On Monday, the stock market took a dive of 777.68 points on news the congressional financial bailout wouldn’t pass.  This sent shock waves through Wall Street and the nation as it was assumed the House had the votes in order to pass the bill and send it onto the Senate.  There was doom and gloom and news of the sky potentially falling when the stock market opened on Tuesday.  But that didn’t happened.  Instead, the market rallied back 485.21 points. 

The events this week related to the financial crisis contain many lessons that can be applied to business.  Today’s lesson for all of us is a familiar one:  Never assume.

Change is the operative word these days.  Not just in political campaigns.  There’s a lot of change happening in our daily lives.  Such as the bank you always trusted to be there suddenly has a new name due to the banking collapse.  The same has been true with local department stores and your favorite airlines over recent years.  Yet people, in general, really like and seek comfort.  Knowing and trusting something will always be there when you need it.  That’s mostly an assumption these days. 

Do you assume with your business too? 

You can’t assume customers will always be there.  You may have customers for years but if you haven’t paid attention to them and have taken their business for granted, your customers could be talking to your competition and doing business with your competitor instead in the future.

You can’t assume your sales force is doing their job.  You need to get frequent sales reports from them to see if they are calling on current customers and making the necessary prospecting calls.

You can’t assume you’ve got it right.  You have to look at every aspect of your business from an objective point-of-view and change what needs to be changed.

You can’t assume things will remain status quo.  The world is changing and you need to change with it.  In fact, these are just a few examples.  Look around at your business and take nothing for granted.  View your business with fresh eyes and a new perspective. 

Don’t assume anything.