Herman School of Business
Think Counter-Clockwise...
Henry Ford raised the wages in his factory when other companies didn’t. People thought he was nuts for paying higher wages. Why did he do it? Because at the prevailing wage being paid the working class couldn’t afford to buy a car. Soon other companies had to pay higher wages to compete for the talent trying to get a job in a Ford factory. Voila! Working class people could then afford to buy a cheap car and the Model T made Henry one of the richest men in America. Because he did the opposite thing his accountant told him.
In the 1960’s there were race riots in the cities. White people took off for the suburbs and left the inner cities broke and in decay. Someone, in fact a lot of someones, went back into the cities, totally against the grain of what was believed to be common sense…and built inner harbor projects like James Rouse in Baltimore. By going counter clockwise those who invested in the crumbling cities got rich because no one else took advantage of the lower values.
There are shows all over cable TV that say buying the worst house and fixing it up can make you rich. There is a glitch in that system right now due to the lack of mortgage money…but the truth is the concept worked for many people. Going against conventional thinking often works.
Stop advertising right now. If you own a company that places ads in the magazines or newspapers quit wasting your money. I once worked with the largest car dealer in America. For years he handled every downturn by increasing ads and selling more cars. It worked because people were buying cars elsewhere and he was just steering them back to his location. But in an economic downturn people stopped buying cars. From anywhere. So increasing his ads didn’t increase his sales. More people knew he was a car dealer but it didn’t make them become buyers. Today Americans are eating out less, buying fewer treats, holding back their spending…and you advertising to make them change their minds just won’t work. Let your competitor spend his money on ads and when he goes out of business his customers will have to come to your place because he isn’t there anymore. In other words…his ads brought you more business while you saved those precious dollars.
If your business does what lots of other businesses do ask yourself what you can do counter clockwise to make you different from them. And the customers will beat a path to your door. Give them stuff for free. Customers can afford free. And that is super counter clockwise thinking. You need paying customers to keep from losing money and giving your stuff away seems crazy. But they just might come spend some money on what you have if they can get something free that they might want. People can’t afford to eat out. Why not give your customer a free dinner for four at a local restaurant if they buy something this month. And trade with that restaurant where you are giving away the free dinner so that the restaurant gives what you sell away for free if people buy dinner for four. You get the idea. People get a break by going out to dinner and you get some customers by trading goods with the local restaurant.
Think Counter-Clockwise.
- Posted: 9 September 2008
- Comments: 0
- Category: Business success
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