“IF YOU WANT TO PLAY A BIGGER GAME IN YOUR BUSINESS, THEN HIRE A BUSINESS OR MARKETING COACH. IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE GAME IN YOUR INDUSTRY, THEN HIRE A BRAND CONSULTANT.” — RE PEREZ
Today, I posted on our Facebook page this image because I have been hearing numerous people talking about how important it is to “play a bigger game in your business.” The message is getting a little old, or rather cliche. For many entrepreneurs, playing a bigger game is NOT the solution, Particularly in saturated industries or highly competitive industries. The solution is to be a GAME-CHANGER in the industry.
HERE ARE SOME TIPS ON HOW TO CHANGE THE GAME!1. Get inspiration from brands that are NOT within your category.
If you’re looking to differentiate yourself from your competitors, you might want to look at other industries to get new ideas that you can bring into your industry or the category of your business. For example, what would happen IF:
….you modeled after Luxury Hotel Brands for your coaching business?
… you modeled after resorts/spas for your consulting business?
… you modeled after your favorite airline for your real estate, insurance or other type of professional services business?
… you modeled after celebrity musicians if you were a professional speaker or presenter?
2. Do what your competitors are NOT doing.
Instead of following the same patterns of everyone else, try to simply NOT do what they’re doing. Be innovative. Be creative. Brainstorm with your colleagues about your “blue-sky” ideas and see if you can create new, fun, and inspiring products or services. Keep in mind that you will want to gather feedback from your clients to see that your products or services are what they need/want. You may also want to do a “pilot test” of new products or services to ensure they can be monetized.
3. Change the rules or the change the players.
Okay, you may not always need to change the game for the sake of it. However, you can still be a “game-changer” if you do one of two things in your industry:
- Redefine the rules of the game. I realize, this one might be a little trickier, because it does require some thinking. It requires that you actually know what are the current rules of the game (if you don’t know what the rules are then that’s a separate blog post). For now, let’s just say that you know the rules. Re-write them.
- Change the players in your game. This one could be interpreted in two ways. You could either change the players on your team or staff. You may want to reconsider the people who are helping you run or manage your business and determine if they are still a fit for where your business is going (not necessarily where it has been or where it’s at now). Further, you may need to up-level the qualifications or experience. However, if you’re perfectly happy with the people you hired, then you might want to change who the players (the “competitors”) that you’re competing with.
This is just the beginning of a conversation about being a “game-changer” as an entrepreneur.
