Most of my friends know that I LOVE movies. I don’t watch TV, but I certainly make up for it in the number of movies and TV series I watch on DVD.
Recently, I watched “Kinky Boots” again – one of my all time favourites – and it hit me that there was a great lesson for all business owners in the movie… really!
There was scene, near the start of the movie, where the owner (Charlie Price) of an ailing shoe factory is laying off staff. In his ‘lay off’ speech, Charlie keeps saying “What Can I Do?”. Enter Lauren, one of the staff about to be laid off, and she challenges Charlies question with a really simple response – “Change The Product!”.
And that’s exactly what Charlie Price does – he changes the product….Charlie Prices’ shoe factory goes from making Mens Brogues to making ‘Kinky Boots’. I won’t spoil the movie – but I highly recommend it as good entertainment and an educational movie for business owners.
Downturns
How many business owners often find themselves in a similar position – business isn’t doing so well, staff costs are crippling and ‘turning down’ the business seems to be the only viable solution.
Many years ago, I was in a sales training course and one question we were asked was why the rail services lost market share to the airlines. The answer that was suggested was that the Rail Companies didn’t understand the business they were in – they thought they were in rail transport, but really they were in people and cargo transport…. A simple shift in the thinking could make such a big difference.
The shift in thinking really didn’t make much sense to me until I owned several Franchise stores and we saw our market turn…. we went from selling Niche products to selling Commodity products, prices dropped by over 50%, margins were slim. As a franchise, evolving our business was impossible – the agreement just didn’t allow for it…..However, we did see the change in our market and the impact that this would have on our business.
Change Your Product
Can you change your product? Of course you can! However, you need to understand the value of what you provide and all the Target Audiences you appeal to.
Charlie Prices’ shoe factory produced Mens shoes – ultimately, the definition of his product didn’t change, but his Target Audience did.
Review your operations regularly – look at current sales vs historical sales, look at what your clients are asking for, what’s moving and what’s not… track the history and start predicting the future. It’s not really prediction, but making an educated guess about your future business based on what you already know.
We can all learn a valuable lesson from the Kinky Boots story – and it’s a good movie to boot….
Do you have insights about changing your product to meet your changing market? Share them below…
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