Monday, November 17, 2008

Thinking Inside The Box

I hate the term "thinking outside the box".

No doubt you will hear it a lot given the economic turmoil. I think its used because the prognosticators don’t have answers and want to re-invent the wheel.

We allow technology and gurus to change the way we do business. Like….

Voice mail. Let’s let our paying customers go through a jungle of press 1, press 2 to speak to a live human being, that is if your lucky to get a live person.

Return policy. Let’s charge our paying customers a fee if they buy something from us and then have to return it. We will call it a re-stocking charge.

How would things look like inside the box?

Answer the phone. Why do you have one?

Need to return something? No problem here is your refund.

I don’t think the way we do business has changed. Its still an exchange of money for goods or services.

We don’t need to think outside the box.

We just have to make sure that the inside of the box represents what people see on the outside of it.




Tony Mariani

1 comment:

Pam's Parables said...

Tony,
I enjoyed your article. Not only did it prompt a response from me it also gave me the courage to open my own blog, so thank you.
Yo are so right we need not to concentrate so much on thinking outside the box, when we can't seem to understand how many "proven" possibilities their are inside the box.
I read a lot of inspiritional magazines as well as "How to become successful in business, how to find your nitche;" from authors who are very smart and have made lots of money and seem to have their careers down pat, as so to speak. They are rich, successful and famous, and most of them steer us to find our one and true "passion" focus in and go for it. Well, while this is true in a way, it would leave a lot of folks like me out. God has given us all different talents, dreams, desires and passions to pursue. I would like to be so bold to say that to some of us he has givn several talents for us to use. We don't have to fill presured of making sure we find and use our one and only talent but realize that God continues to fill us with creative ideas daily. So I say, we can be diversivied. We should not limit our thinking that we will only have one business to pursue and one thing that we can only be good at. Be open to how you grow and mature and much wiser you are with age and take every advantage that comes your way to be the best at all things you decide to do. Not only one great big thing. It's sort of like life's journey, it starts with one step, when you can see the road ahead you'll find yourself skipping along happily, but when you come to a crook in the middle and stumbling blocks so high you can't get aroun them you'll need to take a break and think, "how do I get around this" or do I change my course?" After all, the thinking process is what makes us grow and discover new strengths and new ideas. We may even discover a new passion along the way, so we are not limited to have only one dream and one major accomplishment in this lifetime.
Does this make any sense?
Anyway, your comments on it being the better time to advertise is absolutely correct. When the business economy is struggling, our customers need to know that we appreciate their business and that they have the security that we are still here for them offering them the best value that they will find anywhere. Also, the old saying, "out of sight out of mind" is correct. We don't want them to forget about us, and buy from someone else. Also, it has been proven to me through the years that if we need something we will buy even in a recession market, the luxury items we will think about them, but then we will still purchase what we want.
Too much information for me to be dishing out, uh.
Go Tony go.