Is Your Business Flexible? Changing Your Business Model

How many times have your beaten your head against the wall because your business is not making the money that you need and want it you produce?

I was talking to one of my good friends who works as the senior commodities buyer for one of the major manufactures. He is a professional “spender of money” so to speak.

What this means is that he is buying chemicals and materials to keep whole divisions of the company running. His budget is $40,000,000 a year. That is what he spends for his company. And in his industry, a penny increase may mean $100,000 cost increase to the company bottom line. What a perspective on spending.

Anyway, he is one of my best friends. He is a buyer and I am in sales. Two sides of the buying equation.  Funny huh?!?!.

Well he said to me, “I have noticed that businesses fail when they are not flexible.” The discussion that followed was very insightful.

If you look at this comment, there is wisdom here.

Most businesses grow and evolve over time. So why is it that I see many businesses trying to work models that don’t work? Your business has to move with the market and take advantage of opportunities. Most businesses seem to be set in stone and the business owner is determined to make it work.

They work their business like the world will never be the same if their business does not exist. This in my view is a bad thing.

The funny thing about business is that it easily puts you into a box. Most business owners are leaving opportunities on the table because they are too tightly defining their scope of work and product/service offering.

For example: A car salesmen. One guy will work on a car lot all of his life. While another will become a specialty car locator and sell high priced cars to executives. Both of them sell cars. But one is doing it and making alot more money.

For example: One business owner is a webmaster and makes $50 an hour. Whereas another webmaster uses the web to create selling systems for offline businesses. Both of them are using the web as a media but one is making a bigger impact in the marketplace. And making more money.

Same skills, same time. But very different outcomes for the bottomline for both the business owner and the customer.

The question is: How can you reposition your business so that it is able to move well in the marketplace and be most profitable?

It may be as easy as restating your offer and value proposition. Being flexible will allow you to create (add and subtract pieces and parts of your business) so that you can take advantage of the opportunities that are around you.

So how flexible is your business and will it create the situation that you desire?

Til next time,

— David Bullock