Sandy Wardenburg Waggett warns market leaders not to slack on marketing and networking when business is booming. Competitors who keep investing will overtake you. Her pro tip: refer overflow work to trusted peers to protect your reputation.
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Hey everyone, Sandy Waggett here with MSW Interactive Designs. And today I want to talk about market leaders, meaning if you are the dominant player in your industry, in your local market, and at the same time that I'm talking to you, I really want to speak to people who are trying to become market leaders. I've been going through this high performance coaching certification and it just really prompted this thought process for me and I wanted to share it with you because I think it's important. You know, when you're a market leader, you spent time getting to that level in your industry and in your local marketplace. You likely invested in a lot of visibility, whether it be through advertising, really amping up your marketing strategy, marketing techniques, your communication and care for your clients, and your visibility in the community, and then also building, growing, nurturing your network. That's how people become dominant players in their space, in their local markets. What I have seen, mostly because we kind of had, at least in my local area, very booming economy.
Is a lot of people being so busy now that they're really backing off of those efforts. I have very well respected businesses and industry leaders in my area that are leaving business networking groups that they've spent years investing time in to help get them where they are. I have people who are cutting back on their marketing spend because they just don't have time to take the new business right now. But the thing about marketing and then taking the long view or the big picture, playing the long game, in other words, of staying on top of your industry, you spent so much time getting there, invested so much to get there. Now is not the time to be complacent and take it for granted. You know, it's, it's really a mistake to assume now. Well, everybody knows me, I have a great reputation and I don't need to do this anymore. Well, the thing is, is that you've got people behind you in the market that are still working to gain that stature and you are backing off because you don't need a new business right now. But over time, and it doesn't happen overnight, those people who are still plugging away, investing in their marketing, staying highly visible in their local marketplaces, growing their networks, and taking ultra great care of their existing client base, they will outpace you and they will overtake you if you back out of that space in the marketplace. Now, it doesn't happen overnight. It might not happen the first year, but it happens. So my caution to you is if you're at the top of your game in your local market, and you're the industry leader, you're the go to expert. Now is not the time to back off, enjoy your success, but keep going. You're playing the long game for your business. And if you stop the people behind you that are trying to get where you are, they will eventually out of sight, out of mind. So if you are complacent, and I hate to use the word cocky, but sometimes, you know, when we are really successful in our industry and we become the go to, we kind of rest on our laurels. And you can't do that because there's always people looking to overtake your top space in the marketplace. So that's my advice for the people who are at the top and it's also my advice for the people who are working to get there. Keep going because there are leaders in your space that are resting on their laurels and backing off because they're too busy. And just a little pro tip for you that, you know, if you're too busy, that's a great way to start building relationships with other people that you can trust in your space and give them referrals. You can really, really grow your business and your trustworthiness in, in your industry, in your local market by sending referrals for businesses that isn't the perfect fit for you. Maybe not the ideal client at the time, but you can really develop goodwill by then referring that customer to someone else in your space and then still playing the long game and keeping your marketing out there, keeping your visibility out there and continuing your personal business network and, you know, just hanging on to that reputation of yours that you work so hard to gain. So I hope this tip helps. Sandy bygot with MSW Interactive Designs. We put them up to work for you.
