Choose Your Own Adventure and Wrangle New Profits

If you grew up in the 80's and 90's, you might recall the book series, Choose Your Own Adventure. These interactive, engaging novels allowed young readers to make choices at critical points in the story line and change the outcome of the story. The series was re-released in 2005 for a new generation of young readers.

We are enduring a tough recession. Like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel, each company is being presented with a break in the story line where critical choices can be made. If sales and cash flow are down for your organization, I invite you to make different choices to change your company's outcome and respond to this jarring adventure of an economic downturn.

What kinds of choices can you make to choose your own adventure? One of the topics that we discussed in last Friday's AAPP meeting was Wrangling New Profits from Existing Assets. In the presentation, I shared the five golden nuggets that companies can make to initiate strategic changes and create new income streams:

1. Outsource your secret sauce. Another company, like a competitor, customer, or industry leaders, might be willing to pay you a substantial fee to use your processes or technology. It cuts down on overhead for you, and brings in a regular income stream when done right.
2. Find new uses for your product or service. How many of us remember ads in the 70's and 80's reminding folks to take aspirin every day to prevent heart attacks? The surge in aspirin use is a result of recent medical research that has been a windfall for aspirin manufacturers -- they now have a new sales channel for their product. Can you do the same with yours?
3. Enter a new market. If you have a highly specialized or niche product or service, can it be relevant to another market or industry? For example, can your automobile accessories be introduced into the growing car industry in China? Or can your technology-industry human resources company offer services to benefit the health care industry?
4. Develop new products with minimal re-tooling. For manufacturers, staying relevant can mean the difference between survival and descent. What updates can you make to your manufacturing line to serve new market needs? If the marketplace is spending more money on signage and less on memorials, what can your company do to re-tool its bronze and granite products to offer more sign options?
5. Repackage existing intellectual property. If you're a service-based business or have patents and copyrights on juicy content, you can repurpose that content to deliver it in new ways. This is how Oprah has built her empire. She delivers the same interview with Tina Fey on her television show, in her magazine, on her web site, and on her radio show. One interview, four different channels with different advertising dollars. You do the math.

Some or all of these golden nuggets might be relevant to you and your ventures. Whatever you choose to do to wrangle new profits from your existing assets, remember to ask your stakeholders for input.

If you are interested in scheduling a Profit Wrangler workshop for your organization, contact me at 206-782-4040 ext. 4.