Why getting your ducks in a row is not good business strategy

Why getting your ducks in a row is not good business strategy

Are you someone who likes to get everything spot on before sharing it with the world?

You want to make sure all your ducks are in a row and everything is ‘perfect’ and then you will be ready to start talking about it.

The problem with this can be:

  1. You never have the time to get all your ducks in a row, therefore you never share any of your brilliant ideas with your customers
  2. You’re a perfectionist, and most of your ideas never live up to your idea of perfection and get shelved again, even though you’ve already invested a bit of time in them
  3. You do not know all the answers. I hate to break this to you, but your customers probably have a much better idea of what they want than you do. Therefore, you end up coming up with something that you’ve ASSUMED your customers want, and end up scratching your head in puzzlement when no-one is buying.

That’s exactly why getting your ducks in row is not a good strategy to grow your business.

Let me share a secret with you. When I have an idea for a new workshop or programme, I start with an outline of who it’s for. Then I look at what problems this will solve. Then I come up with a sale page. This may be a letter, email, landing page on my website – just something that sets out the basics of what I’m offering.

Then I see if anyone is interested in it.

I NEVER spend days writing the content of the workshop until I know I have people who want to buy it.

Only after I’ve sold it will I write the actual content.

Why? Because the important part is to establish a demand before you spend days working on something that may never be used.

And yes, it’s happened to me twice where I’ve never sold a single place on a workshop or programme One was a group programme for Mums Starting A Business in my early days, the other a half day workshop on How To Overcome Overwhelm.

Interestingly, the workshop on overwhelm was following some feedback from people that feeling overwhelmed a big issue for them. Luckily, I still followed my formula of sell the spaces before writing the content, and hadn’t invested too much time!

Whilst you may not be selling workshops or programmes, whenever you’re looking to launch a new product or service, or even target a new type of customer, do the bare minimum you can to be able go and sell it and ensure there is a demand.

As much I fully advocate spending time planning, you must be careful not to fall into the trap of over-planning, or even not doing anything because you don’t have the time as you’ve made it into a bigger task than it needs to be.

The important thing is always to engage with your potential customers early on to see how interested they are. They’ll also give you feedback to make it even better. (Remember, you don’t know all the answers!)

Don’t waste time getting your ducks in a row, go and speak to your potential customers about your idea. Pick up the phone, have the conversation, arrange the meetings, send those emails.

When you’re time poor, you have to be selective about what you spend it on and pick the actions that are going to grow your business fastest.

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Alison Bradford

Alison Bradford is a business coach who works with smart, ambitious business owners to get clarity about how they can grow their business and increase profit. Sign up here to learn 6 easy ways you can boost profit in your business today.
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