Flow, Not Control
An old man fell into a raging river. Onlookers watched in horror, powerless to save him as he disappeared into the raging waters. A few moments later, the old man popped out of the water downstream unhurt and calm. When asked how he could possibly have survived the raging water, he simply said, “I accommodated the water and did not try to control it. It delivered me peacefully here.”
What does that little story have to do with marketing? Quite a bit. So many businesses knowingly or unknowingly force their customers to accommodate their way of doing business instead of the other way around.
The problem with control is that your customers are growing less patient with things that don’t make sense or work immediately. So, they give up faster than ever. Why? Because customer customization is the biggest trend in the past decade. That means your competitors are accommodating your customers better and better, on your customers’ terms, as they want it, changing when they change.
If you were to visualize the market today, would it not look a lot like the river that old man fell in? Would your business be the old man, or are you trying to change the direction of the river? The best answer to this question will come from the customers you lose and the competitors that win them.
Ninety Seconds take away:
Build in feedback mechanisms that keep you in constant touch with your customers’ changing needs, and build flexibility and consistent improvement into your offerings by using what you learn. Be open, curious and vulnerable to the truth about your company, your services and what you offer. Don’t force your customers to do it your way; find out what they want, be willing to change your position, and see from different viewpoints. Flow with the change and you will never know obsolescence.
