In continuing from last week’s blog on personal change and the progress it can bring to your business, this week we will be giving you a case study about one of my clients who was resistant to changing the way her business was run. Let me first reemphasize that people like the results of what change brings but still continue to be resistant to the act of changing. Our case study will focus on one of my past clients, Rebecca, and her small family owned upholstery business. Like many small business owners, she was progressive in many ways, but was prone to relying on past business strategies and was resistant to new technologies and changes in the industry. Through the ages, the business had spurts of growth but in the modern marketplace had fallen behind in market share due to the company’s resistance to adjust to the times. Their company resisted until change was inevitable, thus putting them behind the curve in the modern business world.
She finally got concerned with the company’s lack of change when many of her long term customers started doing business with her competitors. This was the wake up call that spurred her realization to know that her business behavior needed to be modified. She came to me knowing she needed to change her business strategies but not knowing which directions to take. She shared with me that their business was not the first to embrace change, until the majority of her competitors had done so. Their mantra had been, “It’s always worked in the past why do we need to change now?” In the past this may have been reasonable thinking, but in today’s market the spoils go to the risk takers and those setting the pace in new endeavors. This was an entirely new way of thinking for her company.
When I came into the equation, one of the first things that we did was look for internal problems as well as unidentified issues and addressed the concerns that surfaced. Once we were able to spot the problems (the company’s resistance to change) we were then able to set goals and objectives to facilitate the company to begin their transformation. Many believe that this is an industry that rarely progresses but when we broke it down and discussed the changes that were evident in the marketplace we were able to plan the direction in which the company needed to head. This included buying new equipment, updating inventory lists, making connections with new vendors and suppliers and making the transfer into digital invoices and receipt records. This seemed overwhelming at first but through hard work, positive reinforcement and the realization that bringing these changes was not as hard as it initially seemed we were able to slowly advance in bringing the needed amendments. The results were noticed nearly instantaneously as efficiency was increased; they were able to offer more competitive pricing and through the use of small marketing tactics were able to regain lost customers. Many clients and customers were impressed with the rapidity in which these changes were able to occur and word quickly spread that Rebecca’s company was back to being one of the leaders in the industry.
Rebecca and her company were one of the most resistant to alter their ways, but when they were able to finally embrace change and set obtainable goals and objectives ended up being a fantastic success story. As John F. Kennedy famously quoted, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
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