Assess Corporate Culture When Choosing Your Next Customer
Filed under: Business Growth, Profitable Growth, Uncategorized
It is standard practice to qualify a prospect on the basis of time, need, authority and money, but why not by corporate culture as well? We all find it easier to work with some companies just as we prefer working with some employees more than others. In fact, as a result of outsourcing, with more and more work going to suppliers instead of employees, perhaps the supplier-customer relationship should (and will) start to mimic the employee-employer relationship.
If this is so, then as suppliers, we should start to assess our prospect’s corporate culture just as we did when deciding to accept a company’s job offer. While I’m not recommending pre-relationship psychological testing, we may need to run a relationship check just as we would a credit check. Since people still buy from people (as opposed to companies) some level of compatibility is essential. After all, customer-supplier relationships fail most often because expectations were not set, agreed upon and then met. Some relationships may be already doomed from the start!
So let’s take a few moments and decide whether we are picking good long-term partners or “one-time sales stands.”
- Does the decision-maker communicate like you do?
- Does he/she share some basic values with you?
- Does his/her company make decisions like yours does?
- How are disputes resolved, if they are resolved?
- Is it a conservative or progressive environment in terms of risk-taking, communications, problem solving, partnering?
While sales goals have to be hit, they are rarely accomplished through the first order. Therefore, developing an ideal customer profile before closing that first deal will help ensure that more will follow. Taking a few minutes when moving qualified prospects through the developed or proposal funnel stage before closing them will only enhance the chances of successful long-term partnerships. This profile can easily be added as part of your qualifying customer or pre-proposal questionnaire. Feel free to contact me if you would like some further thoughts on how to do this.
Connecting Engagement to Profitable Growth
Filed under: Business Growth, Profitable Growth, Uncategorized
For years, I have wrestled with what role social media role really plays in creating profitable growth and wrote a rowdy piece for AMEX on it here. But building relationships or “engagement marketing” is critical to creating profitable growth. And recently, when Constant Contact asked me to speak at their engagement conference on profitable growth, I presented the following 5 findings:
Five Key Findings
1. Customer Engagement
+ Your Firm’s Value
==============================
Profitable Growth in the New Economy
It is nice to chat online with communities and prospects, but it is crucial to speak in terms of your firm’s value and expertise. Whimsical topics may generate awareness and interest, but they must create live conversations where buyers can build interest and take action that leads to closed business and your profitable growth? Just like in marriage, unless engagement leads to committed customers it’s a waste of time and effort.
2. To ensure your engagement efforts generate profitable growth:
- Do your math. Determine your how many engaged prospects you must generate and how many of these you must convert into buyers to make your money.
- Focus your engaged prospects on your Best and Highest Use (BHUTM.) When you know your firm’s BHU and inject this into your conversations, your best prospects will respond to you in these terms.
- Convert customer engagement into profitable growth. Budget your engagement activities all the way through to your profitability.
3. Confirm that your engaged customers stay profitable.
• Measure exactly how much money your engaged customers are spending.
• Track your cost of engagement and never let it exceed customer profits.
4. Watch and ensure that your profitably engaged customers are paying you:
• Measurably and predictably
• Because of your social media/marketing
• Based on your firm’s value
5. Discover the specific ways how profitably engaged customers are paying you:
• They buy samples, trials, assessments and diagnoses
• Then they buy more
• And they refer your company to their peers who do the above
Customer engagement is a new word for building relationships, which is as critical as it is imperative. But social media and networking, without a connection to profitability, is a new word for monkey business. Make it your business to do it right!
Lessons Learned From Marcellus Part Three: Timing: When’s Your Right Time to Pounce?
Filed under: Business Growth, Marcellus, Pittsburgh, Profitable Growth, Uncategorized
“When will the Marcellus boom impact my firm?” Since timing is everything, you need to know when’s the best time for you to invest and gain a12-month return. If you are hearing all about opportunities but seeing few leads, buyers or orders from shale-related business, you’re not alone. Throughout my recent trips to West Virginia and throughout Pennsylvania, I’ve been watching the boom happen in fits and starts.
Last time, I wrote you about which industry sectors to watch first. Now, here are my thoughts on how to time your Marcellus initiative. When will the “Marcellus money” hit your business? For my insights read on:
When is the right time to invest in your Marcellus-related business? The answer will depend on how your region is advancing regarding the following factors:
1. Water regulations need to be “flushed out”
Right now, testing protocols for determining the impact of Marcellus drilling on ground water are being set and revised. This is for everyone’s benefit. And of course, there is a healthy debate. What is the definition of clean water and within what radius? And if a well, soil or drilled sample isn’t clean, then why and who’s to blame?
