2020 Vision for Your Business

Do you remember all the fuss about how businesses were going to be affected when the smoking ban came in? And of course, businesses were affected – some negatively, some positively. Ultimately though the move was a sensible one for the health of everybody whether you individually liked it or not.

Now the Scottish parliament is looking at drastic ways to cut alcohol abuse. There’s already uproar amongst retailers about how it will affect business but if it becomes law then I’d imagine that the laws will eventually become statute all across the UK and may well influence the tightening of alcohol laws internationally because western society has an increasing issue with alcohol.

Then there’s the car industry, an industry that’s been churning out massively under-efficient products for years. It’s been fighting change rather than embracing it (for its short-term good rather than everybody’s long term good), and is now faced with the ‘perfect storm’ of unacceptance and recession. Given that the ‘green issue’ has been on the world’s radar for at least the best part of a quarter of a century it’s entirely feasible that the industry could have avoided this whilst making the world a better place.

We also live in a world where lending, health, drugs, family, stress, pollution, education, welfare state, pensions and so many other issues need serious political and social intervention because our current systems are outdated, irrelevant, expensive or socially unacceptable. And we need to address this in a world which is going to spend years in debt. Over the next ten years our political leaders are going to have to make some very radical decisions and changes. Decisions that can no longer be avoided or introduced softly.

But this tune isn’t about politics.

The point to take away is that the world is about to go through a decade of change like we’ve never seen before. You might think you’re used to fast-paced change, but the handle’s about to get cranked. Big time. The world’s going be a very, very different place by 2020 and it’s not just our political leaders that will need to make tough and sometimes thankless decisions. As business leaders we need to be looking at how we can position our businesses – in terms of revenue and recruitment – to take advantage of changes that will be sweeping and all but instant.

Resistance will be futile. You'll just go up in smoke.

When Should Becomes Must

It’s that time of year again when people are asking what the coming year has in store.

For many businesses next year will be a year when ‘should’ becomes ‘must’. All the things you know you should have done this year but haven’t got round to, your business must embrace next year. Because 2009 won’t be very forgiving for those who don’t. We simply have to maximise the manifold opportunities that are out there.


I’m sure you already know that….


* You should learn about the importance of building and keeping good customer relationships

* You should get good at relationship-based email marketing

* You should become good at demonstrating your expertise

* You should properly embrace the power of the internet / blogging / social media

* Big companies should learn to react like smaller companies can

* You should check your overheads on a regular basis

* You should find the time to congratulate your top people

* You should get rid of deadwood

* You should get really good at managing your staff’s time

* You should make internal & external communications as clear as possible

* Sales teams should become better at using their time

* Sales people should be either sharpened up or shipped out

* You should add new marketing strategies

* You should continually be improving your sales processes

* You should have a proper system for lead management

* Marketing strategies should be continually tested and measured

* You should realise it will never quite be the same as it was before

* You should ensure that everything you do or invest in is adding value

* You should always value your loyal customers more than anything else


…..but next year a big gap will open up between those who take action and those who don’t. Big companies must stop deliberating around the board table and be decisive. Small companies must leverage their power to make quick decisions. All must realise that the new territory is going to feel very strange at first.

Oh, and by the way, you really should put all of this into a plan.