Why Speed Matters In Business
We all know that as entrepreneurs and business owners we have to think fast to survive. It’s in our blood; moving quickly is a natural instinct to us. Still, it’s difficult to overstate the importance of speed in business. With the pace at which society progresses, companies have to do whatever it takes to stay relevant.
Speed matters today like never before. It’s making or breaking companies.
We can communicate and create more rapidly and effectively than ever. We can share ideas as quickly as we can think of them. Even small businesses can pull on resources from around the world in the form of freelancers and collaborators. We’re no longer confined by the old rules of how business is done. The boundaries have all changed.
Here are THREE reasons why speed is everything in business.
1. If You’re Not Fast, Your Competitors Will Be
With the speed at which business moves, keeping up is a constant task that never gets any easier. Everyone out there is pushing harder than ever to quickly take the next step, which leaves you with little time to prove yourself. If you can’t keep up and move quickly, your competitors will. They won’t hesitate to leave you in the dust if you can’t think on your feet. Think of Blockbuster – they remained the same for years while their competition, namely Netflix, found avenues to quickly move the entire industry forward. Needless to say, it didn’t turn out so well for Blockbuster.
2. Audiences Expect It
We live in an age of near-instant gratification, where consumers are not-so-patiently awaiting the next big thing. Take phone releases for example – every year, like clockwork, we see a new iPhone, a new Galaxy, a new everything. People simply aren’t satisfied with the status quo; they want something more and they want it now. As companies continue to meet these expectations, too, overall standards rise, making speed all the more necessary.
3. It Creates a Culture of Speed
Once you learn to move quickly and maintain speed, a culture of speed naturally forms, where standards for speed are just as high – if not higher – than those of consumers. The benefits are obvious, but they can’t be overstated. With everyone and everything moving faster, innovation and efficiency go through the roof, crushing your competition and blowing away your customers. No company in any industry can expect to get ahead with a slow culture; by design, entrepreneurship is all about moving forward and pushing innovation forward.
There is one defining characteristic that separates the winners from the losers. The also-rans from the superstars.
THEY TAKE MASSIVE ACTION
PUT ANOTHER WAY – THEY GET IT DONE
They have the same 24hrs in a day than the rest of us, yet they squeeze more out of those 1,440 minutes than 99.99% of the rest of the business world.
Put simply, the difference between super successful high income businesses and ordinary low income businesses is implementation. If the effort is focused properly and channelled onto the right things then it can transform any business in a remarkably short space of time.
Please share your ‘speed’ stories with us