“What’s Dangerous Is Not To Evolve”

This from the ‘way-back ‘ machine!

I was looking at my stats today and found an old article that was trending so I read it to see why. Well, I didn’t find the answer to that question but I did find something else interesting.

If you are a new follower then you may not know that in the beginning Think was a subscription only website. There are a few gems that never made it to the free side, this is one of them. Originally published in March 2009 in the early days of the Great Recession, I can’t believe how prophetic it was. The lessons in it are still important.

That is a recent quote from Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.

People are always picking my brain about the wedding industry; how to grow their business, what steps to take, how to survive right now. That kind of thing. I think what Bezos said is the key for every small business, particularly in our industry.

You look around at the changes that are taking place right now. Look at this month’s Facts and Stats column. For the first time in recent memory the overall value of the wedding market is in decline and it looks like it will not fully recover until 2012. If you sit around on your hands and try and wait it out, hoping things will go back to the way they were you are in for a rude awakening. What are you doing to evolve?

I come on here every month with thoughts and ideas on how to grow your business. Ways to fine tune and tweak. How many of them have you implemented? What is stopping you? I watch some of the people that have come to me for advice actually use it. I am watching their market value grow every day.

The ones that are winning aren’t taking one little idea and trying it once. They are taking the body of advice and using it to formulate their own transformation. They are changing what they do and how they do it on a fundamental level. They are doing it deliberately and fearlessly and they are succeeding. What are you doing?

I am a faithful participant on a forum for bridal salon owners. Day after day, year after year they are struggling to find tools to fight the same battle. Screw that, pick a new battle. The single hardest person to shop for in a wedding is the MOB. Cater to her. Oh I know, you sell wedding gowns, there is more profit in a wedding gown. Oh really? Not when you are fighting the discounters every day. Brides buy one dress; my mom bought 5 MOB outfits, all from the same shop. You know something else; today’s MOB’s are baby boomers, the single largest demographic on earth. Not only that, but these women often find themselves in the position to wear similar gowns for other functions. They have to buy them somewhere. So, market to brides for a single event or build a customer base for many events for years to come. Think differently.

I have a florist friend that saw the writing on the wall. Flowers are a place that brides are cutting back. With the rise of flowers at Costco and online, brides are doing them themselves. So did she bemoan the fact and try to convince brides what a mistake that was. Nope. She started teaching classes for brides on the fundamentals of creating a simple bouquet and boutonnière. Additionally she is renting out all the beautiful containers she has amassed over the years. Yep, that’s thriving too. She is thinking differently.

What about cakes? I know a bit about those having done them for almost 20 years. I read a quote recently in a Boston paper and I apologize on not having saved it. A baker was saying that more and more brides are choosing cupcakes over traditional cake because of the cost. I say start putting cupcakes front and center in your business. People will buy cupcakes every day of the year, not just on their wedding. Get them to take them to work, to church, home for dessert. Sell them every day. The brides that had cupcake wedding cakes can relive that moment once a week for a buck or two. Put as much style creativity and effort into them as you do your wedding cakes and your cupcake sales will more that make up for the decline in elaborate wedding cakes. Cupcakes are a small thing and relatively inexpensive. In this economy, people will often shower themselves with small treats because they can no longer afford the large ones. Evolve with the market.

Even I’m doing it. You know that I design and sell websites for wedding vendors through my division, The Agency. Recently we discovered another market that was facing a lot of the same issues because of the economy; probably more: realtors. For years they were riding high and getting taken for ridiculous sums by web designers that were holding them and their hosting hostage. We are using the same skill set to create sites for them. We are saving them money and increasing their traffic exponentially.

Again I ask: what are you doing to evolve?

The Traditional Wedding Market is An Illusion If you have not read the most recent post from...
The Affordable Bridal Market What do J Crew, White House Black Market, Ann Taylor,...
Some Companies Get It, Some Don’t. One of the keys to continuing to be successful in...
The Wedding Industry Has Turned the Corner I keep hearing the rumblings of recovery in the wind....
What Are You So Afraid Of? Or, Cowboy Up and Get Some Damn Self-confidence. This is...
Is E-commerce Something You Could Do? I am seeing the twinkling of a trend among small...
DIY Your Niche My friend Sheryl shared a press release she ran across...