The Sliced-Bread Dilemma (or a solution looking for a problem)

A number of years ago I read an article, written by the new CEO of a charitable organisation. He’d been brought in as a turn-around specialist, since the organisation was facing some major challenges… not least of which being losing most of their larger donors.

He admitted that, before taking the position, he’d checked out the charitable organisation and was impressed with what they were offering to attract the attention and sustainable support of the donors. Shortly into the article he mentioned something that’s resonated with me – and I refer to a lot, even to this day – being that, of not just looking at your marketplace offerings - from your own perspective - but you must also look at them from a marketplace perspective.

He used a Latin expression when mentioning this, but unfortunately, I forget the expression and also the article - else I’d use it here to appear much smarter than I am!

The charitable CEO <I assume he was> then put on his business ‘turnaround hat’ and relooked at his new venture. He changed the offerings, business model, acquired some new and some of the old donors, and went on to great success.

I now refer to a colleague (Gordon Brown), also of many years ago, that had a wife (unsurprisingly, Mrs Brown) that made delicious sandwiches. So much so that friends and relations used to love being invited for morning or afternoon teas – and sandwiches. However, even with delicious sandwiches, a loving husband and gracious friends/relatives all was not calm in the Brown household.

How could such obvious tranquillity be upset? Quite simply, by the pressure exerted on the wife, by her friends and relatives that she should open a sandwich shop and make a proverbial killing in the marketplace.

Sadly, Gordon Brown tried to explain that there were much more things than a few happy, unpaying recipients that needed to be considered. to enable the creation and the running of a profitable business. He discussed Investment Capital, Business Plans, Employees, Marketing, Cost-of-Sale, Stock, Shelf-Life, Procurement Processes, Bank Charges, and the like…

Eventually, not because of business logic, it became evident that Gordon was not supportive of such a venture and his wife went back to merely providing the free delicious sandwiches to friends and family. Whether that brought real calm back into the Brown household, of that, I am uncertain.

Unfortunately, in the business world, there is not always a happy ending to basic bad business decisions, as I see on a daily basis. In fact, I now have a cap that has the words printed on the front of ‘Watching in Disbelief’ and wear it when I believe it’s appropriate, in both personal and business situations <sometimes the truth hurts painfully, but is necessary to hit the point home>.

In many instances, I have seen knowledgeable and experienced employees/consultants practically begging to get some organisations to listen to their logic, without success. They document their findings, recommendations, and the predicted final outcomes in their report/s and watch in anguish as the predictable happens… business failures…

This leads me now to, what I call, Moments of Truth…

At every interaction between at least 2 people <or Touch Points> there is a Moment of Truth. This is when - whatever is being discussed <hopefully in a sales situation this involves some serious discourse> - may be tested for truthfulness and understanding

Along the typical long and winding road, the parties involved must be undertaking their own qualification. The seller testing and checking that the proposed solution will deliver the required value to the buyer’s organisation. Similarly, the buyer is checking that the proposed value will also be able to be delivered to their organisation.

What happens when there is a disconnect between the target market and the solution being offered by the seller? Simply, no sales… which may seem sensible enough, unless, of course, senior executives in the seller organisation merely see this as a failure of the sales department to deliver.

…and this is inevitably what happens when senior executives believe they have ‘the next best thing since sliced bread’ and cannot get away from that mentality – irrespective of all evidence to the contrary. It produces all of the elements of a business disaster just waiting to happen.

As an aside: The idiom 'Next best thing since sliced bread' means that something is the best and most useful innovation or development invented for a long time.

Let’s check out a quote from Investopedia: ‘A Target Market is a group of customers with shared demographics who have been identified as the most likely buyers of a company's product or service. Identifying the target market is important for any company in the development and implementation of a successful Marketing Plan.’

Let’s also roll back time to think about a Business Plan and consider how Forbes describes them: ‘Business plans are more than just documents outlining your steps to launching and growing your startup. This plan acts as a map throughout the entire process, and helps you figure out what to do when you face roadblocks or wrong turns.’

…and now this killer quotation from Brian Tracy of Entrepreneur.com: ‘To succeed as an entrepreneur, you must develop the ability to select and offer the right products or services to your customers in a competitive market. More than any other factor, your ability to make this choice will determine your success or failure.’ And this, of course, is relevant across all businesses.

Hope, Prayers, and wishes do not a robust solution make:?

Mis-alignment of product/solution/service with the marketplace will either require a complete rethink, shoehorning-to-fit, or dramatic retrofitting for marketplace success.

The business may still have a heartbeat but it’s not alive anymore… and in all instances, you haven’t ended up with the ‘next best thing since sliced bread’.

This further leads me – and allows me - to close, with one of my favourite quotes:

“When seeking the truth, be sure to consider evidence that challenges your beliefs. Otherwise, it isn’t the truth you seek, it’s simply confirmation of what you already believe.”- Zero Dean