Changes!
According to Frost & Sullivan, a leading market research company with 1,800 employees:
- Only 1 in 100 new products recoups it’s development costs
- Over half of all new products fall short of the company’s expectations at launch
- Only 1 in 300 new products either changes customer behaviour, their product sector or their company’s growth
In other words, when it comes to creating something new there’s an awful lot of waste not to mention blood, sweat, tears and heartbreak.
However, the consequences of not adapting quickly enough, resting on laurels or behaving like an ostrich, are also dire as the fates of Kodak, Blockbuster, Blackberry, HMV, Woolworths, British Shoe Corporation, Nokia and hundreds of other companies unfortunately confirm.
So what’s the answer? When should you change?
I offer some questions to ask yourself about you, your business and sector and the answers should assist in determining how prepared you are.
- To what extent are you (and the executive team) resistant or open to change? To confirm your answer list out the last three changes you’ve made of any significance, when did these occur? Now answer question one again.
- How prepared are you to drive change in the business? You might well be aware of the need but what’s your capability and capacity? Are you typically reluctant? Do you tend to delay, make only a halfhearted commitment or give up too easily when the change process gets tough?
- How in tune with your customers are you? Do you regularly carry out research to identify their changing expectations, needs and wants? To what extent are your customers inclined to embrace your new ideas? How good are your communications beyond those that are transactional in the here and now?
- Do you have a method to evaluate new initiatives? Can you properly appraise and assess one piece of new technology compared with another? Do you tend to rely on your gut instinct or do you have something more reliable to employ as well?
If you’re resistant to the inevitable and/or don’t have much experience of implementing change then you need to seek advice. And for many leading firms of estate agents that advice comes from being members of the Property Academy where, at each meeting, issues such as the tenant fee ban, cut price models and shortages of talent are debated and actions identified. If you’d like to come to one of our Mastermind Group meetings in May, with no obligation to join but to see for yourself how we can help you make the necessary changes, then please get in touch with me directly.
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