To win in a market that is worth it, you need to sell the best possible products and services. You have to sell solutions that create value for your customers and success for you. Your focus must be on creating the best possible offerings now. The secret is simple. On one hand, you can win by making life better. This means that you sell a maximizer. On the other hand, you can win by making life easier. This means that you sell a minimizer.
No matter what you sell, who you sell it to or where you sell it, the fact is that change is inevitable. You will experience change and there is nothing you can do about it. Change is the constant that drives the success of all your offerings. However, there are three key ways that change is changing. First, the cycles of change are getting shorter. Second, change is more unpredictable. Third, change is more frequent. To focus on what matters, you need a logic that lets you adapt to change and cut through the fog. You need a way to prioritize what matters and ignore what doesn’t. This is why you need the logic of focus.
The basis of winning in a way that is viable is straightforward. You must sell products and services that are different. Any other route to selling that brings you success is just luck. It’s a logic that applies to all markets. This means your offerings need to bring something to the market that is different in a way that matters most to your customers. Mimicry is a path to failure. You must stand out from the pack or you will lose. It’s just a matter of time.
Nothing matters more than the products or services that you sell. This means that selling the best possible offerings is your path to success. It is the only way for you to win, the rest is just luck. Customers pay for your offerings and not your company. They see you through the lens of your offerings. This means that there must be alignment between both what you sell and your customers. The fact is, if you want to succeed you need to build your company around your offerings. You must focus on the things that matter the most.
Maybe the biggest myth in business is that there is some formula for success. The fact is that quite often you can do what you know is the right thing and you will still fail. Business is a gamble. When it comes to winning in business, it takes what it takes. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and that’s just the nature of the game. You must adapt to survive and thrive in a world that is constantly changing. That said, every successful company has one common trait. It’s that at one time they focused on having the best possible offering.
Confusion is the enemy of success and clarity is the way. What this means is that you can’t trust what you are doing if you don’t clearly understand the context. In other words, you must have clarity to win or any success that you have is just luck. To have clarity two things must be in place. First, there needs to be coherence. Things need to make sense to you. Second, there needs to be consensus. You and the other people that matter need to have a shared understanding. Anything you can’t share with others you don’t really know.
Each of your offerings makes promises. These promises define both how your offerings will create value and how they won’t. The secret of the most successful offerings is that they focus on the one promise that matters the most. On one hand, the less that you promise the more likely you will keep it. Focus is the path to success. On the other hand, the more that you promise the more likely you won’t keep it. Confusion leads to failure.
Offerings are the way your company creates value. This value is the result of three key things. First, your offerings make promises to customers. Some of these promises matter and some don’t. Second, your customers need to pay you for the promises that matter. At the end of the day, you need to succeed from what you sell. Third, your offerings need to keep their promises to your customers. There must be a transparent win-win exchange.
The success of your organization depends on the products or services that you sell. This means that having the best possible offering is the way you succeed. Success is all about your expectations and there are three pieces to the puzzle. First, you need to have viability. This means that your offering survives or thrives in the way you want things to work out. Second, you need to have aesthetics. This means that you like your offering. Third, you need to have ethics. This means that you believe your offering is the right thing to do.
The products or services that you sell are the bridge between you and your customers. This means your offerings are the way that you create value. The way that you create value has three main parts. First and foremost, your offering makes promises to create value for your customers. Second of all, you know that your offering creates value when your customers will pay you for it. Third, to succeed your offering must keep its promises. To sum it all up, both you and your customers need to win with each sale that you make.
