With this article I would like to talk to you about the process that takes a business from where it stands “now” to where the business associates and its owner want it to be. It is all about guiding a business to growth by helping the business owner clarify their vision of their future, how it fits in with their personal goals and in the market context overall.

During my working career I have had the opportunity, in some cases with a sevenfold increase and success rate, to launch, improve, develop and promote a variety of businesses; from start ups to well established trades, from retail to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Psychology is one, if not “The One” of the most important aspects in marketing a product or business – as, unsurprisingly, psychology deals with the principles of human behaviour.

Psychology and Marketing have been going on hand-in-hand for many decades. Big companies and corporations use it on a daily basis without, often, the consumers actually realising it. IKEA, for example, force customers to follow a certain “route” in their stores so that buyers will come across some of the same products on more than one occasion. All supermarkets have small items for sale at the till, thus tantalizing bored customers in the queue and inviting purchases. FedEx have “designed” an arrow in their logo (look carefully), Argos and Amazon, amongst many others, have a smile under their brand name – all with the prospect of presenting themselves as positive and trustworthy.

They all know what they are doing, they all know how to attract customers; they invest in psychology and marketing. Psychology and marketing are an integral part of their success.

A business plan, approved by a bank manager – whose job and experience is only confined to banking business and nothing else, is not sufficient to attain success.

Please allow me to give you an example: I have come across chefs that looked at their boss’s business and said “I can do better than him, on my own, I will open my own restaurant” – only to find, a few months later, that they have failed.

The same applies to many other businesses – “taking the formula/experience of current job/position somewhere else to make it a success”  – does not always translate into long term success.

There are many reasons, for instance, however much one would like to believe, we are not always the best at doing everything. To keep on the catering theme, one might be a fabulous chef but lack at accountancy, interior decoration, staff management or other skills can result in a business failure.

Pride can also get in the way and can make us blind to our business needs. Pride, according to Professor Steve Peters, is what makes us use emotional and irrational thinking and make us enter into discussions with a win or lose attitude.

In comedy we rarely see or accept to be associated with the character portrayed in the program. We laugh at him/her but we fail to concede that we have a lot in common with the caricature. Television programs and documentaries fill our screens with chefs, restaurants, shops, hotels’ big and amazing failures. We all recognise, laugh or get upset about the business owners’ mistakes. We see theirs but fail to see ours as – we know best – until it is, simply, too late.

Stars like Gordon Ramsey and Alex Polizzi are paid to “entertain” viewers with their acting on how to curb irrational, unprofessional and failing business owners.

My job is not to entertain anyone but to ensure that your business (products, display, pricing, customer service, marketing, motivation etc. etc.) will point in the right direction to attain success. A few of my successful collaborations are already posted on line.

In Part 2, I will list some failures that I have come across.

In a fiercely competitive world, the survivors and winners are those that recognize their special strengths and adapt. But, equally, also acknowledge the importance of partnership and alliance to their success, aware that one alone cannot expect to have the expertise and resources to solve every problem, grasp every opportunity, and meet every challenge. © Copyright – A.B.M. Procaccini

Article by A.B.M. Procaccini – Clinical Marketing, Coaching & NLP Practitioner