from the book "NO EXCUSE! in business"
Many minutes passed by silently between me and John and I started to watch his emotions. I felt that he is in trouble and he has something, which will come out soon. I was perfectly sure that he understands that handling the excuses is among the most important key issues in business, but there is much more to do. I was also aware that people who are out of their business stability are way more careful to change.
Based on many years of experience I decided to wait until he comes up with the things, which are really bothering him. Fortunately he was very fast.
- There is one thing which bugs me - he started.
- Tell me. Let’s hear it.
- We are in a crisis. - he looked at me, then he continued soon. - Okay, we are in the after effect of the crisis, but my clients still feel it.
- You know in China the word “crisis” is written with two symbols.
- I did not know that. Is it relevant? - asked John.
- Yes. - I replied quickly. - The first symbol means “crucial” and the second symbol means “opportunity”. So in China the word crisis contains the “crucial” or the “opportunity” symbol as well.
- Okay, I know it, the decision is mine. The angle of incidence of the Sun, right. - John started very sarcastically - However it is not easy. The crisis is usually crucial.
- The decision is always yours! - I replied to him in a little bit louder way, I wanted him to realize that he is dropping an excuse on me regarding non-performance.
The one thing what I really hated in business is non-performance. Many people are lazy to do their homework or are simply just not ready to look around and to challenge their situations. However I have to admit that more than thirteen years ago I was the same too. I started to gain knowledge from the books, but when something happened which was not written in the books I started to panic. After many years life crossed my roads with Dodo Newman, the Inspirationaliste and she taught me one very important thing, which was to not give up our beliefs in a positive solution. She taught me to keep up and to continuously believe in my aims. Most of us are ready to give up the fight without even realizing that maybe we are already in the finish line. Thanks to Dodo I realized that I can always challenge the existing because we are able to improve things, to innovate. Since then I also know and this became my philosophy, that if you try something you never lose, however you immediately lose when you give it up. So I was ready to pick up my pen again and to draw a new thing for John.
- You can do the same old methods hoping to survive or you can take the opportunity and challenge your market. - I started.
- It is easy to say.
- No, it is not. What is easy is to wait. - I replied back to John - Have you ever read books from Dr. Spencer Johnson?
- Spencer who? - John asked back.
- Dr. Spencer Johnson. He wrote a great book called “Who moved my cheese?”.
- What? - John had no idea what I meant.
- It is a book about four little mice. They are all looking for the cheese in a maze in a very changing and challenging time. The cheese represents their survival, cheese being a metaphor for what we want to have in life. - I smiled back to John.
- I am in a maze too. Ha-ha.
- You have to read the book because it is one of my favorite and it ‘s message is perfectly clear about one thing, the why and the when you should start to change.
- And does it help in crisis?
- Yes, because crisis could be your biggest potential my friend!
John started to see me as a very weird creature because he continuously measured my face and emotions. So I turned the other side of the tea-cloth and I started to draw on it a new picture for him. I created five buildings for John. All the buildings were different in size and width.

