Yesterday, I got to experience the joy of dental surgery, a treat I rank right up there with preseason football, flea markets and piano recitals.  Don’t worry, I am not going to detail the procedure or what the dentist found in my mouth (although the Louisiana license plate was quite a find).  What did get me thinking were the three options to correct the problem.  Often in business, we run into issues, opportunities, budgeting, etc., where we have multiple options to solve the dilemma.  Here is how I related my choices to running a business or department:

 Option 1 – The least expensive and least painful option.  In many cases it is tempting to choose this way.  It is usually also the quickest fix.  But, in the long term, there was additional hassle to make it work and it was only a short-term fix being used long-term.  If you are planning on being in business for a long time, why not fix the issue or create a plan for the duration.  Spend a little extra time and/or money, build a strong foundation and know that in the future what you create will still be producing results without having to put in extra time and effort that could be spent elsewhere.

Option 2 – Tear things down to the ground, fix the foundation and then build a better solution for the future.  This assumes that you can isolate the issue and it doesn’t directly relate to any other projects aspects of your business (see option 3).  You can leave the rest of the successful parts of your business in place and focus on this one issue.  For example, let’s say you are getting a good return on your print and radio/TV marketing, but your online marketing plan isn’t working.  Instead of carelessly adding dollars until you get traffic, you might need to stop everything you are doing, invest time into reviewing all online marketing efforts and then build a new plan, encompassing social media or other avenues, maybe even building a new web site.  It’s expensive and time consuming, but you current site might already be outdated and the new site can last for years and be easier to update.

Option 3 – Look at your entire operation.  While you might think you only have one area to shore up, others might need some help.  It may be more profitable for the future to invest in long-term repairs to the entire operation while taking care of the main issue.  If everything else is healthy, don’t throw it away, but while you are making major upgrades, look at the big picture, as additional upgrades in your company may not be too costly and might pay big dividends. 

Hopefully, you won’t have to endure dental surgery anytime soon, but we all face decisions on how to fix issues or take advantage of new opportunities on a frequent basis.  When those times arise, look at your options.  Depending on your budget and time constraints, any of these three could apply.  It’s a good day to write, but a bad day to talk and eat.  Cheers, Doug