W 5

When you think of W5 perhaps it is the hard hitting Canadian television program that comes to mind. There are investigative reporters telling stories of hardship, of errors in the justice system, of scams, and on and on. But what if W5 was a key to making your business successful?

Consider for a moment that every time you interact with one or more people you have an opportunity to promote your business, your product, your services. You have the opportunity to make an impression. Now, that seems like something worth thinking about.

Consider the five W's that could make or break that interaction.

W ho are these people? It is important to know who you are talking to or will be talking to. Are they in the same business as you? Do they presently use any of your services?

W hy are they here? If you are to connect with these people it is important to know why they are here in the first place. Are they here to make business connections themselves? Are they perhaps invited guests of someone you have done business with? Are they merely here because you offered them a free meal? Don't laugh that happens more than you might think.

W hat do they do? Are they in the same business as you are? Are they in a business that has a natural link to what your business offers? For example, a recruiting firm may link naturally to a firm that prepares resumes or trains new employees? An advertising firm may link will with one that produces short videos.

W hat is my main message? Now that you know about the other people, what do you know about your purpose in being there? All too often we have so many products and services that we try to sell them all every time out of the gate. It is always best to consider what you want to promote during this interaction and do that. As has often been said, it is better to do one thing well than a dozen poorly. Think of how the latter would reflect on you and your business!

W hat do I want them to do? This is the critical part of the five W's. If you can not clearly identify what action that you want these people to take, are you wasting your time and their time as well? Do you want them to agree to meet with you? Do you want them to give you a few names and contact information of people they would recommend your organization to? Do you want them to merely add your business card to their ever expanding pile of unread cards? The choice is yours, but you clearly must make a choice.

Perhaps now W5 will have a whole new meaning to you. Consider it as a way to organize for success each and every interaction with others.

Rainy Days

Today has been another of those rainy fall days. One minute you look out and see bright sunshine and the next the rain is pelting against the window pane of your office. Of course, as Canadians we all know that this is normal so we go about our daily routine anyway.

However, this particular phenomenon caused me to think of how running a small business is like fall days. It occurred to me that the bright sunshine was akin to those days when we had plenty of business. Our income stream was, if not full, still running nicely. People we try to connect with whether by telephone, email, fax, or in person are able to be connected with. Our sales programs are generating interest if not specific sales.

Then we find the rainy days. On those days it seems that no matter what we do we are unable to make that business connection. We place phone calls and receive voice mail. We send faxes and emails and get no responses. We visit the offices of clients and potential clients and they are not available. The flow of income has dwindled to a trickle or perhaps even come to a full stop.

Then there are days just like today when we have a combination of both effects. One minute we are high on success and the next minute we are low on rejection. The challenge is to somehow get through that with our sanity intact.

One possible way of handling those days, and yes we will all have them, is to pick something we know will be successful. Perhaps it is updating our files. Perhaps it is cleaning up the top of our desk. Perhaps it is as simple balancing our bank statement. Whatever it is we can take comfort in having completed one thing successfully. If we manage to do that first thing in the day the effect is that the rest of the day goes well regardless of the weather.

So, pick that thing you need done that you know is a sure fire success. Do it first thing tomorrow morning and see how the rest of your day goes. If you feel like sharing the results, that would be fantastic. If not, savour them yourself.

Direction Makes A Difference

Recently had to take several trips on a major highway. In one case was heading East on the 401 across the top of Toronto early in the morning. Traffic was steady but flowing not too badly. We managed to keep at least at the limit of 100 Km. Looking to my left it was clear to see that those folks heading West were not doing as well. The cars were barely moving and in some places they were totally stopped on the road.

That same day was now driving west on Highway 401 and saw the same phenomenon only in reverse. The westbound was moving well but eastbound was stop and go. Must admit that this made me feel great. Perhaps a little sorry for the plight of the drivers on the other side of the highway but really glad it was not me over there.

This got me to thinking how business is often like a highway. Depending on the direction we are taking it can be stop and go or moving steadily forward. This led to wondering what was the difference, can a business truly decide the direction it wants to take?

Clearly the answer to this rather rhetorical question posed to myself is, YES. As a business owner one can decide which direction to travel and therefore influence significantly how well the trip goes.

For example, let's say you want to do exactly what everyone else in your industry is doing. That would be the equivalent of my going westbound on Highway 401 in the early morning. Clearly, everyone is coming into Toronto to work and do business. True it did depend upon where I started my trip but that is always the case, is it not.

Now, what if you were to decide to go a different route with your product or service. To focus on one or two aspects of your organization's offerings that are unique. This would be like going out of Toronto in the early morning to conduct business. Now the trip is much more enjoyable and less stressful. You are not battling the other businesses (cars) for space on the road.

Looking at the direction of our company may mean challenging the norms. It may mean stepping out of our comfort zone. That said, it may mean a true breakthrough in business and in turn mean we start to enjoy the trip more.

Which direction are you driving in?