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I am always wondering why some people and their businesses fail while others succeed almost effortlessly. A colleague of mine shared a system that he has lived by that looks at business success in a whole new light. Like every great solution the formula is simple but the implications are staggering.

I have to admit I had planned an entirely different article this week but the more I thought about this, the more intrigued I became. However, this really ties in beautifully with the survey we did last week which asks the question, “Why have you been so successful?” Make sure you read the responses– they are quite good. (BTW Thanks for your participation, it is always appreciated!)

http://www.RickSegel.com/newsletter/results.asp

For those of you that know me, understand that I am not a real analytical type of person. So rarely do I use many graphs or charts to deliver my points. However, this is an exception, but it’s just so simple that I couldn’t leave it out.

The three triangles below represent three elements of success:

The first triangle is the element of Knowing what you and/ or your business are good at. Most independent business people are very good at knowing their product. They are experts at what they sell. They generally excel at taking care of their customers, creating an emotional connection with them, and have an experienced group of employees. Big Box Stores rarely claim their expertise in this area. Big Boxes are good at having big selections, easy return policies, and the familiarity of a big company.

The second triangle is the element of knowing What You Love to Do. Just because we are good at something doesn’t mean we want to do it. I am very good at working on the sales floor of a retail store. I can make things happen. But I just don‘t love it as much as I once did, after 25 years on the floor. It just isn’t my passion anymore like it once was. I would rather spend the time writing like I am doing right now. I love to research and write. Add in the benefit of helping people and it has become my passion.

The third triangle is the often over-looked element of “A business’s ability to make money at what they are doing“.  That’s about as basic an element as there is but the amount of people who go into business without any clue on how to make money at their business is scary. I have seen consignment shops that are giving to large a percentage to the consignees and it is literarily impossible to make any money.

As you can see, these three triangles come together to form a core—the core of any business success. I call that the Power Core as shown in the next figure.

One side represents What is your VALUE IN THE MARKET PLACE? What do you do that makes you different, interesting and looked at as a resource?

The next side represents Who are you going to sell what you do to? Not knowing that is or can be the first sign of disaster. What good is building a store in an area that no one is interested in what you sell? We need to know our customers because the right message to the wrong people is foolish.

The Last Core element is simply knowing How are you going to deliver what you sell? Our choices are many. Some businesses offer shop at home services, others just sell on the internet, some businesses provide minimum services or self service while yet others pride themselves in the finest of attention to the customer.

Now it’s time to take action and answer these questions BUT the stores that answer these questions easily are the stores that are generally the most successful. We all need to go through and be able to rattle these answers right off. If not, you need to go back and do some work. I think this concept is almost foolproof.

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