Road Signs to Success
The other day I was driving my wife to the super Wal-Mart that she likes to visit. On the way I said, "Let me show you a short cut that will cut off about 2 miles and maybe 5 or 6 minutes of driving time each way."
I then proceeded to turn down this obscure road and in just a few seconds we re-entered the main road. We had indeed cut off about 2 miles of driving. My wife said, "Do you just drive around looking for strange roads and follow them to see where they go." "No", I said, "But I do pay attention to road signs and when I see two that appear to be the same road, I will make an educated assumption that the road will lead to the same place where I saw the other sign."
Business is much like this. We must keep our eyes open and look for the relationship between signs. When we see them we can feel reasonably sure that the two are connected. By looking for these short cuts in business we can leap ahead of our competition.
Here is an example of what I mean. Suppose you had an Automobile Window Tinting shop. You could spend thousands of dollars on various advertising to get a new customer to come through the door or you could look for the connecting signs. A Windshield Repair shop probably meets with the same types of customers that you meet with. If you could establish a relationship with the Windshield Repair business so that they would refer their customers who need window tinting to you, and you would in turn, refer those who need windshields repaired to them, do you think your walk in business would improve? Probably, and how much would it cost? Nothing more than a few business cards and a solid business relationship between the two companies.
That's how you connect the signs in business.
