Business is a Marathon, not a Sprint
Posted on April 16, 2015 by George Maabadi, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.
A business leader is responsible for establishing the VISION and the FOCUS of the organization. KEEPING A LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE is a critical area.
“It’s not what’s happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it’s your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you’re going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.”-Anthony Robbins
A business leader is responsible for establishing the VISION and the FOCUS of the organization. KEEPING A LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE is a critical focus area.
After cash flow and profits, focus everyone on the fact that you are in business for the long haul. Do not be short-term oriented. Business is a marathon, not a sprint. Do what is right, always. Maintain the highest integrity and ethics. Your reputation is everything. Business is about sustaining lifelong relationships with customers, employees, investors, suppliers, advisers, etc.
Consider the Lifetime Value of your customers. On average, how much profit does a typical customer provide you over the average service life (# of years) of such a customer? For example, if a typical company buys from you several times a year, yielding you a total annual profit of $1,000, and you generally retain such a customer for 5 years, the Lifetime Value for a typical customer is $5,000. Stated another way, every time you attract a new customer and serve them well, odds are that customer will be worth $5,000 to your business over time.
Once you know this number, you and your employees should think twice about upsetting a customer or losing a customer. This Lifetime Value also validates that you should spend money (acquisition cost) to attract new customers. As long as you break-even on acquiring a customer and know with certainty that there is considerable back-end/repeat business, it makes sense to spend money on marketing/selling. Invest a little to make a lot! That’s leverage.
How are you doing keeping yourself and employees focused on keeping a long-term perspective? Never lose sight of the fact that your primary responsibility as a Strategic Business Owner is LEADING!
