Why Try To Get Out Of Your Box, When You Can Use What's In It?
First versions of most things are usually disappointing.
Lisa the first commercial computer with a graphical user interface and the predecessor of the Mac did not receive good acceptance.
Don’t get me started on the first version of Windows.
Consider Van Gogh’s first version of art: the Ramsgate.
If any of these artists stopped after their first version, they would have never become artists.
Stay Positive & Ship, Make It Better, Repeat
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Decisions are easy when you have the right information. What I’ve found it takes to make the right decision is to retrieve information from three sources.
Stay Positive & A Right Decision Requires Three Perspectives, Do You Have Them All?
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Time and time again, the best place to find an advantage over your competitors is in your target.
Yesterday we tackled the idea of differentiating yourself not by what you have that your competitor doesn’t, but by giving more to the customer than your competitor can.
Today we look at having an advantage by having better data of your target.
The quickest way to get ahead in your market is to know more about the market (specifically your target) than your competitors. An inch of insight can give you a mile of an advantage.
Consider the first company to realize getting food on the table wasn’t just a decision based on budget, but on the emotional need of mothers to hear their husbands brag to their friends about how well they are fed. Dinner became an ego-booster. “Save 5 cents” was a lot less effective.
What more can you do on the end of target research?
That’s where you’ll find how to gain an advantage.
Stay Positive & Know The Most About Your Target
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On this episode of In The Box Podcast we discussed how to get a workaholic to delegate their work, how to manage a friendship with your superior at work, one way to reduce your spending, if quantity of experiences trumps a quality experience and if it’s possible for one to be objective about a situation they are in. Enjoy.
Episode 55: Delegating Work, Managing In A Hierarchy, And Becoming Objective
Quantity vs quality – When it comes to experience, it seems more experience is valued more than a single quality experience. Do you get that vibe? Why?
Delegate – How do you get someone to delegate their work instead of taking it all on themselves?
Hierarchy – How do you manage someone at work being your superior but not treat them as superior to you as a human?
Budget – What is one place in your budget you can quickly reduce your spending?
Bonus – One suggestion you have for someone trying to be objective about a decision?
Stay Positive & Listen On
Through the life of your business you’re sure to be prodded toward differentiating yourself from your competitors if you haven’t already been.
Most commonly this comes from price. Your competitor lowers their prices so you retaliate by lowering yours. You enter a race to the bottom.
If you’re going to differentiate yourself, don’t do so with the sole purpose of being at an advantage over your competitor.
What’s important is what you do to give your customer a substantial advantage.
You must be asking yourself, “What can I give to my customer that my competitors can’t.”
You don’t create a differentiator by being different from your competitor, you create a differentiator that matters by giving more to the customer than any competitor can.
Stay Positive & Customer First And Always
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Insecurity.
When we assign ourselves an important task, we immediately become insecure about the work. After all, right now we have total control of the situation we’re in. Once we start going down the unfamiliar path of a potentially remarkable idea, we exchange control for instinct.
Laziness is easy because we remain in 100 percent control, but creativity doesn’t show up when we stand still.
Stay Positive & Notice The Fear And Dance With It, But Don’t Stop Doing The Important Work
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There’s no such thing as accidental creativity.
You may think two items were accidentally combined to create something remarkable. You may think that an idea came out of no where while you were in the shower. You may think your recent success was luck or good timing.
It wasn’t.
Creativity is earned, and it’s not always apparent how (thus our fascination and curiosity around the roots of creativity).
What is clear is there needs to be forward movement, momentum if you will, in order for creativity to appear. Sure, sometimes it arrives in a moment of respite, but you worked to deserve that respite (and that creative “accident” too).
Stay Positive & Build Your Momentum And Creativity Will Appear
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