What are you not seeing?

Have you ever hired a consultant or coach who spots an opportunity, or finds an efficiency, and you think “That was SO obvious! Why didn’t I think of that?”

They had a major advantage over you - an outside perspective. They were not bogged down by the millions of details, emotions related to relationships or outcomes, or routines of how you normally do things.

A challenge we all face in business is that we lose perspective because we are too close to our organizations. By necessity, we focus on the daily operations and can lose sight of opportunities to improve.

Taking a step back and asking yourself some questions can help. Ask one question at a time so you can really dive into the answers and then take the next step.

Try these:

1. If I knew nothing about this business, what would I think it does if I used only the website or social media posts for information? 

2. Based on what we say we do, what would a customer expect our offerings or services to be? Are we providing those things?

3. Are we offering something that is unique and enticing? Or could the customer get what they need from several other businesses? Why would they choose us?

4. What needs exist in my customer base or community that no one is meeting? Is this an opportunity to provide a new product or service?

5. What are the key strengths in myself and my team? Are we underutilizing these?

This approach also works to help you identify risks.

Ask yourself:

1. Is every point of interaction a client can have with me updated and well maintained (website, social media, physical location, voicemail message, etc.)?

2. How would my organization run if I or a key employee couldn’t work for several weeks?

3. If someone wanted to take advantage of me or my business, how could they do it?

Do these questions spur any thoughts for you? Are there other questions you would add?

Let me know what you think!

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