The Challenge Of Change

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. - John F. Kennedy - 35th President of the United States

Preparation and anticipation work hand in hand to produce superior results. The flip side is also relevant – without these two components, failure is a very real possibility.

Failure is generally the result of not accurately anticipating the future. This is true both at an individual level and at an organization level. Human psychology is to assume things will remain the same when in fact they never do. Change is inevitable, especially at this time in history, and highly effective people are those who prepare for the change.

A big part of being prepared is learning to anticipate the future. The antithesis of anticipation is reaction, and reaction sounds like this, "I'll deal with it when it comes." It often sounds like, "Oops!" Suffice it to say, you want to experience the power of preparation, not the pain of reaction. You must anticipate change versus being struck by it.

A proactive seller or leader anticipates and is constantly "out there" interacting with the environment, looking for signals and signs of change and preparing themselves to capitalize.

Perhaps we should call anticipating the gift of foresight. After all, it is like seeing into the future. Once you learn how to prepare for the changes and anticipate the trends in the marketplace, you are in a position to anticipate opportunities and get there before your competitors. Likewise, you can anticipate a problem and solve it before it happens. This will provide you with a huge competitive advantage.

Focusing on your client's or prospect's current needs is no longer enough. Anticipating their needs before they demand it is a great way to enhance your results.

Why? John Narver of the University of Washington Business School describes it this way, "Customers' expressed needs and benefits can be known readily by all competitors – a situation that leads typically to competitors offering the same benefits to a given set of customers and then having to engage in aggressive price competition in the attempt to create superior value for the subject customers." (18)

In brief, knowledge of the client's "expressed" current needs is readily available to anyone, and it's easy for your competitors to propose the same solutions. However, if you can anticipate the client's needs before he does, you will position yourself to be the solution of the future. You will leap frog over the competition.

(18. Successful Development of New Products Requires Anticipating Customers Needs, UWnews, October 2004)

S.E.E. The Future

Anticipate change and embrace it; change can affect the entire picture. Recognize new developments that you can capitalize on, profit from and use to open new doors.
Donald Trump

How can you know what customers will want even before they see it themselves? How can you anticipate future problems and help customers avoid pain and achieve gain? Simple. Employ the S.E.E. method to see or anticipate the future.

S.E.E. is the process of S.tudying the market (segment, industry or niche) of your prospect to anticipate the E.ffects on business and E.ffects personally. It's a line of sight that leads to insight into your client's mindset.

First, you must S.tudy the news reports and newspapers to identify the current and urgent trends or changes that are taking place in your client's market. It's intelligence gathering that requires you to look for really good news or really bad news. I'm not just talking about the obvious trends and changes. Look for those that are strategically insightful, but perhaps not detected by the client's radar. This will prepare you to intrigue your prospect with such comments as: "Are you aware that the emerging trends in your market could be eroding your bottom line? I've observed this with my other key clients. Would you be interested in meeting to discuss the implications on your organization?"

Second, your must translate the E.ffects these market trends will have on your clients' business. Here’s what I mean. Market trends trickle down and Effect the business (your client). These effects cause new pain or gain for the client's business. You must understand and antici- pate this pain or gain before your competition.

Finally, you must anticipate the effects these business trends are having on the client personally. Clients take action not just because it's the right thing to do for the business, but because of how it personally affects them or their careers as well.

Summary:

You've studied the industry and its current trends. You have translated its Effects on business. You anticipated how these business impacts are affecting the individual. Now you can more accurately understand the present and anticipate the future. You can S.E.E.

(Reprinted with permission from Step Up! by Daniel Grissom)

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