One of my all-time favorite quotes that I believe relates to business strategy is by the great Steve Jobs. Steve said, “It’s not the customer’s job to know what they want.” There is so much contained in this statement about how and why Steve Jobs was so successful in business that volumes upon volumes could be written about it. I want to focus in on intentionality and how it relates to your business mission and strategy.
There are three types of businesses world. The first type creates a product without any regard for what people really want and goes out and tries to sell it. They may have some level of moderate success that they rarely ever achieve anything exceptional. These types of businesses come and go.
The second type of business spends all of their time trying to figure out what people want and then create products to fill that need. The problem with this type of business is that they are usually too late getting into the game. By the time they figure it out the market has changed they are left holding the bag.
The third type of business is a rare breed. This is what Steve Jobs was talking about. They don’t worry about what people think they want. These entrepreneurs are the ones who create fads. They are the ones who the spy all opposition create new markets with zero competition and make millions in the process.
They make it their business strategy to create something of value that is great and lasting and memorable. They make it their business strategy to focus on marketing and sales that creates their brand in the minds of the people. Think about it. Steve Jobs didn’t create a new idea. Consider the iPod. There were already MP3 players on the market. Steve took an existing idea can change the way people thought about. He made it simple. You meet a more user-friendly. He made it actually work great without having to deal with system crashes and errors.
Whatever your business is take a step back and look at your competition. Think about what it is they’re selling and whether they are simply trying to respond one day too late to what customers really want. Think about the needs of your customers with the customers of your competition and then figure out how to deliver something old in a new way. Think about the way your competition is marketing to prospects that are out there. How can you do differently in a way that is new and engaging and meaningful?
Make this part of your business strategy and forget everything else and you will start to see something magical happened. You’ll start to see your business grow. You’ll start to see clients and prospects being drawn to what you’re selling. You’ll find that you essentially have no competition.
Manjit Biant