Piggyback on Saddleback | part one

The best book on building and growing a business wasn’t written by an acclaimed consultant or esteemed academic. It was written by Rick Warren, the founding pastor of Saddleback Community Church.

If you are one of the 25-million plus people who’ve read THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, then you're familiar with Rick Warren. But you're probably not familiar with his first book, THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH. In it, Warren shares the methods used by Saddleback to grow from its first service with seven people to being a church with over 20,000 members.

To illustrate how business-relevant Warren’s advice is, this three-post series will be a mash-up message from Rick Warren’s THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH and marketing musings found in my TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE.

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Businesses seeking growth today are asking the wrong question.

We businesspeople tend to ask, “What will make our business grow?” But that’s the wrong question to ask. The better question to ask is “What obstacles and hindrances are preventing our business from growing?”

A business is an organism more than it is an organization and lack of growth is an indication that something is wrong with the business. Since a business is a living organization, it is natural for it to grow ... if it is healthy. Unhealthy businesses wither (and eventually die). Healthy businesses grow and prosper.

Healthy businesses are visionary, passionate, and purposeful. Being visionary isn’t about predicting the future—it’s about being alert to opportunities. Being passionate means always over-deliver on implied and explicit promises made to customers. Being purposeful is about striving to make a difference with your business. Whole Foods Market is a healthy business. Starbucks is a healthy business. WaWa is a healthy business. The Container Store is a healthy business. Chipotle is a healthy business.

On the other hand, unhealthy businesses lack vision, are passionless, and devoid of purpose. Gateway is an unhealthy business. Radio Shack is an unhealthy business. Kroger is an unhealthy business. The Gap is an unhealthy. AOL is an unhealthy business

Maybe we businesspeople should focus less on business growth and more on business health. After all, healthy businesses do not need gimmicks to grow—they grow naturally.

[NOTE: portions of this posting were lifted and mashed-up from Rick Warren’s THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH.]

As businesspeople responsible for growing sales and growing customers, we can learn a lot from Rick Warren’s experience in growing Saddleback Community Church as he explained in THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH. For example, by simply switching out a few church-words for business-words, his “Eight Myths About Growing Churches” becomes “Eight Myths About Growing Businesses.” Smart stuff for us all to ponder …

Eight Myths About Growing Businesses

MYTH #1 | The only thing large businesses care about is market share.
The simple truth is ... a business will not grow big for prolonged periods of time if market share is all it cares about.

Myth #2 | All large businesses grow at the expense of smaller businesses.
Transferring customers from one competing business to another is not the most meaningful way to grow a business. A business that grows larger only by customers switching from a competitor is not experiencing genuine growth—it’s simply rearranging the deck chairs.

Myth #3 | You must choose between focusing on Quality and Quantity in your business.
Quality attracts quantity. In a business where customer lives are being changed, employees are being transformed, and authenticity is flowing freely, you’ll have to lock the doors to keep people from wanting to participate.

Myth #4 | A business must compromise its message and mission to grow.
The assumption is that if a business is attracting more and more customers, it must be shallow and lacking in true meaning. Many people think large businesses are shallow because they confuse what is expected of infrequent customers with what is expected of loyal customers. Expect very little from the infrequent customer.

However, businesses should expect a major commitment from its truly loyal customers. Loyal customers should feel as though they have “joined the club” in some visible and emotionally-binding way

Myth 5 | If you are dedicated enough, your business will grow.
Skill, not just dedication, will bring forth business growth. It is a case of working smarter, not harder. The reason Steve Jobs of Apple is so effective in creating and marketing new products is because he is skilled at it.

Myth 6 | There is one secret key to growing a business.
There is more than one way to grow a business. Some businesses grow by appealing to a mass audience; others grow by appealing to niche audiences. Some businesses grow by using low prices; others grow by using high prices. Some growing businesses spend millions on advertising campaigns; others have never used advertising campaigns. It takes all kinds of businesses to appeal to all kinds of customers. If every business was just like every other business, they’d only reach a small group of customers.

Myth 7 | The only expectation a growing business can have its customers is their patronage.
Not only do growing businesses expect customers’ patronage, they also expect customers to tell their friends and family about the businesses they patronize. The fruit of a customer is another customer.

Myth 8 | Small businesses can’t learn from big businesses
Any business can learn principles from another like-minded business. One cannot grow a business trying to mimic another business. However, one can grow a business by using principles that another business discovered and then filtering those principles through the personality and cultural context of your business.

[NOTE: portions of this posting were lifted and mashed-up from Rick Warren’s THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH.]

Posted by John Moore at August 15, 2006 10:12 AM