The series has only just begun and already it is capturing over 10 million viewers every Sunday night, and we’re not ashamed to say that we are definitely part of that number!
Nature has influenced how we describe not only business, (“the rat race” or “the shark tank”) but entrepreneurs, employees and business owners too.
As we were watching the latest episode of Blue Planet 2 (in complete amazement might we add) we couldn’t help but think about the other valuable lessons that business owners could learn from some of these weird and wonderful creatures.
Communicate like False Killer Whales and Bottlenose Dolphins
Animals are the masters of communication, they cannot speak (in the traditional sense) and so they have developed their own methods of communicating between each other.
Watching Bottlenose Dolphins communicate is a marvel, using clicks and whistles they can work as a team to navigate the ocean. The interesting part came when we learnt that these Dolphins could change the way they communicate to interact with False Killer Whales.
These two groups merged to become a thousand-strong team, hunting for food as a pack. As a business owner, you cannot expect to communicate the same way with all of your employees and customers and achieve the same results.
Take the time to understand how your employees learn and respond to communication, some are more receptive to non-verbal communication where others need a process to be explained, step-by-step.
Customers are the same, you may be more casual with contacts that you have been trading with for years, others will be fine speaking on the phone and others will prefer to speak with you face-to-face.
It may seem time-consuming to understand the needs of every individual but your business will benefit in the long run.
Be as persistent as the Tusk Fish
As we were watching the Tusk Fish try to break into the clam that he had travelled miles for, we could feel its pain as the clam remained intact.
This fish challenges our perceptions, let’s face it, no one thinks of fish as the most intelligent of creatures, but the effort and lengths that the Tusk Fish goes to for a small reward, makes us realise that they’re a much smarter species than we thought.
Persistence is a vital component of success in business, you cannot expect to thrive as a business if you give up at the first sign of trouble.
When running a business, you are sure to encounter many problems, how you deal with them will determine how successful you are.
Credit control is a task that requires you to be persistent, otherwise you will write off hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds every year. You should outline a clear, straight forward credit control policy that defines the process from initial order to final payment.
This should include the chasing-up process, email, phone and even face-to-face contact if necessary. A third-party agency, like Commercial Domestic Investigations, is persistent on your behalf, working tirelessly to collect overdue payments.
Evolve like the Sea Toad
A Sea Toad doesn’t sound like a creature that you’d want to be likened to, however it can teach us a lot about business. The Sea Toad is a fish, even though the name suggests otherwise, it lives miles below the surface on the ocean floor and sits patiently, awaiting its prey to pass by.
Over millions of years, the Sea Toad’s fins have evolved and become webbed feet, allowing the toad to silently creep up on its prey while exerting only a small amount of energy. Of course, your business doesn’t have millions of years so evolution needs to be quicker, and a lot simpler than altering a limb!
Your business is unlikely to grow if you do not embrace change. Invest in staff training and professional development, look into new technologies that can help your business to grow or be more productive.
You should be open to new possibilities and opportunities and when these opportunities come knocking, your business needs to be able to adapt.
Protect yourself like a Spider Crab
Throughout nature we know that animals, and even plants protect themselves from predators and the environment. The Spider Crab uses two of its hind legs to carry around a piece of coral to act as body armour.
As a business, you’re vulnerable to attack whether that means fraud or late payments, you need to be as protected as possible. Credit reporting can help you to protect your business from late payments or delinquent customers.
A credit report provides you with a client’s payment history and financial information, giving you an idea of how they manage their money. If a report shows that a client has a lot of CCJ’s or bankruptcies then it may indicate that they cannot manage their finances responsibly.
Credit reporting should become part of your credit management protocol, it is an effective way to protect your business.
The natural world can teach business owners a lot about running a successful business, and the last lesson that Blue Planet 2 has taught us is to know when it’s time to move on.
We have been left haunted by the scene of a Cutthroat Eel that suffered from toxic shock as it swam in a brine lake. The eel writhed around for a few minutes before (thankfully) swimming back off into the ocean, it knew that it should no longer continue to swim in the brine.
This type of awareness can be applied to business, unfortunately some tasks will be fruitless and you need to be able to identify when it is time to move on or pass a task on to an expert.
Spending hours or days every week chasing payments with no results is not the best way to spend your time. Speak with an agency, such as Commercial Domestic Investigations, to see how they can help with your business’s credit control so that you can free up your company resources.
