Your mindset can influence your organisation's success

Books about positive thinking line the lifestyle shelves of libraries and bookstores everywhere. This can make it easy to dismiss as a bit soft and fluffy for business. It’s quaint; a little too ‘new-agey’ and ‘guru’, right?

Well, no actually. Don’t underestimate the impact of positive thinking on your business.

Play along for a second. Let’s imagine that you are about to walk into a meeting with the mindset that you really have no chance of winning a deal. You really need this deal, however your body language will give away your tightly held secret and give the customer a different story. They will see defeat, disinterest, stress or possibly fear. Your mind shuts down any input from the outside world and you misread signals coming from the customer. You develop tunnel vision, simultaneously limiting your creativity as well as your options.

In business, it’s not an understatement to say that this kind of thinking can be disastrous.

The mindset with which we approach any kind of interaction with our customers has a significant impact on the results we achieve. The truth is, positive thinking allows us to do everything better than negative thinking does.

Positive thinking makes marketing more successful

The pressure of slipping sales, higher sales targets, or lack of funding for important projects often brings this same negative mindset to marketing. With one eye on possible failure, we risk developing the kind of tunnel vision we talked about above.

The temptation is to miss the big picture and jump to things like how the advertising campaign should look and sound, which key words, fonts, graphics or footage we should use to capture our audience’s attention.

However, a positive frame of mind allows you to expand your thinking and take into consideration the people, processes and systems behind the campaign. It enables you to evaluate your business and how it will respond to the extra work associated with a marketing campaign. It helps you to problem solve and ensure the success of your campaign.

People with a positive mindset are not put off by questions like these:

• Will the customer be getting the best possible experience?
• What does the customer take away with them that reinforces their experience?
• What is our organisational culture like? Are we open to change? How do we handle mistakes? (Staff retention rates may give you some insight into this.)
• How do we communicate internally?
• How effective are our current systems and processes in managing our business and the consumer experience? 
• What is our customer feedback like?
• How much of our business comes from referrals or word of mouth?
• What is our net promoter score?

Positive thinking leads to improved decision making and positive action. It helps businesses move forward rather than becoming stagnant and overwhelmed at the first hint of a problem. It results in a stronger culture, happier staff, increased productivity and rates of problem-solving, and longer-lasting relationships with clients.

Social Impact Institute services are available throughout Australia, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and regional areas. Call us on 1800 822 763 to have a chat and book your consultation.

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