The Real Reason Businesses Exist Pt. III (Final)

The Paradox of Business

One of the great paradoxes of business is this: Focus on People and Not Profit, and the Profits Will Come.

My goal as a business owner is to make a profit. To deny that would be patently absurd. But my overriding desire and formula for business success, and that of profitable business owners around the world, is to serve the needs of people first…helping them…providing them peace of mind as an insurance advisor and agent…understanding what it is that is important to people and not what is important to me.

It is the selfless life; the life that seeks to serve others before serving oneself that will, in turn, be the reason a business owner will make a profit.

"If you build it, he will come." Quote from the 1989 Movie, “Field of Dreams”

The above quote is often misrepresented as, “If you build it, they will come.” I must admit, the error is attractive, particularly as it relates to the topic of business “purpose.”

In the movie, the character, Ray, played by Kevin Costner, hears a voice compelling him to build a baseball field on his property in Iowa. If he does this, “he will come,” is declared by the spirit of baseball legend, Shoeless Joe Jackson. As Hollywood plays it, the comment harkened back to Ray’s father. In other words, his father would be the one that “will come” if Ray were to build a baseball field on his farmland.

It is a great movie; a good family film with a message of hope, imagination and delight which everyone can appreciate. The character, Ray, had a dream of building a baseball field. His dreams came true that day when it was finally built and the spirit of his father came to meet him one last time…on that field of dreams, to play catch with him.

“If you build it…they will come.” If you, the agent, build relationships with people, create for them buying experiences that are memorable and out of the ordinary, and develop processes that make people feel special and valued…then ‘they will come’.

A focus on profits yields only a single sales result that must be sought after time-and-again, over and over, one painstaking sale after the other in order to generate the cash flow necessary for marketplace survival. That type of business philosophy is predatory in nature, always seeking that next sale, that next opportunity.

Whereas, a focus on people yields a steady stream of sales results that often find their way to you instead of you always ‘hunting’ the opportunity down. Such a focus on people rather than profits yields a clientele that will work for you, advocate for you, and will stay with you as a loyal patron even when it is ‘cheaper’ to go to the competition.

So what will it be for you? Will you adopt the business philosophy of immediate gratification with a narrow perspective on ‘why’ business exists at all, foregoing long term viability in the marketplace at the cost of being singular minded toward profit and nothing more as a business owner?

Or, will you adopt the philosophical paradox where automatic results and profit through the power of relationship building (‘creating’ customers) is the basis for business existence and the ultimate trigger to increased profits and growth? Your answer will determine your outcome.

“If you build it…They will come.” Bank on it.

Copyright © 2010 - Tony Cefalu

The Real Reason Businesses Exist Pt.II

“The sole purpose of business existence is to create a customer.” Peter Drucker

If I focus on profit as an agency-owner, then my behaviors will be in response to price points, expenses, margins, numbers, units produced and the number of sales made to name a few.
But, if I focus my attention as an agency-owner on people instead, in creating customers and converting them into loyal patrons; my behaviors will be in response to their needs and concerns.

If I am dominated by the thought of profit, then my behaviors and subsequent business practices will naturally be in response, first, to “How can I increase my margin,” and not on, “How can I better serve the customer to provide them with greater value than the competition offers?”

As a proponent of “creating customers” rather than making a profit,” I shape my business activities around things that the customer wants and rarely gets from the “other guy.” For me, the buying experience and customer feelings and emotions are inextricably tied to the buying impulse and the value people seek as shoppers.

If I create my marketing & sales processes on the principle that business exists to create a customer and not to make a profit, I inevitably will make a “profit.”

Copyright © 2011 - Tony Cefalu