Navigating the Winds of Change
The onslaught of the CV19 pandemic has brought about change beyond anything contemporary global society has ever experienced. A new era? A new “new normal?” Unprecedented, for certain! Uncertainty assured. As Alice found on the Red Queen’s chessboard, the pieces are looking and acting differently, and winds of change have slowed progress to a snail’s pace.
The systemic overturn of what was generally accepted, and for the most part, stable social, technologic, economic, environmental, and political norms mean norms are no longer normal. Compounded by certain unpredictable actions by certain authoritarian-prone leaders — a global phenomenon, not just here in the US — and seriously interrupted financial markets and supply-chain resources, and the prospect of a world anything like what came before is highly unlikely. Notwithstanding calls for a return to normal, given the impact on all aspects of business and personal lifestyle, the recovery will likely be slow, painful, and challenging.
As the Red Queen said, “If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast!”
This reframes the importance of quickly and effectively reimagining the organizational/institutional goals, objectives, and the strategic processes of both business and marketing planning, putting a new emphasis on navigating and stabilizing in an uncertain landscape in the present moment, while a seeking a new horizon that provides long-term stable (if that is even possible) growth opportunities. Twice the effort in half the time on a rapidly changing and evolving chessboard, with progress likely, but not assured.
What to Do and How to Get There?
The fundamentals of business planning and associated marketing, business development, and sales strategies remain a foundation for planning. The challenge today is the need to adapt and accelerate those efforts, empowering staff with agency that aligns with growth, not just survival.
First, focus on the customer you know. Business strategist, Tom Peters once said, “The easiest thing to sell (product, service, or experience) is the thing that customer has purchased before.” Today, with everyone emotionally invested in safety and wellness, what current offering might be positioned assuage their fears? A service to help them with business operations? A marketing program to help them gain more visibility with their customers? A technology that simplifies connection, communication, or collaboration. Services that save time, money, or effort — focused on customer needs — will always be valued.
In contrast, the hardest thing to sell is something not offered before (especially if it is outside of current core competencies) to a new customer. More than ever, this puts the emphasis and importance on renewing and retaining existing client and client-influencer networks. Taking time to reconnect, in-person — given social distancing protocols — via phone or video. Share insights, offer empathy, look for opportunities. Find common ground. Revisit the factors that made the relationship important to each organization in the past.
In past recessionary periods, too many firms researched RFQ/Ps (not clients), spent inordinate time crafting qualifications and proposals — attempting to justify how skills in one market apply to another — and submitted (only to lose), rationalizing effort over impact. Don’t waste time chasing for chasing’s sake. An unsolicited or unqualified proposal is never an effective marketing strategy.
With the proliferation of online research capabilities, clients have become more sophisticated and look for (or qualify) service providers that have specific experience related to their specific needs. With resources compromised that is only likely to become a more common differentiator. That said, a developed relationship can bridge that concern.
The better path is to research and develop relationships with deciders, influencers, and supporters of new organizations that are known to use the services offered by your organization (who are admired and would make great clients). Six degrees of separation is more like 2–4 in today’s LinkedIn-connected B2B ecosystem. Relationships lead to opportunities, and opportunities lead to work. Start small, build to big. At the end of the day, everything is a relationship business.
Forgo the easy answer from the snake-oil promise of “automated” management/operations or marketing/sales strategies and programs. Artificial intelligence has made great strides in informing business intelligence, but an automated email system, pushing general content (i.e., spam) on the curious cannot replace the personal connection a good business developer brings to relationship creation and management.
Invest in communication and sales training for the best doers, empower the creative efforts of the best marketers and sellers, work together, develop co-pursuit goals and strategies, and measure and report progress. Transparency in uncertain times reinforces cultural progress, interconnections, and positive development.
What Comes After What Comes Next?
Between the two extremes of “covet current clients” and “chase anything that moves” there are several approaches to begin and build relationships and new methods to move relationships to opportunities to win new work.
Investing in research and development and sharing results establish expertise in both new and existing markets, positioning the firm and the staff as industry leaders and as a knowledge resource. Encouraging technical staff to participate in publishing and speaking benefits the organization’s brand-building efforts and supports individual growth — building personal communication skills — is a proven pathway to market leadership.
A new value-based offering could be an extension of current expertise to qualified new clients (i.e., competitors of clients who look like existing customers, or potential clients in a parallel sector) that require similar goods, services, or experiences to support their efforts. This is a slow process (typically 6–9 months) but ultimately yields positive results.
The rules of recessionary economics are not written in stone. Many successful businesses started in a down period. Whether building a current enterprise or starting fresh, there are proven business strategies that can and do work:
Follow the money. Wiser words were never spoken. While speculative ventures in challenging times should be avoided, there are always needs to be met, funding available, and support required. It’s only a matter of finding the connections. Where is capital flowing from? What purpose is being served? What service can be provided that taps into that source?
Extend R&D efforts. Focusing on gaining a better understanding of a client’s business model can lead to ideas to solve challenges facing their company, their position in their community, or their industry as a whole. What — from the perspective of your firm’s skillsets — could be supplied that would supplement the client’s resources, position or reposition their messaging, or give them leverage or differentiation in their markets?
Look at the competition, feel free to emulate. Differentiation is the holy grail of professional services (really of any business enterprise). In organizations where professional, often esoteric, knowledge is the cost of entry and foundation of the offering. Unfortunately, to the buyer these services look remarkably similar. An architect is an architect. An engineer is an engineer. A lawyer is a lawyer. The best firms have found niche offerings that separate them from the crowd. A complimentary service. A supplemental staffing option. Pre-design strategies. All could expand the business using existing resources.
To know thyself, know thy customer. Take the time to survey existing clients, former clients, including new potential clients. Challenge leadership who avoid asking hard questions. If the relationship is valued and strong, clients will guide to what is important now, and what might be important in the future. If the relationship is weak, clients will likely pass on commenting, a bellwether to ask more probing questions as to the why of their ambivalence.
The Time Has Come Today
Challenging times bring out fear and anxiety that often lead to torpor and passivity. Not surprising. But, challenges also bring out the heroic and the positive. Today, for the health of the individual and the community, working alone, in self-directed isolation is good. Technology provides a connection. Challenges provide opportunities for collaboration.
More than ever, organizations should be incentivizing creative endeavors where the goal is to provide better service, support client needs and goals, and build the business. Hunkering down, waiting it out, cutting resources and effort are all signposts on a path to stagnation and ultimately failure. Do the former, not the latter.
Stay safe. Be well. Take care.
