What does success mean to you?

We all want to be successful. The trick is knowing how to define what success means.

Is a business successful if it has strong growth and high sales? Or is it successful when it is a nice place to work and fulfils its core purpose?

If you are a business owner, should business success come at the price of personal happiness?

These issues are highly subjective and too often we only understand them after the event. If we run full tilt at what we think success should be, we may discover we have gone down the wrong path.

Visualising success is a vital step in planning. Once the whole team knows what success looks like, it helps them to:

• Contest issues and make decisions on an objective basis
• Identify opportunities that will benefit the business 
• More confidently analyse what is waste

Complete this sentence. "My business will be a success when we . . ." Will this inspire and excite your customers, your staff and your stake-holders?

Andrew Wylie, Director of Pandemonium Creative, strategic thinkers in marketing, sales and creative.

Does your business have a well rounded marketing diet?

There are different types of marketing the same as there are different types of food. If we eat badly it affects our energy, our health and even our appearance. The same may be true for your marketing.

If we think of your marketing as a food pyramid, most activity can fit under these five headings:

Is your brand ready for the big time?

For a company that has been successful in one market, it can be frustrating that this success does not immediately translate to a new market. On paper there should be strong demand, but for some reason that does not turn into sales.

How unhappy should you make your customers?

As unhappy as possible of course; absolutely miserable. And scared too. In fact, not buying your products or using your services should terrify them!

Building customer dissatisfaction is the key to driving change in their behavior. The more they are unhappy with their current position, the more likely they will be to listen to your story and start considering your plan to make their lives easier.

The low value of price

It never hurts to have a price advantage, but relying on being the cheapest can be a risky strategy.

Take an importer I know who has let price drive their entire sales plan. It has been a real shock for them to discover that brand values and consumer loyalty are vital for long term key account relationships and not just empty buzz words. When volumes started dropping, and sales minimums were not being met, questions started to be asked. What was going wrong?