Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Two Opposite Extremes That Can Kill Your Business
More and more lately, I've noticed two deadly extremes in thinking that we need to overcome as business owners. Most of us have two approaches to life: a "do-it-myself" mentality, or a "let-someone-do-it-for-me" mentality.

Although they are polar opposites, both of them deposit business owners in the same place: isolation and ineffectiveness. Both of them offer the illusion that we can find safety and security by simply ignoring our need to interact with those unpredictable and sometimes frustrating other people who make up the rest of the human race.

How do these mindsets hurt us? A "do-it-myself" mentality leads us not to look at customers' needs. It looks no farther than oneself for all business decisions. Rather than building relationships with customers, a "do-it-myself" business owner downplays the input that comes only from building those relationships.

Not sure what customers want to buy? The "do-it-myself" business owner will rely on what seems logical to him rather than reaching out to learn what those customers really want.

Not sure how to get customers to come to the business? The "do-it-myself" business owner will trust that the answer lies in some traffic-generating idea he found in some article online.

Although the "let-someone-do-it-for-me" mentality is completely opposite from the "do-it-myself" mentality, it's just as insulated.

A business owner with the "let-someone-do-it-for-me" mentality sits back and expects everything to work out to his benefit all on its own. Customers are "supposed" to find such a business owner's site. Visitors are "supposed" to buy. Why? Because, in such a business owner's mind, that's just the way it's "supposed" to work.

Waiting for customers to do what they're "supposed" to do is just as deadly as the "do-it-myself" mentality is. Both attitudes isolate the business owner from the very people who are essential to business success.

So what's the answer to building a successful business? It lies in the middle. You can't look to yourself for all the answers in your business. But neither can you count on your customers doing what you want of them simply because... well, it's what they're "supposed" to do.

You need to build relationships with them. You need to interact with them. You need to understand what they're looking for and why they're looking for it. You need to walk alongside them to make your business work.

Get to know them. Treasure your contacts with them. They're the lifeblood of your business.
Jeff

Labels: building relationships, mindset, successful business