Are you a placeholder or a keeper?
The world has gone though many involuntary readjustments. Whether it was the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs (that heralded a new age for man), a plague or famine (that reined in population growth), war or economic boom/bust cycles - all have ultimately resulted in a stronger, better world. The law of the jungle - survival of the fittest is a cruel, yet necessary fact. We won’t all survive.
This Recession is a major readjustment and whilst we all feel for the tens of thousands who have lost their jobs or the many more that are working part time in order to save jobs we can’t deny that the big “R” is violently shaking the tree and making us all more efficient. We can only hope that when we return to the boom times that the lessons learned in 2009 will stay with us longer than the last time. Those lessons are simple but vital.
In good times many marginal businesses make money in spite of themselves. Its easy to set up a business on a wing and a prayer hoping that you will succeed and the worst that can happen is you tried and slipped quietly back into the PAYE workforce, hopefully paying off creditors in full (well apart from some pretty spectacular collapses this time round). There is nothing wrong with the spirit of entrepreneurialism. But lesson one is that unless if you can truly add value, fill a more than required need and do a better job than the competition then the business plan was flawed in the first place – go and get a wages job.
This time round the economic metrics are a little different. Analysts say that there are more than 70,000 small businesses (the backbone of Australia) that may be currently trading insolvent - their markets and raison d’être slipping away because they are in a highly substitutable, oversaturated market and they don’t add sufficient value to justify remaining in business.
For example the 2008-2009 Yellow Pages on-line listed 570 Conference and Exhibition Organisers. Today it lists 468 – a reduction of nearly 20%. Predictions for 2009-2010 are significantly lower. The message for smart users of conference management services is forget the short term fees bargain that was a result of an oversaturated market – look at the company’s pedigree, forward business, longevity prospects, risk and management regimens and most importantly, ask what they can do to add value to your meeting over another competitor.
But back to this articles title – Placeholder. It is a word that is creeping into economic jargon. It is being used to describe people or businesses whose names are irrelevant in the context in which they are being discussed – Joe Average, Jane Doe, “The great unwashed”, Acme Corp (with apologies to the Road Runner and any real Acme Corp), Widget (especially in economics, for a product whose identity is unimportant) and so on. It appears that the world has become too full of placeholders. “He/she was just a placeholder (seat warmer)” or “The Company never achieved more than being a placeholder (an insignificant footnote in economic history)”. Placeholders are the first to go in tough economic times.
What can you do to avoid being categorised as one? My dearly departed, business savvy Dad used to say “You don’t get paid just for doing your job” and he was right. On a personal level my now 24 year typical Gen Y old son was a placeholder – getting through life with as smile and ineffable charm, never leaving very deep footprints on life. By contrast my 26 year old daughter has always overachieved as evidenced by her brilliant career and willingly undertaking tasks well beyond her years or experience. I always felt that I had let my son down somehow by not instilling sufficient endeavor and enterprise that has been a hallmark of my career. Fortunately he was just a slow starter and over the past year or so he has fundamentally changed. He has two jobs now and he is working very hard to ensure that he is more valuable than his co-workers – not in an arrogant sense at all but when redundancies came he was valued for what he had done and could do. He is now a keeper. Every wage and salary earner needs to become a real keeper and to add value to their company and its clients as well.
This article is not intended to be self serving but the company I lead, Event Planners Australia is not a placeholder. In its 30 year history it has set the standards on service and innovation in the meetings industry. It has been recognised by numerous state and national small business awards, MEA state and national Awards for Excellence and other industry awards. The placeholders will say “Well that’s because they bothered to enter or because they could write well”. Sorry yes we entered because we felt that recognition is a necessary part of doing one’s job very well and drives us on and no, writing skills do not sway professional judges – results do. Go to MEA’s web site sometime and look at the past award winners – there is a pattern emerging which shows who are the stars in our industry. Wouldn’t you rather hitch your meeting or event to one of these proven performers?
If you want to significantly improve and grow your meeting or event contact me – you won’t be disappointed. rays@eventplanners.com.au.
