I know that almost everyone will agree with these words because what I am about to describe has been seen by nearly everyone. The trouble is most of us fail to see it in ourselves. To a person we see when others make fatal errors of omission but choose to believe we are practicing caution by not moving too quickly.
It is a documented fact that a way to get rich is to buy low and sell high. This is the basis for being a retailer. If there is anyone who can show me how to get rich from buying high and selling low (the bigger truck theory), I am will listen but I am not willing to indulge.
So we agree that buying low is the first step, right? Then why…., why is it when we can buy low, we don’t do it? Is there ever going to be a better time to buy market share for your business? Right now, a majority of retailers are taking the “wait & see,” strategy of doing nothing creating a great opportunity to lure customers away from your competitor.
Answer the following two questions: 1) when will there be less competition going after the available customers? 2) If you are not going to aggressively promote and build your business today, who is going to do it and when? Yet, some of you will think this advice is so I can increase my business
You see we all practice the “herd mentality.” It is more comfortable to do what others are doing even if it is nothing so we can share the familiar complaints about our lack of results. We are following the herd wherever it goes. And right now in a soft economy that is edged with fear nobody is courageous about moving forward. Everyone is following someone who is following someone who is following someone and nobody is leading or moving forward. Doing nothing perpetuates the status quo, we wait and see.
History tells us that in every economic turn-down over the last 100 years, those companies who aggressively endeavored to build market share during the slow-down emerged stronger as the economy eventually improved. And intellectually we all know that strategy makes sense. But why do we cling to the mediocre that feels so familiar rather risk for the success about which we dream?
On a personal note, how many of you are investing less in the stock market right now? Again, I ask you, are you ever going to find a better time to buy low? Are you going to wait until the prices return to their high levels of a few years ago before you buy again? The “herd” is waiting to see what happens. Unfortunately, after it happens, it is too late to make much money.
“Buy fear and sell greed” is the motto of Warren Buffet. He certainly has a reputation for making money and if I were to totally surrender to another person’s strategy it would be his. Actually, I have done so to a certain degree and it was one of the most fearful decisions of my life. As the stock market bottomed out I dramatically increased my investing as much as I could and bought low for nearly a year. I now need to sell high and we’ll see how that works out in the future. I know I did the right thing because the majority (the herd selling from fear) is who I bought from.
What about you? Are you buying low? Are you investing in your market share today when customer loyalty is at such a low level? Are you investing to be one of the stronger businesses that emerge from this slow economy? Ball State Professor Michael Hicks spoke at this week’s Chamber of Commerce Luncheon. I cannot remember his exact words but his message was unmistakably clear: “this slow economy will eventually end and when it does there will be a period of growth when a lot of money will be made.” Are you preparing for that now or are you going to “wait & see?”
