Is there anything new at your business?
The recession we are in now is serious game changer. [Note: I am sorry to use a phrase like “game changer”]
Just a year ago, the U.S. was the number one auto producer in the world. The U.S. is now number two. It’s scary because we didn’t slip to second place because we slowed down. We slipped because closed shop. China bought big pieces of the U.S. auto industry. Those jobs are gone.
We lost ground in a lot of other areas too. That’s why, in spite of the economy moving from the shrinkage to the growth column, unemployment remains above 10%.
Our economy has changed.
Consumers are cutting back in their use of credit making it far harder to sell non-necessities. The country is being flooded with foreign produced goods from toys to advanced medical equipment.
We once thought of the “flat” world or globalization as meaning the whole world was an available market to us. We’ve now become a part of that big open market. Your competitor isn’t the guy across town you’ve met a few times and actually sort of like.
Your competitor just bought the building across the street and is from Spain or Sweden or Germany or maybe even China. Yes, China is now here. We built the factories and taught them the processes, now they’re opening sales offices in your neighborhood.
The winning strategy is to get ahead of them.
You must offer new and better services and products. A year from now it will be too late.