Some of you might be fellow fans of Tom Peters, who introduced us in the 80’s to the concept of striving for “excellence.” He almost single handedly set the bar higher for companies to improve every facet of their operations.

Today there is a new definition of insanity going around: The same people, doing things the same way, every day and expecting different results. Einstein stated, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Believing this to be true led me to start paying attention to a new drumbeat being softly sounded across the country that reflects my own thinking. I label it the “New Business Paradigm for the 2000s,” and I think it is a critical distinction every businessperson needs to grasp.
We are living in a business world today that is a far cry from the past. Businesses face challenges ranging from terrorism to new (and often unknown) competition spawned by the 24/7 marketing capacity of the Internet. Customers are increasingly better educated and informed, again partly due to the vast library of information on the Internet. They make better, faster and sometimes brutal decisions to award or deny their business. Furthermore, large companies like Boeing seem to be trending towards placing larger and larger chunks of value added business with fewer vendors.

Now consider this: A race horse, Olympic athlete or Indy 500 car often wins by a photo finish, literally a fraction of a second ahead of the second guy — tiny critical edge. Yet the prize money and/or recognition differential between first, second and third places is a vast gulf. The first place guy takes the big spoils of victory and the rewards drop precipitously from there.

Back to the new paradigm. I believe as do others, in order to be best of class in your industry, to take the big enchilada; your company will have to move beyond excellence to a new level of performance being labeled “Outstanding.” Applying this theory to the three “Workhorses” of business growth: sales, customer service and marketing, will get your company well on its way to spoiling your customers and stunning your competition. Your company will need a corporate culture that says “customer service is a state of mind, not a department” and learn to harness the “hidden sales horsepower within” turning every employee into a sales agent.

I call these your “thousand points of light.” Focused target marketing that clearly identifies which products to sell to which customers is critical. It sounds easy but you would be surprised at how many companies are diluted in their marketing approach.

Recognizing these new challenges, aiming to be outstanding and creating a culture that is sales driven and customer centric will bring increased profits regardless of the economy. Is your business poised to take up this challenge and apply new thinking to new problems? If not, you could be on your way to obsolescence.

(Editor’s Note: Norm Ferguson, MA, is a principal in the Bainbridge Island consulting firm, Ferguson & Associates. He can be reached at (206) 250-6182.).