Have you seen the Broadway musical Kinky Boots written by Cyndi Lauper of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." fame and starring Dancing With The Stars' Mark Ballas? The story goes like this: the warehouse is full of unsold dress shoes for men. Another returned shipment is on its way back. Factory owner Charlie is meeting with each of his employees and having the “We’re closing the factory." conversation when one employee rather eloquently yet matter-of-factly states “Change the product.." Charlie stopped selling the expensive dress shoes in favor of extravagant, kinky boots.

Business can be rather simple, but when the weight of paying bills, responding to angry customers, desperately looking for new leads, wondering how you’re going to make payroll, it doesn’t seem so easy. It may take someone else whether it’s a coach, a mentor, advisor or even an employee to point out the obvious. Change the product is precisely what Charlie did, and he saved the factory by selling kinky boots to drag queens. Yes, there is a market for that.

If what you are doing isn't generating the results you want, something needs to change. Is it your product?  Is it the service? Maybe it’s the target market. Here are three ways to tinker with your target market:

• Change the product or service. Repackage and re-purpose. If prospects are buying, sell something else they want.
• Solve another problem for your current clients. We all have more than one problem.
• Broaden your market. Serve more people. Try a different industry.

Even if your business is flourishing, exploring new opportunities can help maintain your relevance. Kinky Boots for drag queens may never be your niche, but agility and innovation will keep your business from closing its doors.