It’s a funny thing, perception.
When you look in a mirror, what do you really see?
How you compare yourself depends on your perspective
When we’re dating, we can’t see any of our partner’s faults or flaws
As soon as your split, friends are quick to point out all those “faults” – maybe to comfort you, or maybe they’re being honest.
As you start agreeing, you begin to identify other “faults”, and then question your own habits
Do I do this? Do I say that?
When couples get divorced, all those beautiful moments and experiences of the past are drowned out by the bad stuff, the nit-picking, and arguments
When really nothing has changed, only our perception.
Same in business.
Everything’s great when you start out. There’s excitement, anticipation, belief.
You’re going to blitz your chosen niche…
When the going gets tough, we’re quick to look at our own faults, our weaknesses and question why our competitors “are doing better”
But who knows what’s really happening?
Instead of looking for the similarities why not look at the differences?
Here’s Five Points that make your business unique:
1) Your Point of View
How you present your business to your customers
How you view the current market conditions
2) Your Perception
A salesman was sent to darkest Africa to sell shoes, and quickly phoned Head Office to say there’s no market because no one’s wearing shoes
His Competitor was starting in the same territory and phoned Head Office to tell them to ramp up the supply because no one was wearing shoes and his sales were going to skyrocket
3) Your Experiences
No one has the experiences that you’ve had.
No one.
When making decisions based on your experiences, they’ll be different from your competition.
4) Interpretation.
Eye witnesses at the same event will relate a totally different story based on their interpretation of the event
Your competitor could interpret a downward turn in sales as a seasonal cycle, you may see it as the demise of the market
5) Circumstances
Your competitors may appear to be really busy and making money when in reality they’re cutting prices and margins, heading for disaster
Next time you look in the mirror, have a think about what you are really seeing.