QUOTATION 7

JEFF BOZOS ON TWO WAYS TO EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS

WHAT TO DO

• Any decision about expanding your current operation is, by nature, a strategic decision that will require planning. Therefore, review the contents of section 8 and select the information that will be most useful to you in your unique situation.
• Recognise that what Jeff Bozos offers is not a binary choice. You can combine aspects of both. In the early days of a business you may be so busy that there is no time for you or your staff to learn new skills. This means that growth will have to be a product of your existing skills.
• Use early expansion efforts as an opportunity to hone the organisation’s existing skills. Look for ways to build on and improve what you currently do. Learn from the mistakes you made during the early days of the business: for example, overtrading. And don’t repeat them (see Quotation 5).
• If you decide to base your expansion on what the customers want, then start by confirming what they want. This is so obvious that many organisations fail to do it. Even when you ask people directly what they want, there is often a gap between what they say and what they actually want. There is also the issue that people don’t know what they want until they see it. For example, there was no great clamour for portable personal stereos until Akio Morita invented the Sony Walkman. Is it any wonder that so many organisations end up providing goods and services that they think customers want rather than what customers actually want?
• To find out what people really, really want will require a mixture of professional market research and information already held in your organisation by front-line staff. Sales reps and other staff who deal with customers on a daily basis have a vast fund of knowledge about what customers want, like and dislike. Bring these people together in small focus groups and ask them open-ended questions which will allow discussion and debate. The data collected will be far richer than most market surveys provide, but will require careful analysis.
• Once you’ve established what your customers want, undertake a training needs analysis for each member of staff. Start by recording what skills each person has and their level of proficiency. Compare this to the skills and knowledge that that are required to successfully implement the expansion plan. The difference between the two is the skills gap that you need to close through training and development.

QUESTIONS TO ASK

• When was the last time that I attended a training session, even with my staff?
• Do I see training and development as an investment in the organisation’s future or a cost?