Marilyn O'Leary
Group Administrator | Subject: The Phenomenon - Community and The Herd
Articles for Review Only
posted by HPBA on Tuesday, January 15th 2008 @ 7:49 PM
PHENOMENON TRIGGER #4: Community and The Herd If you want to run around all day, get exhausted and frustrated, and go to bed hungry regularly, be a hunter. If you want to be lazy, fat and happy, be a shepherd.
Real breakthroughs start to happen in your business when you realize the wisdom of building your entire model around attracting, retaining, and satisfying (at increasing levels of value) great customers. i.e. growing, gathering, attracting a "herd" - a collection of customers that know you, like you, trust you, and listen to you.
Many entrepreneurs and small business people are so focused on getting the next customer or client that they lose sight of the "acres of diamonds" beneath their feet - their past and present customer/prospect list. This dangerous business defect often results from the mistaken belief on the part of the business owner that they're here to sell a product or a service. No, no, no grasshopper. You're in the business of noticing and solving the problems, identifying and meeting the needs, and locating and satisfying the wants of your customers and, god bless it, those needs/wants seem to be insatiable. As long as your customer is spending money SOMEWHERE ELSE or with SOMEONE ELSE, you still have room to grow in your business. Now, that might sound a little mercenary - feeding off of your "herd" and all - but let's remember what else the Shepherd does. He takes care of the herd, he meets the herd's needs, he protects the herd. And that's what you do as well. If you "feast" on your herd without caring for their well-being, they will scatter and you'll have to go back to being a hunter. If you let "wolves" prey on your herd in exchange for short term gain, you'll lose their trust, they 'lll scatter and you'll be herd-less. It's a delicate balance, building a prospect/customer list, nurturing the relationship, and also converting them into customers at an increasing level. But it's your ability to strike that balance that will enable you to follow the example of our ancestors and evolve from hunters to herders. And hunters don't get to take vacations, buy nice cars, and sell their businesses for 10x earnings.
Frazier O'Leary
www.BreakthroughBusinessStrategies.com
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