Keep your business moving…
Keeping business current, and being aware of how you need to constantly keep evolving.
On Saturday I was in the audience to hear Vanessa Gold of Ann Summers speak, She explained the impact of “Fifty Shades of Grey” on their business. The book itself was the fastest selling paperback in the UK – 65 million sold in the first week and now the most donated book currently in Oxfam!!!
Ann Summers is a business entirely led by their customers, which they put into three areas:-
- Nervous
- Curious
- Experienced
With the success of Fifty Shades everybody moved up a category and the business needed to move with this change.
The whole ethos of Ann Summers is women embracing their sexuality and just feeling “sexy” therefore they need to feel just as comfortable buying a sex toy as their lipstick. They recently worked with Superdrug to make this possible so their products are now accessible on the high street but not under their roof.
We might not have quite the same product of service, but we can learn from listening to our customers and being flexible to change.
- Put your customers into categories – create an action plan of how to move them up the ranks
- What is the next big event that might effect your business? eg. “Fifty shades… could be new legislation, competition launch etc…
- Which businesses could sell your services? – joint ventures
- Overall what do you want to give your customers – think of what you are giving back – an ethos
