Monday, 22 July 2013

Goldilocks gives Business Owners a Drum Lesson …




A Drummer is just someone who hangs around with Musicians – Anon..

Being a Rock Drummer and having played in various bands in pubs & clubs all over the UK – sticky carpets and stale beer dressing rooms are something of a speciality.  In a Drummers mind he has a number of jobs to complete whilst performing on stage;

  • Looking good – stick twirling and catching

  • Drum Solo – for at least 30 minutes

  • Being Crazy – drummers are supposed to be a bit mad

  • Dressing Up – the more bizarre the better

In everyone else’s mind, a Drummer has just one job – keeping time. 

If the Drummer and the Bass Player are tight the rest of the band will sound good – even making up for an average singer and dodgy keyboard player.

But how fast should a Drummer actually play…?

The pace of rock music can be measured in Beats Per Minute – BPM, and it is this pace that helps makes a piece of music sound so attractive and engaging. 

It is why we start tapping or clapping along to a certain piece – it just sounds right…

For example;

  • Bryan Adams – The Summer of 69 – 139 BPM – LISTEN

  • Die Toten Hosen – Tage wie diese – 97 BPM – LISTEN

If either of these songs were played at a much faster / slower rate, they would not be as attractive to the listener. Which one you like the best depends on your own taste and style…

The same principle applies in Business – each business has a pace that clients and prospects feel comfortable with. It will be different for every business, but once you find the correct pace, make sure you stick to it.

Pace shows up in how you do your marketing and selling, how you care for your clients and build a team spirit. It shows up in the experience people have working with you and for you, in the quality of the services or product you deliver, and the rate of growth and profitability you achieve.

For example, prospects have a “buying pattern” a pace or level of BPM, that they feel comfortable with. It is our job in business to match their “buying pattern” with a similar “sales pattern” – if we try and sell to them too quickly they will run away, if we leave it too long they will buy from somewhere else.

I know that it takes around 6 weeks for people to decide to work with me as their Coach. The start point may be that they connect on LinkedIn, buy a book, attend a Seminar, and as they explore the possibilities, on average after six weeks we begin working together. 

This is the “pace” of my market – if I attempt to go to fast, prospects don’t like it and they disappear. If I go too slow they get bored and never do anything.

Essentially we need to be in harmony with the rhythm of our market, building an attractive beat that engages and retains your clients. It doesn’t matter what beat you choose, so long as it is attractive to your clients and prospects.

We can take advice here from Goldilocks – the rhythm shouldn’t be too fast or too slow, it should be just right. Finding out what the appropriate pace is for your business is achieved by measuring your conversion rate – adapt the pace and see if it increases, if it does, keep doing it. 

 
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