- New York? I was there! - John said.
- Nope. It is another place were you are now. - I winked with my eyes at John. - It is your business and your competitors.
- I wish I would have only four competitors. - he laughed.
- Four is good enough for today.
- Go on. - he gave me the sign that he is ready to listen to what I am aiming to tell him.
- Most of the companies are fighting for new clients during ideal business climates. There are always new clients no matter how is the economic climate is. There are not so many new clients during bad economic periods but you can still always find some.
So I drew a few “NC” combination of letters around the buildings, standing for the New Clients.
- However the biggest problem is that it is very hard to target the new clients in changing economic situations.
- That’s it! Finally you agree with me. - John said happily.
- Wait my friend, just wait. - I calmed him down, however by now John sat back on his chair and he seemed extremely satisfied.
- Go on, go on.
- So when the economic situation is changing, let’s say you are facing an after effect of a crisis, corporates start to cut back their marketing budget. They are doing this because they realize the truth that targeting those new clients is becoming very tricky and often ineffective. Therefore budget cutting makes sense for them.
- Yes. This is what I am doing too. - John agreed with me.
- Yes, but this is why you are struggling.
- Or surviving.
- John, my friend, you are hoping to survive just as all the companies who are following this strategy. However relying only on hope makes a very weak chance for you. Let me tell you why.
- I am sitting here with open ears.
- Okay. When companies are cutting back their marketing budget they act according to the Law of attraction. They will start to loose clients.
- No, they loose clients because of the crisis.
- If you want you can see it from this point of view, but that means you are influenced by the crisis and you are just going with the flow.
I saw on John’s face that he wants to disagree but I gave him no time for this so I continued immediately.
- Let’s put it in this way. In crisis you are loosing clients, which forces your company to cut back the budget to avoid further instability. Is this right?
- Right. I like it this way.
- Okay. The problem with instability is that your whole environment feels it. Not to mention that companies who lost clients between fifteen or twenty percent can be very insecure or even they can go bankrupt. And what does this mean?
I started to extend my draw again and John listened and watched very carefully. So I drew the twenty percent margin lines. I also drew the “LC” signs, which stood for the Lost Clients and under the margin line I drew the “C” signs, which represented the Clients.

- Okay. These are the twenty percent lines where the instability starts. Of course this can be more or less depending on the size and the reserve of the company.
- Got it.
- As you can see there are plenty of Lost Clients in the twenty percent margin. We usually never target them, because it requires too much effort to get them under our umbrella. Not to mention that many of the lost clients have no more funds to restart properly or even if they have they will cause much more extra work.
- Why? They are free clients on the market.
- No they are lost clients on the market.
- Without supplier.
- Without trust and probably without the necessary amount to restart. Trust me they need much more effort and investments.
- So what would you do? - John asked.
- I would target the Clients who stayed, the “C”-s.
I saw on John’s face that he is very surprised and I started to feel that he is looking at me as a fool. So I drew a little “P” letter in front of all the “C”-s so we get the combination of letters “PC”, which represent now the Prospective Clients.

- Look, in crisis people are looking for different values than before. Price and marketing blah-blah are becoming a lower priority. In these times the clients are looking for stability, trust and long term solutions. Therefore the market needs are changing.
- Indeed.
- So if you target your new clients in the same old way, you will realize that you are doing the same old strategy and you will receive much less result. And this is your fault because you let yourself being effected by the outside factors without thinking outside the box and challenging the existing potentials.
- So you would target the competitors?
- Yes. I would target all the clients who already invested into your competitors. I would offer them the same product for the same price or even higher.
- Higher? Then why the hell would they change to us for a higher price?
- Because in crisis clients seek stability in the first place. Price becomes the third or much lower priority. If you are able to offer stability, security and you can gain their trust then you have a whole new market. And believe it or not they will be happy to change companies if you can convince them regarding the security and the added values from your side. This is why smart companies are able to grow even ten times more than any others during troubled economic times. Crisis always brings a new market.
- Says the Revenue Specialist. - John started to laugh.
- I feel that you do not trust in this.
- I trust this I just never thought about this before. Especially not from this point of view.
Thinking outside the box my friend. Thinking outside the box. You know amateurs are trying to push and force their corporate messages meanwhile professionals are realizing the market gap, selecting the prospective clients and targeting them. If you are going with the average you will receive the same result than the average. However if you are ready to challenge the existing economic situations then you have the possibility to grow.
- I agree. - John acknowledged.
- Then you can also agree with my previous thought that in crisis you never cut back your marketing budget because it is your tool to communicate with the prospective clients. You just reorganize your focus and you definitely send out the message that you are not effected by the crisis, you are there and your stability is hard as a rock.
- It is definitely a new perspective. Thanks.
- You are welcome.
I saw that John is very satisfied and he is already thinking about his next steps tomorrow. But I knew him very well so I could not stand to ask him what else bothers him.
