Fairy Tales and Other Reasons Business Fail in the #DigitalNormal

No one sets out in their own business with the goal of lying to themselves. After all most entrepreneurs go into business because they are tired of the games played in business not because they want to keep playing.  But, for some business leaders, something happens along the way – they start to fall for their own stories creating a true detriment to the business.

Let me give you a few examples, why they are damaging, and what you as a leader can do about it:

Fairy Tale #1 - My Business Is Different: 

• No one is willing to pay that much for (insert solution sold); our business is different
• My business is different, my customers are loyal to me they would never shop me  
• We have a way of doing things around here, it works for us because our business is different
• My business is different, that (insert digital marketing strategy) won’t work here
• We’ve tried (insert market innovation) it didn’t work for us, our business is different

Your business is likely not that different, not in a crowded market with multiple options available to clients. Thinking that you are different can be a dangerous “story” you tell yourself unless you truly have a differentiator that allows you to charge more, keep customers, and inspire your teams daily. Here’s an interesting stat:

70% of people in the US currently believe they are “above average” and have believed this for decades. That's not even possible! 

This is known as illusory superiority – and it is an illusion that’s dangerous for your business if you suffer from this cognitive bias about any area of your business. A person, or in our case a business, who overestimates their own qualities and abilities, in relation to the same qualities and abilities of other people, is often at risk of not seeing opportunities for change. 

How do you fix this issue? Test your boundaries often. Learn about your competition. Ask the tough questions about your customer journey and your value in the market.  Looking to make some changes? Focus first on price and marketing as these are fast change areas for business. Keep evolving your business to make it different - even when others encourage you to be the same as everyone else - so you can stop telling yourself this fairy tale!

Fairy Tale #2 – Our Culture is Fine

6.      Talent is something that’s hard to find, we aren’t competitive with the “big firms”

7.      Culture? That sounds soft - like it’s something for art companies not my firm

8.      We are too busy servicing customers right now during this crisis to worry about culture

9.      I’ve defined the culture – we are a best in class company in this regard

Few and far between are the firms who have the perfect culture. Let’s face it “fine” just doesn’t cut it in today’s competitive talent world. Remember, just because we are experiencing high unemployment currently due to the pandemic, one thing has not changed – top talent is always hard to find. In fact, top talent has their pick of firms to work in any economy. Falling for the fairy tale that culture doesn’t matter or is “fine” as is can be dangerous to your bottom line. Culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

The good news? Most of the next generation of workers aren’t as accepting of large inflexible firms as previous generations. If you are a smaller firm, the time is now to have the right culture to appeal to these candidates. Primarily, they look for firms who have a local impact, deliver value, welcome diversity and support causes and clients that relate to their personal values. 

How do you fix this issue? Listen and learn from your teams, the market, and from up and coming talent. One great digital solution is to invite top talent to have a discussion – truly brave business leaders will do this on their podcast or webinar series. Ask them questions about what culture they value, how to drive it from the bottom up, and how to improve the experience at firms in your industry. Then apply what they prescribe! Finally, remember that culture is built from the bottom up – engage your teams to create a culture that works! 

Fairy Tale #3 - Digital Marketing and Social Selling aren’t for “our” Industry

Right now, this might be the most damaging of all the Fairy Tales. Why? The world has changed. We are now in the #DigitalNormal. What’s the #DigitalNormal? It’s the result of a perfect storm in our world caused by Millennial and GenZ members dominating the work force (and as a result our buyers), record innovation, and our current pandemic creating a world where the majority of customers preferred transactions happen in a digital environment. Some examples:

• More than 50% of B2B buyers look locally for their solution
• More than 80% of B2B buyers prefer to find a solution online prior to speaking to a salesperson
• Content that educates B2B buyers and is not solution biased is referenced and utilized by more than 60% of buyers
• More than 70% of B2B buyers trust a digital expert connection for advice on their needs
• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, expert level Social Sellers surpass non-expert Social Sellers sales results by 76%

Based on these factoids alone you can see why the time is now to shatter this myth. Add to it the fact that most business buyers won’t be allowing face to face events or meetings any time soon, and this change takes on a true sense of urgency. 

Let’s dig a little deeper into what shattering this myth for your firm will take. There are three key steps you can take to help your business turn the tide.

1.      Evaluate your Website. Is it optimized for local search? Is the content fit for purpose allowing customers to explore and learn before having to speak to a seller? Are your sellers positioned as experts on the site?

2.      Build your Content. Focus less on you and more on the industry, talk about trends and educate people about the issues, share meaningful insights both from your firm and 3rd parties. Education leads to conversation which leads to sales – focus on educating clients vs. selling to them in your content for the win.

3.      Practice Social Selling. The world has changed, you must change your prospecting and sales approach to win. Empower your sales teams with the knowledge, leadership support, and changed sales metrics to inspire social selling success. If you don’t know how to get your sellers going DM me or Email me at [email protected] and I am happy to share more information

Remember being bold and acting now matters. Be competitive and get better at the #digitalnormal now.  Ahead of your competitors. Remember it is only impossible if you make it so – work the solution and it will happen – that’s one fairy tale you can take to the bank.