W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne wrote an excellent book called the Blue Ocean strategy in which they talk about the different oceans that businesses reside in and how to create an uncontested marketplace. The Red Ocean is where it is a competitive market, customers are price-sensitive, loyalty may be low, and the aim is to get an edge against your competitors.

The Blue Ocean is about developing a strategy on value and innovation, where you focus on creating value for your customers and your business and making your competitors irrelevant.

History has taught us that the industries thriving today, may not be the same ones excelling tomorrow. If you look at the last 40 years, many sectors were unheard of – for instance -cell-phones, laptops, discount retail, and coffee bars, none of these existed in a meaningful way. These are now multi-billion-dollar industries.

In the current climate, it is hard to be clear on what to do and when. As a business owner, depending on your status, the prospect of making staff redundant or closing the business down may be an impending reality.

As a solo professional, it may be how you can keep afloat and continue to market your service despite what is happening.

As much as there is gloom, there are opportunities, and if you want to continue to make a difference and create a business that builds a future where you and the customer win, now is the time to start.

Chan and Mauborgne talk about reviewing what you need to reduce, create, eliminate and raise to develop your own Blue Ocean and I think taking the time out to assess your busines from this perspective will become important for your survival. I will be discussing this in greater detail in future posts.

However, my forthcoming free webinar on valuing and pricing your services would be a good place to start.

FREE WEBINAR – HOW TO PRICE AND VALUE YOUR SERVICE 
If you’re a coach, consultant or trainer, you’ll relate to this.

It’s a common – and costly – problem I see time and again:

You don’t understand the difference you make or charge a fee that feels comfortable relative to the work you are doing. Quite often you may actually leave money on the table because you have not negotiated properly or too eager to win the business.

This is about value and has nothing to do with your ability or knowledge. It’s down to outdated fee structures and a lack of confidence – a dangerous combination that limits your earnings. I’m running a free webinar where I’ll show you how to change your fee structure, understand how to measure your value, win more and better clients, and boost your profits.

This webinar will run on October 13th and 14th from 5pm to 6 pm UK time.

To find out more and book your place:

https://mortonpatterson026.lpages.co/morton-patterson-consulting-webinar/