October 2015

Plan4It

Plans don’t work out and things happen when you least expect them.

As many of you know, not only do I handle marketing and advertising at B2C Enterprises, I also work as a career firefighter/engineer in Chattanooga, Tennessee. One of the things we do is plan for emergency incidents before they happen, or, in firefighter shorthand, pre-plan.

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We visit all the commercial buildings in our district to see what unique issues the construction, layout, or materials stored might present. We study the houses as we drive down residential roads to see which are better accessed from the back alley. When we visit a home on a medical call, we even note where bedrooms are located in case we have to make a rescue in zero visibility.

Our job requires us to consider the unthinkable and plan for when the “normal” situations change. The same is true in every other job.

Need2Be Uncomfortable

As leaders of our respective businesses, projects, or departments, it doesn’t do us any good to hide our head in the sand and expect our current situations to last forever. Just ask the pay phone repair company.

The Uncomfortable Question must be asked: If this doesn’t work, if the market changes, or the current message isn’t attracting buyers, what do we do? What is our next step?

Don’t be scared off by the discomfort of knowing that your current efforts might be a waste. Take the time to consider possible issues, look at your options, and develop some alternative routes of action.

Embracing the Uncomfortable Question will not only prepare you for when your product stops selling or your database gets hacked, it might also lead to revelations on how to improve and grow your business to the next level right now.

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Dan Bryan is the B2C Enterprises representative covering the southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia market. He can be reached at Dan@b2cEnterprises.com.

B2C Enterprises is an award-winning advertising, marketing, and business development firm. If you'd like to talk about how we can help you with a tough problem, schedule a meeting, call 540.904.1229.