Marketing
Marketing
4
4
0
ADAPT, OVERCOME and IMPROVISE
We have all done many things in our lives, we all have experiences that covers a wide variety of settings or scenarios’ that has left each of us with a skill set for working with that particular setting or scenario.
Why not take what we already know and consider how it may be applied more broadly.
Perhaps we can “Adapt, Overcome and Improvise” what we already know and go from knowing to growing.
I offer the following, as an example of how I adapted an old skill set to a new setting.
Recently, I had a friend approach me and they said, that they were not happy with the results of their efforts to attract potential prospects and were not sure why they are not where they thought they should be in their business. My friend asked me for any advice that I might offer to help them with their problem.
The stated problem could be caused by any number of things and because I did not know the history of my friends business or their efforts, I needed to learn more about their problem to remove the veil of uncertainty and gain a better picture of what is ailing my friend.
I wanted to help my friend and so I decided to fall back on skill set that I have used in the past to help find out what was ailing others with their problems. This skill set was not business related though, it is medical in nature.
I have spent many years as an emergency medical instructor and have, on many occasions, taught medical students a method used to gain better knowledge of their patient and what was ailing them, so that a diagnosis might be achieved and a successful outcome reached for their patient.
I wondered if this technique could be applied to this situation as well. With my love of the saying “Adapt, Overcome and Improvise”, I thought it would be fun to try this approach so onward I proceeded.
A medical assessment, forms the basis of any care plan and to help with this, a mnemonic or memory device, is used to gather essential patient history information in order to diagnose the patient's complaint and make treatment decisions.
The mnemonic is, “SAMPLE”.
1. Signs and symptoms
2. Allergies
3. Medications
4. Pertinent medical history
5. Last oral intake
6. Events
I know, I know….you are wondering how does this apply to my friends ailment in their business, bear with me and I will walk you through it, and here we go.
1. Signs and symptoms: what is going on to make you think that you’re sick (Medically).
In business, what pain points, needs or problems are manifesting in your business that are causing you concern. This can also be labeled as your chief complaint. This is where you realize that there is a problem and it needs to be addressed.
If you can identify the problem, you can fix the problem.
2. Allergies: Things that you don’t do well with or could cause harm (Medically).
In business, one could say that the medical meaning could be true for business also, but may include external factors or people working against you, a negative mind set and any particular task you avoid or don’t want to do. Perhaps even a lack of training and knowledge could be your allergen.
Allergies are what inflames, disrupts or make doing business a hell of a lot harder, so let’s identify your allergen and fix it
3. Medications: Any medicines that you may have taken to alleviate your problem (Medically). In your business this might be any tools or other resources that you may have used or not used (but needed), to combat the problem.
You will stand a better chance of fixing any problem with the right tools, do you have the right tools?
4. Pertinent medical history: Here we want to know if there is any previous history of your current problem (Medically).
In business, is the problem you are experiencing new? Has it been going on for a while? Has this happened before, if so, how was it dealt within the past? What made it better or worse?
If this is a new development, it may be easier to fix. If this is a recurring development, the issues are deeper and harder to handle. Bad habits may the culprit.
5. Last oral intake: Anything that you may have ingested that could be contributing to your problem (Medically).
In business, it’s not about the last thing you ate or drank but rather, it’s about what you have digested mentally. What book, mentorship, training event or other knowledge building event have you participated in to understand your current status or how to improve it.
When things go bad, you do not rise to the challenge. You sink to your highest level of training.
6. Events: Here we are looking for any actions that you may have been involved with that could have precipitated your current problem (Medically).
The same holds true for your business as well. If you were doing fine until a certain event occurred, then we have identified a significant reason for your malady and more importantly, something you shouldn’t do again.
If you don’t learn from the past, your hind sight will never be 20/20 and your problem will never go away.
The most important subject none of us have ever been taught is how to learn about ourselves. We are never given a process, method, framework or strategy for learning about ourselves. We learn about ourselves purely through trial and error. The same could be said about we learn in our business’s as well.
By adapting the mnemonic “SAMPLE” not only have I used an old skill for a new purpose, I have given you a new way to assess and know not only yourself but perhaps your business also.
As we move through our days and nights, working our own particular business, we all want to reach our own version of success and assuredly we are doing everything that we can to that end.
If you find however, that you need a little help, feel free to contact me and together we’ll adapt, overcome and improvise an answer for what ails you too.
I knew you would be curious, so here is the results of my assessment for my friend:
1. Signs and symptoms: Unable to attract potential prospects
2. Allergies: Lack of marketing training
3. Medications: Tools provided in back office but with no direction of how to use
4. Pertinent medical history: New problem for a new start-up.
5. Last intake: None, but needed
6. Events: Mass social media spamming of friends list.
We have all done many things in our lives, we all have experiences that covers a wide variety of settings or scenarios’ that has left each of us with a skill set for working with that particular setting or scenario.
