I recently went to a seminar on how to do business with the government. I went mainly because I wanted to gather information that I might be able to pass on to my clients. Based on being an accounting firm I was under the impression that there was no government work that I could bid on. I was there no more than ten minutes when someone mentioned that the government does provide training services and this government location had recently set up a QuickBooks training class and hired an outside contractor to teach the course. One of my many AHA moments.
How many opportunities have been missed because we fail to “think outside the box”. There are many components to each of our businesses that we do not consider when we look at the business as a whole. Yes I run an accounting firm, but if I were to look at every service I provide I will find that there is more to DSS International than just accounting and maybe there are business opportunities that I might not have thought of because they are not “accounting” in nature.
A good exercise, and one that I plan to do, is to list each service or product that you provide. Then consider each one and see if there is an opportunity to market that service/product independently from your business as a whole. What you will most likely discover is that you are in many different types of businesses. For example, DSS International is primarily an accounting firm but we also provide training and mentoring services for the business owner. So in addition to bookkeeping and accounting we are also teachers. Given this maybe there are over looked opportunities in the teaching area.
So to grow your business it is time to look for additional marketing and business opportunities by simply “thinking outside the box’