Big customer events can bring on many kinds of emotions before they happen:
Excitement
Anxiety
Anticipation
And afterwards those can change to:
Happiness
Pride
and the least favorite,but often played out....Disappointment.
The business world is very familiar with that last one.
Black
Friday. Valentine's Day. Halloween. These are all examples of days of
the year that some retailers spend a great deal of time preparing for in
their store and within the company. Upper management is stressed.
Lower management is stressed. Workers are stressed. And when the day is
over.....the companies that will continue successfully on in business,
whether they had a profitable day or not, will all do the same
thing......
Analyze their data and start preparing for the next big event.
They will NOT:
Threaten to shut the whole operation down and watch a marathon of "Grey's Anatomy" as a staff.
Take everything out of their store and start all over.
And they will not "high five" each other for three months straight and do nothing else...but that.
Because
a big event is just that.....a BIG EVENT. Not a
"Big-Event-That-Will-Destroy-Everything-We-Have-Ever-Done-Or-Will-Do-In-The-Future-Just-Like-That-Giant-Metor-In-The-Movie-Whose-Name-I've-Forgotten
".
They will, however, immediately look at several (if not all) of these:
Products sold
Products not sold
What they advertised
What they did not advertise
Hours of preparation
Amount of traffic
Times of traffic
Types of traffic
Comparison of past similar events
Where they advertised
Where they did not advertise
Amount of return customers
Amount of items per purchase
Analyze their top sellers
Analyze their bottom sellers
Feedback from customers
What competitors did well
What competitors did that did not do well
And
the list goes on and on. Bottom line....the event's outcome, whether
positive or not, shouldn't be a stopping point. Either way, it
COMPLETELY matters what you do AFTER the event.
Did the big event
go well for you? Congratulations! You have obviously been doing some
good things and they are paying off. Feel good about that and use that
as a STARTING point for the next time around. Businesses are
everchanging...morphing...improving...there are always places to do
better which could put you in an even better spot the next time. And
the data analyzing is just as important for you, too.
Was the big event a little disappointing?
This
is often where a lot of businesses give up. They don't look at this as a
chance to improve and learn...but more of an opportunity to bail. And
if you are in this for the long haul, bailing is not an option.
So....Mr
and Ms. Teachers...you've heard this before....get in that data....and
start digging! Analyze. Analyze. Analyze. You're a teacher. You know
how to come up with strategies if one or more doesn't work. You
certainly wouldn't kick a student out of your class permanently or quit
teaching if the students didn't do well on a test. Even the most
stringent standardized testing situations allow for an examination of
data...and a chance at a "do over".
There are very few
businesses (if any) that have been successful at everything, every
event, every single time. I can't even remember the last "Black Friday"
positive report I heard. Certainly, none that stand out.
But the
ones that do continue to succeed over the long run....pick themselves up
and figure new ways to improve. They bend....not break. And you should
be too...
As teachers, we are used to "cheerleading" our students
into "wins". It's what we are good at...what we know...what we feel is a
special skill that we use daily. And even when our students don't
"win"...we still know how to make them feel okay about themselves. And
we find multiple ways to help them win the next time. If you can
motivate children to learn and use gazillions of strategies to
accomplish that....then you can absolutely do the same with your
business.
Remember...you can do ANYTHING...
You are a teacher.
Rebecca G.
Here
are some great articles to read on the topic(ish)....AND even though
they use the word "failure" quite a bit....which I believe is too strong
to use for some "big events" ...the information is still quite useful
in gaining a balanced perspective that still keeps you motivated for the
future.
If you tried, at least take a failure bow! I personally LOVE this one....and will be doing what they say...hehe.
Great way to keep perspective!
Great insights!
This is definitely an innovative company....and they "get it".