Why not take what we already know and consider how it may be applied more broadly.
Perhaps we can “Adapt, Overcome and Improvise” what we already know and go from knowing to growing.
I offer the following, as an example of how I adapted an old skill set to a new setting.
Recently, I had a friend approach me and they said, that they were not happy with the results of their efforts to attract potential prospects and were not sure why they are not where they thought they should be in their business. My friend asked me for any advice that I might offer to help them with their problem.
The stated problem could be caused by any number of things and because I did not know the history of my friends business or their efforts, I needed to learn more about their problem to remove the veil of uncertainty and gain a better picture of what is ailing my friend.
I wanted to help my friend and so I decided to fall back on skill set that I have used in the past to help find out what was ailing others with their problems. This skill set was not business related though, it is medical in nature.
I have spent many years as an emergency medical instructor and have, on many occasions, taught medical students a method used to gain better knowledge of their patient and what was ailing them, so that a diagnosis might be achieved and a successful outcome reached for their patient.
I wondered if this technique could be applied to this situation as well. With my love of the saying “Adapt, Overcome and Improvise”, I thought it would be fun to try this approach so onward I proceeded.
A medical assessment, forms the basis of any care plan and to help with this, a mnemonic or memory device, is used to gather essential patient history information in order to diagnose the patient's complaint and make treatment decisions.
The mnemonic is, “SAMPLE”.
1. Signs and symptoms
2. Allergies
3. Medications
4. Pertinent medical history
5. Last oral intake
6. Events
I know, I know….you are wondering how does this apply to my friends ailment in their business, bear with me and I will walk you through it, and here we go.
1. Signs and symptoms: what is going on to make you think that you’re sick (Medically).
In business, what pain points, needs or problems are manifesting in your business that are causing you concern. This can also be labeled as your chief complaint. This is where you realize that there is a problem and it needs to be addressed.
If you can identify the problem, you can fix the problem.
2. Allergies: Things that you don’t do well with or could cause harm (Medically).
In business, one could say that the medical meaning could be true for business also, but may include external factors or people working against you, a negative mind set and any particular task you avoid or don’t want to do. Perhaps even a lack of training and knowledge could be your allergen.
Allergies are what inflames, disrupts or make doing business a hell of a lot harder, so let’s identify your allergen and fix it
3. Medications: Any medicines that you may have taken to alleviate your problem (Medically). In your business this might be any tools or other resources that you may have used or not used (but needed), to combat the problem.
You will stand a better chance of fixing any problem with the right tools, do you have the right tools?
4. Pertinent medical history: Here we want to know if there is any previous history of your current problem (Medically).
In business, is the problem you are experiencing new? Has it been going on for a while? Has this happened before, if so, how was it dealt within the past? What made it better or worse?
If this is a new development, it may be easier to fix. If this is a recurring development, the issues are deeper and harder to handle. Bad habits may the culprit.
5. Last oral intake: Anything that you may have ingested that could be contributing to your problem (Medically).
In business, it’s not about the last thing you ate or drank but rather, it’s about what you have digested mentally. What book, mentorship, training event or other knowledge building event have you participated in to understand your current status or how to improve it.
When things go bad, you do not rise to the challenge. You sink to your highest level of training.
6. Events: Here we are looking for any actions that you may have been involved with that could have precipitated your current problem (Medically).
The same holds true for your business as well. If you were doing fine until a certain event occurred, then we have identified a significant reason for your malady and more importantly, something you shouldn’t do again.
If you don’t learn from the past, your hind sight will never be 20/20 and your problem will never go away.
The most important subject none of us have ever been taught is how to learn about ourselves. We are never given a process, method, framework or strategy for learning about ourselves. We learn about ourselves purely through trial and error. The same could be said about we learn in our business’s as well.
By adapting the mnemonic “SAMPLE” not only have I used an old skill for a new purpose, I have given you a new way to assess and know not only yourself but perhaps your business also.
As we move through our days and nights, working our own particular business, we all want to reach our own version of success and assuredly we are doing everything that we can to that end.
If you find however, that you need a little help, feel free to contact me and together we’ll adapt, overcome and improvise an answer for what ails you too.
I knew you would be curious, so here is the results of my assessment for my friend:
1. Signs and symptoms: Unable to attract potential prospects
2. Allergies: Lack of marketing training
3. Medications: Tools provided in back office but with no direction of how to use
4. Pertinent medical history: New problem for a new start-up.
5. Last intake: None, but needed
6. Events: Mass social media spamming of friends list.
Entrepreneurship
Marketing
Sales
Mentorship
Leadership
Posted 5 y ago
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