Marketing Matters: Does Your Company Suffer from a Failure to Thrive?

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” — Henry Ford

“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must we be of learning from experience.” — George Bernard Shaw

The two legends quoted above blazed paths of innovation. They built on their successes and learned from their mistakes along the way. Both embraced two primary ingredients of success — change and chance. Each ingredient is inexorably linked to the other.

Now you. Are you stuck and can’t seem to grow? At the end of each year, do you look forward to next year being the year … year after year? What have you learned this year? What has history taught you? Why do other companies flourish while your company treads water, gaining a little ground one year and losing a bit the next? Somehow, some way, you’ve invariably accepted living in your own status-quo world. Your business survives but just can’t seem to thrive.

Change is difficult and uncomfortable, but it’s also inevitable. You can take control of change and move forward, or let it control you and fall behind. Chance, which involves risk and uncertainty, means exploring possibilities that can lead you out of the status quo and into the land of opportunity. Making changes and taking chances require focused hindsight, truthful insight and a lot of foresight.

When companies call me for help, one of the first things I inquire about is their willingness and readiness to embrace change and chance. As if change and chance aren’t enough to stir the pot of indecision, I also inquire about their willingness to invest in growth. I remind them it takes money to make money. This is where the rubber meets the road. Growth is the result of change, chance and investment. Without the investment of money and time, the implementation of any plan becomes impotent. Small companies stay small because they view change, chance and investment as obstacles and roadblocks rather than challenges to be overcome. Many owners approach retirement looking back, filled with regrets and a pocketful of if-onlys. The fear of failure is the gatekeeper of change, chance and investment. Success lives in the mindset of “I cans” and “I wills.”

Companies that grow annually do so because they’re progressive and learn from history’s lessons, gaining wisdom, insight and vision. If your company suffers from a failure to thrive, you are partly — if not largely — to blame. That’s the cold, hard truth — like it or not. It’s up to you to overcome your fear, take a chance and invest in your future. So, are you an entrepreneur or worker bee? Are you filled with vision or regret?

You can reach Goldglantz, president of Pest Control Marketing Co., at hgpcmcinc@aol.com. His book, Marketing Matters, is available from the PMP bookstore.