I was in Ireland a week or so back for a birthday party and family gathering. We hired a car at Dublin airport for the drive into County Kildare. Almost as soon as I hit the M5 out of Dublin I felt the steering a little heavy. On the N4, I had a lorry behind me that was flashing its lights at me. The roads are undergoing huge works and the traffic was moving in geological time frames – a journey that usually takes about 40 minutes took us almost 3 hours – so I put the heavy steering down to unfamiliarity and slow speeds and the flashing lights down to impatience and frustration. The car was comfortable, my left knee was starting to hurt from the constant clutch changes, and I had to concentrate on the traffic. I ignored the signs.

Ignoring warnings leads to BAD THINGS

Over the next couple of days, we made a couple of short journeys in the car. By now I was used to the way the steering handled. I even said to my wife Laura that the steering was the one thing that would stop me buying a similar car. Why would I think anything was wrong? This was a hire car from Hertz, after all: it must have been checked before I picked it up. Talk about blissful ignorance.

On the morning we were due to drive back to Dublin and fly home, I came out to start loading the car. And there it was: the inevitable flat. Then the signs all made sense: the heavy steering was from the decreasing pressure and the lorry’s flashing lights were a warning from an experienced driver. But I’d been enjoying a new car and concentrating on keeping us moving forward in tricky traffic conditions.

A ten-minute tyre change and we were off again. The flat had a nail in it, which was letting air out slowly but surely. It had obviously been there from the moment we set out.

Does your business have a slow puncture?

It’s easy to miss the signs when your focus is elsewhere and when the road ahead is clearly marked, even if the traffic is moving slowly.

Changing conditions demand changed tactics. Next time I hire a car from Hertz (or anyone, for that matter), I’m going to check the tyres as well as the bodywork and fuel level. When I returned the car, they wanted to charge me for the tyre and the puncture. I offered to charge them for my time and labour changing the tyre. They dropped the charge for the tyre but still charged me for the puncture. We had a plane to catch and no more time to argue. (But after checking in, we went to the Hertz desk in the terminal and spent longer arguing: the result was a refund. Boos to Hertz for not allowing their staff on site to make decisions but cheers for being able to make it good later.)

I’m meeting a large number of people from UK businesses who feel the steering is getting a bit heavy but who want to talk about anything other than what that might mean. They don’t want to acknowledge that the road is wider, the traffic conditions more tricky, or that their car may just no longer be the right vehicle for getting them to the next junction. Their attitude to the web and to new media and social marketing is akin to the boy racer who sticks in a pair of furry dice in the rear windscreen and a spoiler on the tail and thinks he’s turned his father’s old family saloon into a head-turning sports car.

This isn’t because they’re not smart. They run successful companies, after all. But they do rely on a team around them who may be cursed with a heavy dose of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Or it could be because:

• the marketing team doesn’t believe social media is relevant for your business;
• the PR company has spent years building up a long list of press contacts;
• the company has a reduced weekly rate for repeat advertising in your local paper;
• the web site is really just an on-line brochure;
• most of their new business comes through personal recommendations;
• they don’t seem to get that many customer service issues – usually a sign that they make it hard for customers to get in touch.

But there are ROAD SIGNS

Your customers have an increasingly short attention span: they have to wade through more and more clutter.
Your customers no longer have to tolerate interruption: they can skip adverts.
Your customers can quickly check credentials: they don’t automatically trust you.
Your customers can find more and more niche products tailored to their exact needs.
Your customers expect to be able to tell you what they want – and what they think about your products.

If you’re driving past these signs and making no changes in direction, don’t be surprised when everything just comes to a grinding halt.

If you were starting your business now and these signs stood between you and your first sale, how would you connect with your customers?

So, what stops you changing your approach now?