Coincidences Are Just That
Aren't coincidences interesting? Is it fate? Is it accident? Maybe, its serendipity?
When I started to write my blog today on coincidences, it was ironic that I found two in a matter of minutes. A few weeks ago, I wrote the blog; "What Kind of Pencil Do You Use?" When I opened up my email this morning, I found my daily blog from Seth Godin "The Shortcut Crowd". The content is similar, and its a coincidence that I just wrote that article, and here comes the great writer himself writing a similar take.
As I walked with the dogs, I hit play on my podcasts, and the first one up on Wednesday is again Seth Godin's "This is Akimbo" weekly podcast. You guessed it, the subject itself was coincidences. And Seth does it his Seth way. I'll do it in mine.
Statistically Speaking
My focus on coincidences are, they are just that, coincidences. We can find commonality in many things. In statistics we learn that, correlation does not imply causation. Therefore, when your sales manager tells you to make more calls, and you will soon get more sales, this is true only because of coincidence. If you are not selling something of interest, or your list includes nothing but deadbeats, you will not sell more to them. You will only sell what you can, to whom you can, and those that see value in what you are selling.
Focusing on a market that needs your products and services gives you a higher likelihood of success than a shotgun approach. Niche marketing allows you to create your coincidences more consistently. If you are focusing on the right client, with the right product, and the best overall cost of ownership, you have a higher likelihood of a sale. And sometimes, even when all those stars to align, you will not receive an order. That too is a coincidence. Something beyond your control affected the decision. When you find out what that something was, and the next time you are prepared for it to happen (which would be a coincidence) you may get that order.
Niches are narrow, Coincidences are wide
What does your current client list look like? Do you get business from them for the same reason? Or is it a coincidence that they are buying from you? The answer can be yes to both. We want to focus our energy on the niche group that wants and needs our product. These are the groups your marketing department is truly targeting. They will buy, as they need it, but so will others that accidentally saw the same ad. This is where you need to be careful. Climbing down those rabbit holes that look like new markets, just because there was a coincidence.
In my travels, I once ran into a raging Detroit Lions fan (like myself) in El Paso. This fan was from Boise, and had no reason to be linked to the Lions. He told me that he bought everything that he could that had a Lions logo on it. If the marketing department for the Detroit Lions started pouring money into the Boise market, they would be throwing money away. He was a coincidence. He was not a fan by geography, but by a random act. When he was young, he wanted to follow a pro football team. So, he threw all his little tiny plastic helmets of the NFL teams into a hat, and pulled out a Lions helmet. He has been dedicated since.
The Lions are making a lot of money out of Boise, by coincidence. Their market is in Detroit, and thats where they should be investing.
Don't chase coincidences.
At the Kole Performance Group we can help you define your niche ...