Everything good is sales. 

Everything bad is lack of sales.

Go ahead. Argue against it. Push back.

But I know what I'm talking about. I've experienced dreadful lease negotiations. I've participated in tense and uncomfortable vendor negotiations.
I've experienced fires and break-ins.
I know what it is to lose a good key employee.

I know what bad looks like and how it feels.

A business consists of daily problems that have to be solved. A business also consists of daily opportunities that have to be spotted and seized.

There's a good reason why the first leg of my business-building trifecta is "getting new customers." Nothing comes before that. Not really.

The other night my wife and I were watching the History channel series on "The Food That Made America." Part of that history involved Milton Hershey, creator of The Hershey Company, a chocolate maker.

Hershey had sold an earlier company for $1M. He poured that money into a remote area of Pennsylvania where he designed a town and a factory. All before he even had a recipe for milk chocolate, an idea he had discovered from European chocolatiers who used powdered condensed milk. He was determined to use fresh milk from the many dairies around the site of his new city and factory.

Construction went on for over 2 years and was almost complete before a Hershey employee finally stumbled on a recipe. And, as they say, the rest of history.

My wife and I were observing how backwards it all seemed. No recipe for milk chocolate...just a die-hard determination that it had to be milk chocolate and it had to use fresh milk. No customers. But he built a city and an enormous factory.

Okay, it can work. Clearly. But that doesn't mean it's how you should go about it. It's not advisable. Unless you've got a brilliant idea, a lot of money and a do-or-die spirit. Hershey had all of that. Most of us don't.

"We didn't hit our numbers last month."

"It's a slow month so far."

"Things are slow."

Owners and leaders universally understand the pressures of poor or lackluster sales. "We need to make something happen," we sometimes say. What we mean is that we need to make something good happen. We need to get more business!

We need to get new customers!

Making something good happen is what drives us. It's what separates us from others. Confidence and belief that we can affect change. The desire to control our destiny rather than let others impose on us. And if we are going to fail, we'll do it on our own terms by doing things based on our deep beliefs that they'll work.

Success stories are those where it worked out.

Stories of failure demonstrate instances where it didn't work out.

How are you gonna know until or unless you try though? You won't. You can't.

Let's think about what we can do as business owners and leaders to make something good happen. 

Step 1 - You have to believe you can.

This should go without saying, but I've learned through the years that nothing really should go without saying because basic, foundational truths are the ones that most often escape us.

A person calls tech support for a manufacturer of a surge protector. You've likely seen this social media meme. I chuckle every time I see it...probably because I spent many years in consumer electronics and it resonates with me.

Starting with something as fundamental as, "Is it plugged in?" eliminates the most obvious problems. Well, unless the customer is a complete moron as the meme depicts. :D

The point? Basics and fundamentals often provide solutions....