Writing is on the wall for businesses that have no future trend prediction
January 4th 2012 11:49
Link: www.theprofitfrog.com
One of the greatest concerns facing some businesses now is Future Trend Prediction.
Future Trends can affect any business. The trouble is that most small businesses cannot predict, or even take a decent stab in the dark at, whatever the trends may be relative to their business category, industry, trade, or service.
Let's look at examples.
Public telephone booths are not the only casualties of the advent of mobile telephones. The printing industry, the paper industry, and bookstores all became victims of new technology; printing is reduced because most things can be launched online as a new "app" or program; paper industries no longer need to create tons of paper rolls as there is diminishing demand, and one of those demands came from the book industry.
http://tinyurl.com/7y6wqgx Read the news article at this link.
New technology lead to electronic book readers, and major book retail outlets such as Borders closed because today's young consumers swarm to any new gadget and not to the local bookstore to feed their brains.
But who, if anyone (beyond those of the genius Steve Job caliber) could ever have predicted what technology could do to what was once a heavily relied-upon corner street service such as the coin-operated telephone booth? Certainly the major telecommunication networks did not seem able to predict the phenomena of mobile telephones.
The carry-over effect of the creation of mobile technology is a ramification few could have anticipated.
Which leads to the question - who in your business, or in your industry, has been speaking of "future" possibilities, relative to changes that could affect what service or product you offer?
Is there a hint in your sales figures that something seems to be on a permanent decline in terms of demand, growth opportunity, or scope in the market place?
Do you need to be creating a new market for your product, or consider a different technology that can make your current product range more relevant to your customers? Or do you need to phase out the current product to make way for a different range?
Or have you predicted the decline in demand for your product and have placed your business on the market?
Whatever action you're taking - or not taking - regarding the future trend prediction and how it will or at least may affect your progress forward, you do need to at least spend some time reading the news of your industry, and researching any changes in the space your business operates in. Look for any signs of waning interest in your particular product.
It could be as simple as noticing if some of your services are being superceded because online downloads allow some of your customers to "do it themselves".
Think about how you might defy or flow with changes in demand for your product or service.
Contact The Profit Frog for further details - 1300 998 36 41
| 17 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
