>> “Nothing fails like success”
You can lay odds that the minute you become successful you start getting smug.
I speak from shameful experience.
In the late 60s I was making piles of money with my partner.
I became arrogant, careless and stupid… and I paid the price.
This was despite my accountant’s good advice.
He told me to make sure all our enterprises – there were a few – had a separate company.
I ignored him.
The result was when a Sunday newspaper libelled one (based on a rigged test) we lost everything.
I went broke – needlessly
I had just leased 100 New Bond Street which alone would have kept me in money for a few years without having to work at all.
But I lost that lease and everything else – and learnt a valuable lesson.
(Though if I’d carried on being successful I’d probably have drunk myself to death years ago).
The minute you become successful- as an individual or organisation – you might be heading for trouble.
It may take a time, but the signs are always there.
One was referred to when I was at school as the first sign of madness – talking to yourself.
This morning I got a big package from my health care provider.
They used to be called Private Patients Plan.
Then to become trendy they became PPP, before being absorbed by the bloated giant AXA (Once more informatively called the London Association for Hospital Services.)
Now they have renamed the whole caboodle AXA Health.
The other day they sent my annual mailing about next year’s rates and so on. Inside was a little leaflet telling why they’ve changed their name.
What these fat firms get wrong
I don’t suppose it has occurred to anyone there that patients don’t give a flying f*ck what they call themselves
That’s because like almost all large organisations they look inward, not outward towards the people who pay their wages .
All we want to know is:.
1. How much am I paying this year?
2. What does it cover?
3. Have they wriggled out of any previous commitments?
I’ve been a customer for 10 years and never benefited from a single service included – they even charge me for my annual health check.
You must always see things from your customers’ point of view.
The bigger and more successful firms get, the more they love to talk about themselves.
I was reminded of this when the agency I thrived with – whose founder I loved – announced they were doing research into changing the look of the word Ogilvy in their logo.
Minor changes, thousands of $$$ invested on something no client gives a hoot about. Not one penny more will be made as a result.
What customers care about
People don’t give a hoot about your slogan or your logo or your fancy office.
They only care about what what you’re doing for them.
Are you really doing it for them? Or for your own internal reasons? Are you doing it well? How much are you charging? Do you offer the best service or product?
That’s all.
I’m amazed at how many firms lose sight of that.
How many start their websites with the word “we” rather than “you” – the person your prospects and customers care about.
All the work we do for you starts with you, ends with you, talks about what you offer and makes you more profit.
Once we’ve taken you on and believe in what you’re selling we offer a guarantee.
Do you believe in what you’re selling? Or are you sometimes lured into talking to yourself?
The onlooker sees most of the game.
Would you like a review of what you’re doing, right or wrong?
Best,
Drayton
