Evolution is truly amazing - one of the most fasinating things we’ve ever discovered.  In fact, isn’t it a wild thought that for the first time (only 200 odd years ago) the universe evolved triune brains – magnificent contraptions so complex that they have the capacity to look back at the universe itself and spot the evolutionary process that crafted them.  Wild.

Well that’s evolution on the macroscopic scale – but the thing I love is that everywhere you look, you see evolution at play.  In your children, your relationships, in culture, society, in yourself…. literally everywhere.  And it’s not just the slow old biological kind.  Not just the evolutionary processes that take hundreds-of-thousands of years to show any progress – no, in different quarters evolution moves at different speeds – and in many cases it’s blatting along at a fair clip!

Well today I was talking with Rod, and he shared an interesting evolutionary sequence in business that he has spotted – one that he’s found particularly valuable when explaining the software business to others.  The mnemonic for the process is “aeeps”:

and it goes like this: The first evolutionary step your business must make with a new customer is to get into that customer's mental-space - to "get in their face".  You need to make them aware of you (perhaps throw them a bananna or two).  Now if they like your brand of banana’s you’ve got their attention, it’s time to give them an education, give them the low-down on what it’s all about…which in turn allows them to start evaluating your proposition.  The better the education you provide, the more likely their evaluation will turn out positive.  This is growth…this is the business relationship evolving.   If at this point it continues growing in the right direction, the next evolutionary step will be for them to make a purchase.  They're in!, and the long term business relationship commences, which entails ongoing support (of both the product, and the relationship).

So in conclusion, now that I have bought to your awareness Rod’s sequence, and given you a little background education on what it means, you’ve been able to evaluate what I’ve said – and it begs the question, “do you buy it?”  Either way, you can leave your comments, and I’ll attempt to support my statements by responding in turn.

(but no promises, this blog ain’t a business you see :)

PS: Tip of the hat to Simon Pritchard for spotting the funny acronum

that sent my mind spinning off on this weird tangent.