{"id":3532,"date":"2018-08-16T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T17:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/?p=3532"},"modified":"2018-08-11T11:02:25","modified_gmt":"2018-08-11T18:02:25","slug":"catch-up-to-your-market-or-be-lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/?p=3532","title":{"rendered":"Catch up to your market or be lost!"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Markets and competitors change. Are you being left behind? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Over the years, I have often heard the complaint from CEO friends that they have become so swamped by the demands of their growing businesses that they feel themselves further and further from the center of their industry, no longer at the forefront of information and competitive development.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The risk of the daily routine<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It is a real risk for the successful entrepreneur that the daily demands of business make it \"\"more and more difficult to know the pulse of the industry, which becomes more and more risky as decisions are made and resources allocated to projects or products that may no longer be as attractive as before.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Big bets on old business plans<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

During the past several years, some very big bets have been made by large companies and well-healed entrepreneurs in old media, newspapers and TV stations.\u00a0 Although newspapers have a window in which to reinvent themselves by providing electronic delivery and TV the same by recasting into more niche markets through division of digital channels into niche-serving slices, I doubt that these bets will prove profitable in the end, because of the overwhelming availability of free media using the web.\u00a0 Were these companies and entrepreneurs out to a long lunch during the media transformation? Or do they know something all of us commoners do not?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How can you do something about it?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

First, speak to your customers often. What has changed in their business behavior over the past several years? \u00a0How will that affect you? \u00a0Can you develop a product or service to meet these new expectations?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[Email readers, continue here…]<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>Second, attend the right industry trade show. \u00a0Yes, I know. You\u2019ve done this so many times that there seems little to gain. \u00a0But next time try this. \u00a0When the exhibit hall is open, walk to the back and sides, where new exhibitors, \"\"young companies, small entrants find themselves. \u00a0See what new ideas they have that are unaffected by the norms of bigger competitors. \u00a0(As an early stage investor, this is the first place I head during a trade show.) \u00a0Then, attend a few of the most interesting sessions to find what\u2019s new. \u00a0You\u2019ll be refreshed and perhaps surprised.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Don\u2019t let yourself become stale<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Above all, don\u2019t allow yourself to be comfortable in your daily routine at your desk, heads down in operational issues. \u00a0Look up for customer needs that change. Look out for other companies just starting to bite into your niche. Look away long enough to consider strategy rather than comfortable and normal operations. \u00a0\u00a0Be ahead, not behind your industry thought leaders as they begin to execute their plans.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Markets and competitors change. Are you being left behind? Over the years, I have often heard the complaint from CEO friends that they have become so swamped by the demands of their growing businesses that they feel themselves further and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-growth","category-positioning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}