What Do You Want Your Business To Be When It Grows Up?

BroadMoar Partners helps businesses become exceptional. Every week, our consultants speak with hundreds of business owners and ask these three questions: “What,” “Why,” and “Where.” ”What business are you in?", “Why did you start your business?” and "Where do you want to see your business in the future?”?Through the discussion of these questions, we learn the story of "WHY" they started their business and “Where” they intend to proceed with their business. You always need to have a “Why,”?and “Where” they want to be and it’s our business to help them with the "How."

Consider the first question. It seems like a benign question, but I ask this question to business owners because it is all about provoking thought. “What business are you in?” Surprisingly some people do not know what business they are in. It is imperative to understand the business you are in before you can move forward.

Steve Jobs, my CEO at Apple, taught me the importance of this first question. Most people would answer that Apple is in the personal computer business if you asked that question. Steve responded that Apple is NOT in the personal computer business, but instead, Apple’s business is about creating a better customer or user experience.?Another great example is Disney. You see Disney is not just an amusement park or movie studio, or a media company or business about Mickey Mouse – Disney is the business of Making Dreams Come True!

This is why I created BroadMoar’s "REACTION MARKETING" method. This is not marketing by reaction, but creating awesome reactions using your marketing. You see we live and die based on the words we use. Before starting BroadMoar I worked for and studied many iconic companies including Apple, Disney, Coca-Cola, Nordstrom, and The Ritz Carlton.?These iconic companies’ marketing plans leave nothing to chance; all marketing touchpoints are deliberate and intentional.

"WHY" is the second question. Why did you start your business? Did you have a plan? Was there a compelling reason to start your business? In other words, were you?fulfilling a need?in the market or did you create a product or have a service that no one else offered? That is your story and to be more successful, your “Why.”?Your “Why” should be your compelling message and the center point of your brand and marketing message.?

Now, we need to know the answer to the third question, "Where do you want to see your business in the future?” Well, that is a much more difficult question to answer than you would think. Of the thousands of business owners we speak to annually, only a few have a clear answer and most others seem to have a lack of vision or no plan. Unfortunately, most businesses fail in the first two years due to poor planning. I know this first-hand. When I worked at Apple Computer I met with software startups, Vars, ISV, and resellers. It was clear to me after a short time who was going to succeed and who was not. This pattern is strongly related to the effort and thought behind the marketing and planning of their business. This is where the business owners find the driving force in growing their business.

When running your business you have two choices: be mediocre or build a model that differentiates you from every other business in your industry. Look at an iconic company like Disney. When Walt Disney planned his first theme park, Disneyland opened in 1955, do you think he said let's create an amusement park with some rides or did he have a vision? The answer to that question is pretty clear.?I have studied Disney for years, even worked there for 3 seasons, and every single detail is planned, from the ticket booth to the shops and attractions, nothing is left to chance. Walt had a vision to build and grow his business and it has been one of America’s top business stories.

What’s your vision for your business? BroadMoar helps businesses develop their vision and create a strategic marketing blueprint on “How” to get there.

One of the most critical things in working on your “How” is having a proactive business plan, strategic marketing blueprint, and financial plan that is kept up-to-date quarterly, if not monthly.?What this means is, that as things change in your business and your business grows, you should update your business, marketing, and financial plans accordingly. Doing this keeps you on track to reach and extend your goals and objectives.

An exemplary example of this is Roy, a plumber BroadMoar worked with back in 2009.?Roy wanted to dominate the plumbing marketplace where he lived.?His clear vision of going from one service truck to 30 in 5 years was his driving force or motivation. When we first met Roy, he already had a clear vision of “Where” he wanted his business to grow. We worked on his “How” for 4 months developing his brand, company message and most of all, the strategic marketing blueprint. If you’re not familiar with a strategic marketing blueprint, it is the roadmap for the business’s overall goals, strategies, objectives, and tactics. We helped Roy fulfill his dream of increasing his business thirty times from where he started only 30 months earlier. This was half the initial goal of 5 years.?During the 4 months BroadMoar worked with Roy, he learned the process of how, and the importance of why, to work ON his business instead of IN the business. Being able to tell the difference between these positions is a common mindset challenge for most owners. When we first met Roy he told us he wanted to be the best-in-class plumbing company in his market and BroadMoar helped him with “how” to get there. He actively maintained his business, marketing, and financial plans and his next step was looking to conquer other nearby markets by following the model we helped him create.

So, what business are you in??You should be in the business of creating awesome reactions, the type of business that your prospects become customers and your staff will fall on the sword for you.?Our consultants work with thousands of business owners and we find it very disconcerting that many business owners are content being mediocre.

We find many business owners have not created any business plan much less a marketing plan. This is critical to understanding and growing their business, products, and customers.?I have asked myself why businesses are content with being mediocre. I believe that most stay that way for fear of failure or believing they lack the funds to grow the business. Most don’t realize there are low-cost and possibly no-cost options to get started, but not making any changes because of fear of failure is failure itself.?

Do you want to control your market and be EXTRAORDINARY or be another mediocre business that creates no excitement? BroadMoar would love to hear your story.

I’m BobbyGrant?- That’s What I Do!

Email today: [email protected]