Just when you think the marketplace can’t get more competitive, some company ups the ante or changes the rules. If you don’t believe me, ask the people at Toys R Us, Blockbuster or Kodak. 

Other than failure, the common denominator amongst these former titans is their complacent acceptance that “good” was good enough. 

What they failed to understand is the innate human condition that I call “The Inflation of Expectations.” No matter what we have, we always want more, better, cheaper and quicker. It’s only natural. 

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, summed it up best when he said, “It’s impossible to imagine (that) a customer comes up and says, ‘Jeff, I love Amazon, I just wish the prices were a little higher, or ... I just wish you’d deliver a little more slowly.’” 

If you are not moving forward at a pace that’s faster than your key customers, you’re losing the race – even if you appear to be the leader.

You’re probably thinking, great ... I’m barely getting by in this dog-eat-dog marketplace, and this Kent Hill guy wants me to do more, cheaper, better and quicker. He’s nuts! If you are thinking that, you’re right on both counts: As George Bernard Shaw said, “Nothing great was ever accomplished by a reasonable man.”

But what if there were a way to realistically improve your business? What if you had the tools to map and navigate your route from good to great? 

Based on years of trial and plenty of error, FTCC’s Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Small Business has put several proven business tools together in a unique way to help companies grow from good to a sustainable great. It’s called the Profit Exceleration Program.

In the first 10-week segment of the Profit Exceleration Program, participants distill their businesses to the essential elements through an adaptation of the Lean Business Model Canvas. Then they assess and chart their company’s current situation using The GrowthWheel, an innovative approach created by a successful Danish serial entrepreneur who realized that starting, growing or improving any business can be reduced to a set of critical decisions and actions. The 

GrowthWheel helps users prioritize, decide and take action to improve those areas that are essential to the success of their enterprise.

The next step is to begin transferring the GrowthWheel output into LivePlan, an online resource to fine-tune, communicate and administer a plan.  

With this and some viability testing, participants are ready to move to the second 10-week segment of the Profit Exceleration Program: the implementation, funding, analysis and standardization of their progress. The Profit Exceleration Program is effective for existing companies and start-ups.

Each of the two 10-week segments costs $180 and includes The GrowthWheel, LivePlan and QuickBooks Online, one-to-one business coaching plus some proprietary extras.  

The first cohort of ten business owners will begin in mid-September.  For more information, write down a brief description of your business, your goals and the biggest obstacles you see in between. Email this to innovationcenter@faytechcc.edufor more information about the program. There are no shortcuts on the journey from good to great, and there is no guarantee of a safe arrival. But using proven tools and methods can make the trip a lot smoother and more rewarding.

If nothing else, remember that good enough today is not good enough tomorrow.