You Must Learn From My Mistake...

After five years of living in our new house, my wife and I decided to buy a new clothes washer and dryer. We figured we'd upgrade to those new, ultra-efficient machines that use really little detergent, water and energy.

But right as I was about to make the purchase, I started to feel really bad for the washer and dryer manufacturer.

Why?

Well, we bought it at Best Buy, and before we made it to the front, where the registers are, our son Max stopped us in the video game section.

And so I started thinking. When am I going to buy my next washer and dryer? Maybe in another 5 years? 10 years? 15 years? 

And when is Max going to get his next video game? Probably next month. And then the month after that. And then the month after that. (If he keeps up the good behavior and good grades as I expect he will.)

What an amazing difference! The washer and dryer manufacturers may only get one sale from me in the next decade while the video game companies might get 120 sales over the same period. Sure, the washer and dryer are bigger ticket items, but even if I'm satisfied, that manufacturer isn't getting squat from me for a long time.

Which made me think of the mistake I made when we first started Growthink.

When Jay and I first started Growthink, we focused solely on developing business plans for companies. We helped a ton of companies achieve a lot of success. But oftentimes, after we helped a company, they no longer needed us. The used the plan to raise money and grow their businesses, and didn't need to come back to us for another business plan.

We were like the washer and dryer manufacturer.

So, we set out to correct this mistake.

We started offering more services to help clients after developing their business plans. We launched our investment banking practice to help them raise capital and/or sell their businesses. And we began offering marketing and internet marketing services to help them generate new leads and customers.

And then we launched Growthink University to help clients with everything they need to successfully start and grow their businesses.

It took us years to get to this point, but now things are humming.

So, my key takeaway for you is to really think about your business:

How often will customers buy from you?

What is the lifetime value of your customers?

How can you increase the number of purchases that customers make from you?

Can you develop new products or services for them?

Can you offer them value month after month after month?

As we start this new year and decade, I want you to take some time to think through these questions. Make sure that you are adding as much value as possible to your customers; and giving them the opportunity to pay you month after month, year after year to receive this value.