Frederick Robertson once said: ‘‘It is not the situation that makes the man, but the man who makes the situation.’’
Brian Tracy believes that one of the major reasons that you get into a crunch in the first place is that you get away from the basic activities that made you successful in the beginning. Sometimes, the most helpful thing you can do is to remember the little things that you have forgotten in the growth and development of your business. For example, every business begins with certain core competencies possessed by the business owners and key employees.
Before discovering your core competences perhaps it would be beneficial to identify constraints facing you first.
IDENTIFYING CONSTRAINTS
Between wherever you are today and wherever you want to be in the future, there is something—often several things—that are holding you back. For you to get out of the crunch you are in and achieve your business and personal goals, you must identify your constraints, those factors that are restricting your progress.
The starting point of constraint analysis is for you to be absolutely clear about your goals. What is it that you want to achieve, avoid, or preserve? If it is financial, what specific amount of money do you need to generate, and in what time period? The greater clarity you have about exactly what it is you want, the easier it will be for you to determine the best way to achieve it.
When it comes to constraint analysis, you will find that 80 per cent of your constraints will be internal; they will be inside of yourself or your company. Start the process of constraint analysis by asking, ‘‘What is it in me or my business that is holding me back from achieving my goal?’’ In many cases, you will find that the main constraint between you and your goal is a fear of failure or a fear of rejection. This fear is holding you back from taking the actions necessary to accomplish what you want and need.
Your deep-rooted fears and doubts are often manifested or expressed in your excuses. Very often, your excuses are cleverly formulated reasons that you inadvertently use to position yourself as a victim, a person who has no choice or control over what is going on.
The second type of constraint, which accounts for the other 20 per cent of bottlenecks, is external. Such constraints are contained in the actions or non-actions of other people. These external constraints may have to do with markets, customers, sales, bank approvals, payments of receivables, and other factors. Even if your main constraints are external and therefore somewhat outside of your control, there is almost always something that you can do to address them and deal with them in some way.
As an exercise, engage in what Brian Tracy calls ‘‘no-limit thinking.’’ Imagine for a moment that you have no limitations of knowledge or skill, friends or contacts, money or resources. Imagine that you can do, be, and have anything you want in life. If this were the case, what actions would you take immediately?
Once you have identified your main constraint in each area of activity, focus single-mindedly on alleviating that one constraint. Focus on the one major limit that is holding you back more than any other factor. Removing this constraint can assist you in the achievement of your most important goal faster than anything else you can do.
CORE COMPETENCY
Your core competencies are the things that you do especially well, better than 90 per cent of your competitors. Your original product or service is an extension of your core competencies into the marketplace. You use them to produce a product or service that you can sell and deliver at a price that people are willing to pay.
In dealing with the inevitable problems, disappointments, and reversals of business life, you must continually ask, What are we good at? What do we do better than anyone else? What has been the major reason for our success to date?
Remember, 80 per cent of your results comes from 20 per cent of what you do. In other words, 80 per cent of your profits comes from 20 per cent of your products and services; 80 percent of your productivity comes from 20 percent of your people; 80 percent of your success comes from 20 percent of your activities, and so on. You must stand back and be clear about the top 20 percent in each area when you face a sudden reversal in your business.
Start with your area of specialisation. In what customers, markets, or products do you specialise and focus your time, attention, and efforts? If you were to ask your customers about your business and your area of focus, what would they say? A major reason for business problems is the tendency to expand out of your areas of specialisation into areas where you are not as good.
What is your area of differentiation? This is the key to success in business. What is it that you offer to your customers that none of your competitors can offer? What is it that your business does for your customers that makes you special in some way? Peter Drucker advises thus: “If you do not have competitive advantage, do not compete.”
One of your greatest responsibilities is to either determine or develop your area of differentiation, your competitive advantage, and then focus all of your marketing and sales efforts in that area.
What is it that you, and only you, can do for your customers that no other company can offer? What is your ‘‘unique selling proposition?’’ Each company has to have an area of excellence. This is something in which you excel and that is important and valuable to your customers.
The development and exploitation of your competitive advantage and your area of excellence is the key to getting through crunch time. Sometimes, just reverting to what it is that you do extremely well for your customers can turn your situation around.
PROTECTING YOUR CORE
To protect your core, practice what Brian Tracy calls the ‘‘citadel strategy’’ in your business. Imagine that your business is like a besieged city. You have to withdraw step-by-step from the outer walls to the inner walls and finally to the citadel, the most important and protected part of your city. Here are the five key points to finding and protecting your core:
First, your citadel consists of your most important products and services that are most responsible for your growth and profitability today. If you had to drop most of your products and services, what would be the one or two that you would hold onto if you wanted to survive and eventually succeed in the current market?
Second, identify your key people. Who are the 20 per cent of your staff that produce most of your results? Who are the bankers, suppliers, vendors, and customers who are most responsible for the success of your business? What should you do immediately to ensure that they remain loyal and supportive of you?
Third, what are your core marketing activities? What are the things that you do that bring in the greatest number of qualified prospects? What do you need to do to focus more of your time and resources in these areas?
Fourth, who are your top customers? These are the most important customers you have, the ones who buy the most, pay the most predictably, and represent the greatest source of your profits. What do you need to do to ensure that they are on board with you during your period of crisis?
Finally, it is essential that you identify the key result areas of your business, and the particular results that you must achieve every day, week, and month in order to make sales, deliver products, and collect revenues.
If you expect to get through crunch time, your ability to select your key result areas and focus your energy and resources on your areas of competitive advantage is essential.
BY CAPT SAM ADDAIH (RTD)
