Any time you have a major project to do (such as your major assignments for this course), you should ask and answer six questions. You can do anything if you answer them.
Here are the six questions:
1. What do I want to do (describe in detail)?
2. What do I need in order to do it (people, things, money, other resources)?
3. How will I get what I need?
4. From start to finish, what steps must I take to do what I want to do? (Break it up into small tasks.)
5. What can go wrong, and how will I deal with it?
6. (After the project is completed) How can I improve upon this project in the future?
1. What do I want to do?
(I’m using an example that doesn’t require you to keep thinking of business terms and business models.)
I want to organize a picnic for 300 shut-ins. The shut-ins will be handicapped or elderly people in nursing homes (state which), hospitals (state which), and private homes (contact churches and other sources of information for names and addresses of shut-ins) in the (name specific geographical area). The event will take place 9:30 A.M.-3:30 P.M. on November 19, which is two months from the day that I begin my plans. The shut-ins will have transportation to and from the site, food, and live entertainment. A local celebrity will act as emcee for the entertainment portion of the event. Medical personnel and caregivers will be available.
2. What will I need?
1. Six city buses, twenty family-sized cars, and thirty designated drivers.
2. 50 gallons of baked beans, 60 gallons of potato salad, (continue food list), 500 ten-ounce paper cups, 600 napkins, 150 pounds of ice cubes, six barbecue grills, (continue supplies list).
3. An level outdoor area of at least three acres, with an awning large enough to shade four picnic-sized food tables.
4. 350 folding chairs.
5. A popular local celebrity to act as emcee.
6. Two stand-up microphones and three wireless microphones. A sound system and someone who can operate it.
7. Pallets and risers for a 10’ X 20’ stage.
8. Popular local entertainers (Who?).
9. Newspaper, television, radio, and Internet publicity.
10. At least 12 cooks, 2 traffic handlers, and (mention each person you’ll need).
11. (The list goes on, but I’ll mention one more:) A project chairman, a project co-chairman, 6 committee directors, and 36 committee members.
3. How will I get what I need?
Answer this question for each item or person needed. Tell how and from where you will get them. Here are a few examples:
1. Borrow risers, pallets, and sound system from the nearest high school or college (Which high school or college?).
2. Ask the local cannery to donate the canned beans and potato salad you will need. Make sure that the name of the cannery is displayed on the picnic program.
3. Ask the city bus company to volunteer buses and drivers for the day. Ask church members and others (Which others?) to pick up shut-ins at their homes and drive them to the site.
4. Buy off-white, card-stock paper for programs and use your photocopier to produce 350 copies.
4. From start to finish, what steps must I take to do what I want to do? (Break it up into small tasks)
When completing this portion of the planning, you keep two dates in mind: today and the day of the event.
When mapping out this portion of the planning, you begin with the day of the event and work your way back to today. You list these tasks in reverse order because each thing on the list is the answer to an implied question: “In order to do a certain thing by a certain date, what must I do at an earlier date to make it possible; and by which date must I do this?”
Here’s an example:
1. Nov. 19, 5:00 P.M.: All shut-ins have returned to their places of residence.
2. 3:30 P.M.: Complete Shut-in Picnic.
3. 9:30 A.M.: Program begins (follow schedule)
4. 9:10 A.M.: All shut-ins should have arrived at the picnic site.
5. 8:00 A.M.: All transport vehicles have left to pick up shut-ins. All locations have been notified to have shut-ins ready when transportation arrives.
6. November 18: All drivers, and the bus company have been called to make sure that everything (give details) is “go.”
7. November 12: Final project meeting. Problems discussed and resolved.
8. October 19: Transportation plans finalized.
9. October 12: Bus lines and drivers agree to plans.
10. October 5: Bus company and individual drivers are contacted with request for buses and drivers.
11. October 4: Routes taken by each vehicle mapped out.
12. September 29: Names and locations of each shut-in received from hospitals, nursing homes, churches, etc.
13. September 20: Hospitals, nursing homes, churches, etc. contacted
14. September 19: Shut-in Picnic Project meeting; roles are assigned.
5. What can go wrong, and how will I deal with it?
1. It could rain. (Make sure the event is held close to a building with a suitable interior that you can use.)
2. A bus could break down. (Have a bus on stand-by, or have an alternate transport plan.)
3. One of the shut-ins could have a physical emergency. (Arrange for at least one qualified nurse or paramedic is available from each nursing home. This should be among the needed resources in Question #2.)
There are many other things that can go wrong, and you should address each one of them. Always assume a worst-case scenario. You may have to face one.
Years ago, a civic group borrowed an empty store front just long enough to construct a temporary “Haunted House” for the week of Halloween. Only a couple of days before the “Haunted House” opened, the Fire Department declared the temporary structures a fire hazard.
The civic group quickly sprayed everything with a fire retardant liquid. If the “Haunted House” had not been constructed to raise money for humanitarian purposes, the fire department would never have allowed the “Haunted House” committee to go ahead with their plans.
6. How can I improve upon this project in the future?
If you’re planning a shut-in picnic, you need to ask and answer this question only once. If you’re planning a business model, you should ask it at every opportunity.
If you have a business model that works, someone will eventually find a way to copy it and—more likely—improve upon it. Then your business model will be outdated, and your competitors will take your customers away from you.
To keep this from happening, you have to make your business model obsolete before your competitors do. You do it by re-inventing your business early and often. The early twentieth century stage magician and escape artist Harry Houdini provides us with an easy-to-understand example of how to do this.
Houdini as a marketing strategist
You may have heard that “a magician never gives away a trick,” but Houdini did it very often.
Every time he came up with another illusion or escape, other performers tried to learn how he did it. Then they could do it themselves. (You might say that the other magicians were Houdini’s business competitors.) If they had succeeded, Houdini’s tricks wouldn’t have as much entertainment value.
Houdini was always working to improve his tricks to make them more amazing, and he was always developing other tricks. He knew that other magicians would eventually figure out how he had done his tricks and would try to copy them.
By the time one of his competitors was able to copy one of his tricks, Houdini had already come up with something even better.
Then what do you think he did?
Houdini would stop using a trick as soon as he had developed a new or more amazing one. Then he would write a book or magazine article and tell how he had done the trick he had stopped using.
As a result, his audiences were more amazed than ever at his abilities. Houdini’s competitors were left with nothing because people already knew how the trick was performed.
That’s what you should do. Success is one of the biggest obstacles to continued success. No matter how successful your business model is, you should keep your eyes and ears open to any change in the business, social, or political climate in order to update—or even replace—your business model. If you don’t, your competitors will eat your lunch. As one marketing strategist wrote, “You should eat your own lunch before your competitors do.”
Break free of the bonds of unsustainable habits.
No comments:
Post a Comment