“I hate marketing!” she wrote. Her email came in response to one of my previous blog entries. She went on to say that her business was in trouble and she didn’t know what to do. So I offered to meet over lunch and discuss her situation.
She proceeded to tell me about her once successful business services company and how, in recent years, she had tried to build up another business that had long been in her family. The latter effort had not been very successful, and forced her to neglect her own company, which she now wanted to reinvigorate.
As I listened she explained that her company once dominated the local business market, but now new competitors and new ways of dealing with the issues her services address have made her situation much more difficult. She hated that she now had to market her products instead of relying on customer loyalty and new business referrals that have dried up.
My sense was that she was a good, honorable person ¬– a bit naïve, perhaps – and thoroughly bewildered by what she was experiencing. I could also see that it wasn’t really “marketing” she hated. It was the changes in her marketing environment and her fear of change that was troubling her.
Her services were once in demand by local businesses that were then expanding into new areas, and needed her expertise to move forward. Today, her primary service is available online and through other channels at a much lower cost. She rightfully points out that these products are not up to the standards that she is capable of providing. My guess, however, is that these competing services are “good enough” for the organizations that use them, which is something she has a hard time accepting. Further, the local market for her services is much smaller than in the past, a fact that she acknowledges.
“I can’t afford to hire you,” she told me, “although I know I need a new plan.” I told her I understood, and told her the steps I thought she should take to work on the problem herself, beginning with these three:
1. Because she doesn’t want to change the way she practices her services, I suggested that she should research the market to determine if there are still enough customers out there who are willing to pay for what she offers.
2. If, as I suspect, she learns that the market no longer values her services in the same way, she needs to get a handle on what the market is willing to pay for, how much they are willing to pay and how they want it delivered.
3. Based on what she learns, she must decide if she is willing to make the necessary changes to, again, make her business successful.
The fact is, many businesses of all sizes periodically face the hard truth that what they offer is no longer relevant, or that the markets they once successfully served are no longer the same. After all, we only exist to fulfill the needs of our customers. If what we offer is no longer of value to those customers, we need to do some serious soul-searching. Then we need to either figure out how to apply our capabilities in new ways that mesh with the needs of our customers, or find an altogether new role to play on the business stage.
None of this is easy. Very few of us eagerly embrace change, especially to something we’ve put our heart into for many years. However, as far as business is concerned, you can’t argue with Darwin: We must evolve or we shall surely perish.
Tags: business development, Marketing