Tweet

Are You Creating Art or Creating a Factory

Guest post by: John Jantsch

Article Overview: I have to warn you that today’s post is a bit of a ramble because I’m working through something that feels kind of big, but that I don’t know that I’ve concluded.

Are You Creating Art or Creating a Factory

I have to warn you that today's post is a bit of a ramble because I'm working through something that feels kind of big, but that I don't know that I've concluded. If you've read this blog or, for that matter, anything I've written you know that I believe a business is a system and marketing is perhaps the most important component system in any business. While this notion resonates with most of the small business owners I speak with, the practical application can be rather difficult to master.

Most business employ systems, whether they know it or not. We are naturally drawn to those systematic experiences that make things feel more effective and efficient, but often lose site of just what makes them so. The villain is this case is not systems or even a lack of systems, it's our flawed systematic thought. If we look at improving our marketing return by tearing down failed systems or installing new ones, but do so with the same flawed systems thinking, we run the risk of simply producing another set of flawed processes.

Most people who work with marketing think of it as a set of tools that can be forged to produce and keep a result, a customer. It's this thinking or rationality that must be changed first in order to truly impact the system that produces results.

So often when we think of building systems, or even the smallest of processes, we think about the steps we need to take in order to make sure something gets done in the most efficient manner - even if that work feels completely meaningless to the person operating the process.

What if instead we viewed every decision, every action, every system with the end impact in mind first and worked backwards?

You can have any number of desired results in mind, even breaking them down in a hierarchy of departments like lead generation and customer service. But, the key to any systems thinking is to get very clear about a specific tangible result and drive back to every point that can logically come into play to deliver that result.

Instead of thinking we need to develop a customer service system, think we want to make sure that 100% of our customer willingly refer us to their friends. Instead of thinking we need to develop a lead conversion system, think we want every prospect to conclude they would be crazy to choose someone else. Could that kind of thinking change how and what you built by way of a system? Could this kind of thinking pump meaning into every task, operated by every employee, at every level?

If this way of viewing any challenge or initiative crept into your business at the most foundational level I believe you would find systems creation much more like creating art than creating a factory.

Related Articles
  B2B Strategy
  Financial and Cost Statements in Cost Accounting
  Henry Ford and the source of our fear
  Franchise Opportunities - No Experience Required
  What Is 5S Lean Japanese Techniques
  Great Stories Change Cultures
  Crazy Dad Stories
  Creating a Business Plan Includes Creating a Marketing Plan
  The 4 Simple Secrets For Creating True Wealth
  The 4 Simple Secrets to Creating True Wealth
  H is for How To
  Good and Bad Points of Affiliate Marketing and Creating Own Product
  Creating Wealth - Use Your Creative Resources
  Lesson #1: Succeed Through Innovation Not Exploitation
  Just In Time
  Success - Something To Chew On
  How to create a catchy business name
  Change The Product - Surviving The Change In Market
  The Millionaire Mindset Part 3 of 4
  Real Estate Marketing Strategies: Do Your Beliefs Create Your Reality, or Does Your Reality Create Your Beliefs?

Article Tags: creating art, ramble



Related Forum Posts
Re: Can you outsource your product launch? - Yes that what I am talking about. Creating a buzz for your online product launch basically. Is this part of what you do?
Re: Social Media & Digg, Google, MySpace, and YouTube - Hi Kathy, What I meant about it being worth it was in the sense that I described. Creating multiple accounts for various sites and posting and ranking your own stuff. It's very time consuming to say the least. I'm just wondering if there's anyone out there that has done this and thinks it's beneficial.
Re Thinking Smarter - Hi Beat, Thanks for sharing this win. It's inspiring to hear about. Can you imagine what our life (and our businesses) could look like if we continued to open up to our creativity? Every day becomes an exciting journey for us and even those around us. Happy "Creating"... Tami
What are your success criteria? - Out of curiousity, what has to be present for you to know that your business is a success? The top three things for me are: 1. Maintaining a 6 figure income year in and year out. 2. Creating and promoting my own products. 3. Income not solely dependent upon my personal effort. How about yours?
Design offer - 2 - I'm always surprised these days when people offer their services -- in appropriate forums like this one --- and yet don't have a website that they can direct us to to see their work. Creating a website, even a very simple one, should be the first act of any entrepreneur. There's no reason not to have one, and every reason to have one!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Life is a Balancing Act!

If I Were Starting A Network Marketing Company...

Igniting Your Unstoppable Business Destiny

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.