Gravity: A Big Conspiracy?

You might recognise that sexy stud in the photo just here as Infamous Isaac from the tavern. The one all the girls loved. You know Isaac who dressed up as a hotdog for St. Paddy’s day that year? No? Okay maybe you know it’s Isaac Newton, who as a result of receiving a “bonk” on the head from an apple falling out of a tree, decided that Gravity existed. Makes you wonder what would he would have discovered if it’d been a bag of Haribo?

This Has Nothing To Do With Gravity

Since then, and because we’re all brainwashed at school, we’ve assumed that Newton’s famous Gravity is the reason we all stick tot he earth. the idea of the world spinning to create its own gravitational pull toward its core, yadayada…we just nod and think “yep, thats it”. I’m guessing that (unless you’re a physicist) you have probably not even given a thought to whether it’s even true. You just go about your life and ‘Gravity’ does it’s thing.

Gravity is the norm. Its what we accept. In fact it’s such a ‘norm’ that we don’t even question it. Talking to 3 separate consulting clients about their marketing and communications this week I realised that many of their processes and systems are their own equivalent to gravity.

“That’s the way we do things” is the reply that comes when I ask WHY. Which is subtle compared to the facial expression that bounces back over the table when I ask “yeah, but why?”.

The people who succeed are those who stand out. If your market place doesn’t know about you, you don’t get the work. They get to know you by having their attention brought to you. So if you continue making these mass market assumptions you’ll just fit in with the rest of the folks in your industry.

To get around this and start the creative process of “Why Am I Different” or the deliciously overused “What is my USP?”, in my seminars I have people go through a process. I thought I’d share this process with you today:

1. Write down ALL of the market norms for every department in your industry. Include everything from purchasing, to delivery, to pricing, quotations and finance. Write each one on a separate index card.

2. Take the index cards and on the back of each of the “Norms” write down alternatives. For example, in the speaking and entertainment industry it is common to get paid at the end of your speech or presentation. However that creates crappy cashflow. So on the back of the “Get paid on the day” card, I’d write Upfront Payment.

Now you’ve got a bunch of things you can change about your business, pick 5 of them and commit to implementing them over the next few months. Once they’re integrated, measure the impact it’s having on your business. Then take another 5 and continue through, making changes, testing things. If some things don’t work well, change back. It’s about forcing creativity.