Most businesses see themselves as a producer. What you should be doing is seeing your business through the customer's eyes - as a problem solver, argues Robert Craven.
Most businesses see themselves as a producer, a technician. When company owners or managers introduce themselves, they say things like: 'We are a pizza restaurant; we make pizzas' or 'We are a video production company; we make videos'.
Many of the so-called 'New Economy' businesses are pre-occupied with branding. To be more accurate, they are pre-occupied with putting out a message about themselves. It may not be so clever to follow their example.
Bigger companies get intoxicated with the idea of selling the 'courageous message' of the brand (the attitude: 'Just Do It', 'The Real Thing') rather than the product and the consumer. There is a belief in the larger corporations that branding provides the opportunity for seemingly limitless growth; the brand can be attached to almost any product. Look at the exponential growth in the range of products and services attached to a brand name such as Nike.
Dragons' Den judges James Caan and Deborah Meaden and social entrepreneur Karen Darby are some of the successful entrepreneurs who feature in our exclusive videos. 
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