This plethora of ideas eventually boils down to plans and goals. You have to do some trimming of your idea tree or you'll overextend yourself. Overextension generally leads to nothing getting done which leaves you frustrated. It is crucial that you not only limit your new ideas, but that you choose wisely to maximize the benefit of your new ideas for you and your guests. Before you "boiled down" this year, I caution you to avoid the trap of "more of the same."
Seeking comfort. We each seek comfort, consciously and unconsciously, as we live our lives. If we start in advance, we can plan for comfort and find comfort in planning. If you do not plan in advance, we will seek comfort along the way. Unconsciously seeking comfort is a quagmire to our success.
For instance, if you have not planned time for rest throughout your season, you will seek comfort for yourself through coffee, excess 'errands', being late, etc. If you have not planned time for your projects, you will seek comfort by simply dropping projects half-done or completing everything in a hurry, just to say you are done, but they aren't done right. If you haven't planned enough money for your projects, you'll seek comfort by cheating with less desirable materials - you won't "lose face" because they aren't done, BUT you'll not be happy with the results or they won't last.
Be honest. You know who lies to us the most? Who is the worst at keeping his word? Who bends the facts? Tells the most bold untruths to us? Withholds information purposely to his own ends? Denies to our faces what is right? You do. You do it to yourself more than anyone else in the world ever will or ever could. When I recommend honesty, its from you to you.
The winter's world of possibilities must be tempered with honesty, because spring and summer will hammer all your goals, plans and dreams with the brutal hammer of reality exposing your self-told truths and lies.
More of the same. So, how do you maximize the value of your ideas, goals and plans without going overboard? One key way is to avoid "More of the Same." Any idea, profit center, tour program, marketing strategy you have is likely to fall victim to More of the Same.
Here's what "More of the Same" sounds like inside your head or in your staff meeting:
1. "Our preschool apple tour program was a real success last year. This year, I'd like to implement a preschool pumpkin tour, preschool veggie patch tour, and a preschool cornfield tour. That will give those teachers who love us more options for this year."
2. "We are the Fun Park of Mazes, so this year we need to add a 2nd corn maze, a hedge maze, and another labyrinth."
3. "We did so well in our market with the fried apple pies last year, it's really what people want. This year we need to add fried blueberry, blackberry, peach, and lingonberry fried pies and we'll quadruple sales."
4. "Last year your spent $5,000 with our station and were very successful, this year, spend $10,000 and be more successful-er!"
Can you start to spot more of the same? Can you spy how easy it sounds? How safe it looks? How it's going to be a lot of work? How it's not really going to add that much revenue?
Let's blow each of the examples apart, exposing More of the Same:
1. More tour options doesn't increase business, it increases busy-ness. Your bookers now have to keep three options straight and you have to create them! More tour options doesn't attract business, marketing does.
2. At over 25 attractions, the value for the ticket is there, what is not there are real bathrooms. That's what people want more than another 4 maze attractions. (This one sounds personal doesn't it? Oh, I fight this stuff too!)
3. Adding all those different fried pies won't increase sales much, increasing traffic increases sales. It will increase inventory, waste, production costs, and employees training time. Sell the ONE DAMN PIE and make some money.
4. EVERY sales rep will tell you this and (surprisingly) they are right! They are right up until you reach critical mass for that media outlet. Once you're hitting every listener in that radio's market 5-10 times during your marketing window, you're done. Move on.
Sample solutions that avoid More of the Same:
1. Instead of working on your preschool tours, upgrade your corn maze so you can host middle school tours or shift those same dollars into marketing preschool tours, instead of making new ones.
2. Adding infrastructure is NOT sexy, but for some reason 9 out of 10 butts prefer porcelain.
3. Increasing the speed with which you make and sell your ONE signature pie, might make you more money and ease your employee training and exhaustion issues.
4. Add a station, add a new newspaper, market on facebook. Take your dollars that would have been More of the Same and move them to a new marketing channel.
More of the Same is so appealing because we seek COMFORT. Change is uncomfortable and we seek to avoid it. When you are looking at your list of ideas this year, look through with a critical eye for More of the Same. It will creep quietly into planning meetings. Warn your staff about it! Tell them to watch you and that you will be watching them holding each other accountable to avoid more of the same.
Throw a "Purple Cow
" in a "Blue Ocean". W. Chan Kim in "Blue Ocean Strategy
" advocates finding a blue ocean, a new marketplace for your business instead of swimming with everybody else in a sea of red ink as businesses copy each other until the products are reduced to commodities. Seth Godin advocates that your business (or I surmise new elements within your business) should be "Purple Cows", designed to be different and stand out. As you choose this season, send a Purple Cow swimming in a Blue Ocean with a daringly new idea. Instead of copying an idea, give it a twist. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If you've always done it one way, maybe it's time for a full re-think, re-do, or upgrade.
Whatever your list of ideas, if you've got the same, you can keep the same, but don't fall blindly in the trap and add More of the Same.
Have a great week.
-Hugh
Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com
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