By Ahmed al-Akber/DubaiThere comes a time when we all “coast”. Sales are in line with targets, customers are available in abundance and when you don’t even have to work as hard as much as you used to. You are comfortable and content – and you have the right to be!While “coasting” is lovely situation to be in, you don’t want to be there too long. We get comfortable when we sit in a soft, comfy chair, and can stay there for a long time without moving. The same thing happens in business – if you get too comfortable, the world may just pass you by.My MBA strategy professor, Gerry Johnson, called this strategic drift. It’s when a business stays in one place, not innovating or improving, while the rest of the market moves ahead. Customer needs eventually change and sooner or later the business finds itself in a position where it can’t deliver like it used to. Eventually it’s forced to make hard decisions to get back to the same level as in its heyday. Dell had this problem in the mid to late 2000’s when they didn’t focus as much on brand building and creating amazing consumer products as companies like Apple did (Apple is now worth over 20 times Dell’s market capitalisation). The Encyclopaedia Britannica was printed for 200 years before being stopped in 2013 following the growth in popularity of online alternatives like Wikipedia, which had only been around for less than 20 years.How do you know when you’re “coasting”? Some of my clients hire me because of this reason – their sales teams have no sense of urgency. Skimming time off what should be an effective schedule is usually a sign of that. Another is when you take twice as long to do something as you should do. If you feel no vulnerability or fear in what you do, that’s another sign you are coasting.The CEO of one of my clients once told me that he knew they were coasting when they had achieved their five-year sales goal, which they hit. The problem was they hadn’t set another five-year goal after that, and the business coasted for over a year. Sales suffered as the market caught up, and it took a huge effort to get the whole company back on track for growth.What aspect of your business are you too comfortable with? Have you felt vulnerability or fear over a new initiative lately? - Ahmed al-Akber is the managing director of ACK Solutions, a firm that helps companies to improve their marketing and sales results by offering more effective ways attracting customers and significantly better products and services. Ahmed has worked internationally in marketing, sales, and strategic planning at companies such as the Coca-Cola Company, Philip Morris International and Dell. Questions or comments can be sent to Ahmed on ahmed@acksolutions.com