Does anyone understand your industry?

You have a business, a restaurant, a guest house, a catering firm, a chauffeur company, and you reach a point when you need outsiders to support your business and your growth:

  • Business services: IT, accountants, telecoms, legal services, HR, recruitment
  • Investment: crowd funding, independent investors, organisations, banks

What if these people don’t know your industry that well? How does that impact the end result? Will you be confident in their service or expectations?

People do not need to know your industry to take on your work or look to invest. But should they?

Let’s start with investors…

Investors are looking at a model where they can see an enticing return on their investment. Some are prepared to take greater risks. Some buy into the long-term, others want a short term option. But the majority will not know or understand your industry!

This means it is up to you to educate them, and in a way they will relate to (and without the industry lingo), so ‘yes’, ultimately they do need to know your industry.

Now what about service providers?

You could look at it in the same light as investors – with you educating them on the industry. You then get to paint the picture in order for them to tailor their service. And tailor their service they must!

What this means is that no service offering fits all, each business and organisation is different in what it does, how it’s made up, they way it’s run and the issues it faces, so a service provider absolutely needs to adapt their service offering. But so many do not.

And what if the picture you paint of your industry is not accurate? We are all guilty of bias, our own take on why things are the way they are and what may lie ahead. Now, if the service provider had first hand experience of the industry through either their customer base or actual work experience, then wouldn’t they have a more informed view of the industry, the challenges and the changes? Service provider with no hands on experience or a service provider who knows the industry well… who would you choose?

Author: Written by ShelleyHolmes Accountancy

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