Picture this…
It’s Monday morning and the new product line that you’ve invested countless hours and not a few dollars into launches in three days.
Then, the contractor you hired to cut and stick labels to bottles and jars of your new product (in this real life example, a skin care line), who’s been dragging his feet all along, tells you he can’t do it.
No labels, no launch. What do you do?
True story. That was Patricia Belanger of Boulder, Colorado back in November of 2011.
Stressed out, but not stopped, she and her husband spent the next 48 hours hand cutting hundreds of ovals and other shapes and pasting them onto bottles, and got it done just in time for a very successful launch.
In another true story, with a different twist, John Jonas’s wife was in her third trimester when at a routine exam her doctor ordered her, at risk of her life, to stay in bed and not get out for the next three weeks until after the birth of their third child.
John was now Mr. Mom for their other two kids, a full time job. He told his Filipino team they now had to run his business for him.
Fortunately, they not only ran the company for him, his business made more money during those three weeks than it had ever made before.
So how you deal with “crises” or obstacles determines how quickly and massively you succeed. Sometimes a crisis turns out to be a golden opportunity wrapped in a very ugly looking package.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines crisis as a crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point. The Chinese character for crisis is two symbols joined together – danger and opportunity.
Note in the two stories how leveraging other people was the pivot point. Without leveraging the talents, resources and cooperation of others, including our clients and customers, we go nowhere. With that leverage, there’s no telling what we can do.
I count five types of relationships can leverage for success:
1. Affiliates and “Rev-Share” Partners – People and businesses we synergize with in mutually beneficial arrangements
2. Employees and Outside Contractors – The folks who help us get stuff done
3. Mentors and mastermind partners – Those special few who mentor us, hold us accountable and inspire us to go beyond a “comfortable mediocrity” that we otherwise might slip into
4. Clients – The people we help with our products and services
5. Prospects – Anyone we have been in touch with who has expressed an interest in what we might do for them.
Action Item: What tasks could you let someone else handle to leverage your productivity?
Speaking of important relationships, thank YOU for joining us here on Strategic Marketing Insider!
