Page 96 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

TRY A FEW UNUSUAL IDEAS

that it had been turned around. If only I had made the
changes six months earlier (or perhaps not had partners).

Why did my business advisor’s strange recommenda-
tions work? Because he looked at the dive shop as a
business, not as a dive shop. The suggestions he made were
to fix up an ailing retail business, not an ailing dive shop.
In short, he used his experience from all other industries
to offer remedies to fix mine.

As a marketing consultant I always find it very easy to
offer advice for ailing businesses because their problems are
so clear to me. For the people that own these businesses,
their days are spent balancing staff, customers, bank
accounts, the kids and everything else. It is very difficult
to be able to look objectively at what you are doing when
you are in the middle of this madness. Hence it is some-
times easier to look at other businesses outside your own
industry to see what they are doing and, most importantly,
what they are doing well. Look for ideas that you can use
and then adapt them to suit your business regardless of
whether it is the industry norm. These ideas are not
restricted to marketing ideas and they cover anything from
the way you answer the phone to the way you serve
customers.

By the way, I never saw Mr Red Porsche again and I
never had the opportunity to thank him. If by some chance
he is reading this I hope it brings a smile to his face.

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