So you need to go in armed (metaphorically speaking of course) to find out their secrets and to see if you can apply any of them to your business. Often finding out why a business does so well is not clearly obvious on first inspection. From my own experience, it is more the way they do business rather than any one specific detail. It is the attitude of the staff, it is the attention to detail and it is the inviting and welcoming feel of the business. Rarely is it their pricing, a misconception that many business owners are far too preoccupied with.
Becoming a good observer of anything takes time and training. A quick walk around a successful business might give you a few clues but you need to really go a little deeper. Give them a call and make an enquiry about their product. Consider how they handle it. Most importantly, after the call did you feel like going to this business? Take the time to get to know that business, listen to their sales staff, make a purchase and see how the transaction is handled, or ask a few difficult questions. Whatever you do, try to get a very good feeling for the business.
Make a list of what you feel makes this business so good at what it does and beside each of the points indicate if they could be applied to your business. Then set about implementing them.
Hi Andrew,
It’s called following the masses… learn from proven methods and systems…
One could also learn from being a ‘under performing businesses observer’. It’s something I wouldn’t recommend one goes out to seek, however lots can be learnt from the ways how a business is underperforming…. learn from other peoples mistakes….
Cheers Geoff
Hi Geoff – I couldn’t agree more. Sadly, it is easier to find under performing businesses than it is to find exceptional ones. But the principle is the same – become a conscious observer of other businesses and learn from the experience. Everyday is a learning experience for me – I learn from other businesses advertisements, their service, their websites etc etc etc. I guess the key is what you do with the information. As always, many thanks for your input. I think I also have a copy of a book here with your name on it for that catch up that I never seem to be able to co-ordinate in amongst the madness. But we will!
Cheers and good luck in the new job.
AG