Target and Dominate: Two things to keep in mind to succeed in the independent career path!

Tuesday: Return Driven Strategy FROM THE DESK OF MILES EVERSON: Think about some of the successful businesses that you know. What do you think are the reasons why they continue to thrive in the industry? While you might be thinking about a lot of reasons to answer the question, one of the common characteristics of these businesses is their ability to target and dominate their markets. Keep reading to know more about this third tenet of the Return Driven Strategy. CEO, MBO Partners Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

Target and Dominate: Two things to keep in mind to succeed in the independent career path! In the last two weeks of this series, we talked about ethically maximizing wealth and fulfilling customers’ unmet needs. Today, we’ll be focusing on the third tenet of the Return Driven Strategy framework, which is… “Target and Dominate Markets!” According to the book, “Driven,” just because this tenet is known as the third tenet, that doesn’t mean it’s inferior to tenet two. Take a look at the framework again. As you can see, tenet two and three are beside each other, which means they are partners in helping you reach your goal of wealth creation. So, if the path to high returns is through the customer (we mentioned this in last week’s article), then the path to wealth creation is through dominating the appropriate markets or what is commonly known as “Target Market.” Some responsibilities that fall under tenet three include: Grouping prospects that have similar unmet needs. Identifying markets where there's a higher opportunity for your business to provide unique offerings. Dominating markets whose needs justify the upfront and ongoing investments required to create and deliver the right offerings. Dominating “actionable” markets where your business has potential to be the dominant provider of unique offerings that fulfill unmet needs. Recognizing how being the dominant provider to your target market sets the stage for high returns. As an independent professional, what are some of the things you can do to achieve tenet three? Move beyond industry woes. “It’s not our fault. We are suffering from a down-cycle in our industry. It was a tough economic environment.” These are a few of the lines that you SHOULD AVOID saying as much as you can. Why? As stated in “Driven,” managers of poor-performing firms sometimes blame their woes on industry issues, poor cycles or unforeseen market conditions beyond their control. Blame is a common way of placing the responsibility for failure elsewhere. It makes one’s ego feel good in the short term but in reality, it’s not really helpful for a business in the long run. Putting the blame on external forces shows a manager’s inability to take control especially when things go south. On the other hand, high-performance managers speak in a manner that helps a firm work towards potential actions. In that case, the responsibility is “brought home.” … and when the responsibility is brought home, the manager―and everyone else in the firm―is empowered to make operational changes that can open doors for better opportunities and avoid another failure in the future. Accepting responsibility over targeted customer groups. It’s true―businesses fulfill the needs of society by producing offerings more efficiently. This is called Productive Efficiencies. However, another way to succeed is by knowing what goods or services should NOT be developed in the first place. This is known as Allocative Efficiency. The third tenet of the Return Driven Strategy is actually a part of allocative efficiencies. Getting out of the wrong industry is as important as standing out to be “the best in a bad industry.” It’s good to realize that sometimes, the source of performance woes is not the industry at all, but the inability to target and dominate the right one in the first place. That way, you’ll be able to properly and efficiently allocate your business’ resources and serve the right groups of customers. It’s important for you to remember this: Bigger rewards come to those firms that solve the needs of bigger numbers of customers. Once you’re able to dominate large groups of underserved customers, you’ll have an easier path towards high returns. The world is a BIG environment of growing populations with growing expectations! Take note that the key to long-term wealth creation is fulfilling the unmet needs of a large number of people. When you have genuine intentions to fulfill your customers’ needs, you’ll be ethically committed to wealth creation. … and not just that! You’ll also be able to drive positive change into your business and society as a whole. Hope you found this week’s insights interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for next Tuesday’s Return Driven Strategy!