Which jurisdictions will prevail in setting the rules? State, local and federal agencies are jockeying for control, but lag behind industry groups like the Marcellus Coalition who are better funded and more sophisticated testers. Once protocols are set, who is liable and who will enforce the rules should follow quickly.
2. Midstream piping capacity is the current bottleneck
The gas wells that are already built are pumping all the gas they can, and that local facilities can store and, existing pipelines can transport. New pipeline capacity to move the gas downstream is in the works. Until new pipelines are approved, the midstream builders are waiting for orders and the fees that will help accelerate the Marcellus boom. These payments will not just be for the construction of the pipelines, but will also trigger the gas royalties that landowners will receive. Now, most landowner spending is based more on their lump sum windfalls from selling gas rights. When drilling starts in full stream, then royalty payments will start. This will clearly accelerate across-the-board spending.
Downstream businesses, namely those who benefit from the gas businesses are lining up behind several large opportunities. For example, a billion-dollar plastics plant producing pellets and film from gas is being contemplated in West Virginia. The business impact is obvious. And the four sectors previously described in my Lesson 2 — business services, transportation, infrastructure and construction are obvious beneficiaries and will be the first to show the boom is accelerating.
3. The price of gas must rise and stay over $4 per billion BTU’s.
As dependent as our nation and this region is on Middle Eastern oil, this oil and other gas alternatives can still be cheaper for producing heat and power for many commercial and residential applications. Although I’m not qualified to explain or refute this, the energy community thinks that the $4 benchmark is the tipping point for gas to become the prime choice. So, it’s a matter of time before higher oil prices will increase demand for natural gas, thereby increasing its price.
4. The Utica Shale opportunity could make Marcellus seem like the tip of the iceberg.
The Utica tract is the next, big opportunity adjacent to and underneath the Marcellus. It is deeper, richer and larger than the Marcellus. Apparently, it contains gas, oil and other minerals. Its simple existence reduces the risk of Marcellus alone to meet business expectations. As there’s more evidence, investors, drillers and their indirect suppliers and beneficiaries will certainly put their money where their confidence is.
5. Consolidation
Every month, other under financed, smaller drillers are being bought out by the major energy companies, as much to eliminate the risk that their corner-cutting practices pose to safe operations as for their value. Larger producers want clear regulations to comply with. In Pennsylvania, their group, the Marcellus Coalition, is also consolidating as the top-tier.
So when is the timing best for your firm to invest in the shale opportunity? My best advice is to watch your region in terms of the five factors I described above. The boom is coming. Stay tuned as I learn and share more.
We are All in the 1%
Filed under: Business Growth, Profitable Growth, Uncategorized
Recently, someone in the “Occupy” movement approached me, taunting “Are you in the 1%?” “No,” I responded. Undaunted, he then demanded, “Are you happy with your state of life?” “I’m in between great things,” I hum
bly retorted. “Don’t you blame corporations and thank government for your status in life?” he yelled at me as I took my leave. “Actually, neither, I hold myself responsible” I mumbled as I headed down the street. Despite my share of hardship and challenges, and reflecting on this exchange during Thanksgiving week, I’ve decided we are all in the 1%. Here’s why:
I think we are all in the 1% because:
- Excepting the Depression, even people in poverty live better now than most Americans did before the 1900’s.
- Compared to the rest of the world, we live in the top 1% in this country.
- And despite it all, we still have our free will, extensive free information and a legal/governmental system that generally protects us.
- And now while most everything’s at-risk, we still do have government and social services, tax-paying companies and 90% employment.
Maybe it’s just the optimist in me, but I must live believing we are all in the 1%, because otherwise, I might really start thinking its too rough out there!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Thank you for your support and for your contagious optimism and growth.
Making Money on Marcellus Part 2: “Finding Your Target Markets in the Marcellus Shale”
Filed under: Business Growth, Marcellus, Pittsburgh, Profitable Growth, Uncategorized
“Where is my opportunity in the Marcellus Shale?” I’m hearing that question asked more and more but answered less and less. Where and how do you grow your business if you have neither property to lease, nor services or products to sell to gas drillers? How do you shortcut the 5-10 year’s lead-time it’s supposed to take for Marcellus region’s economy to benefit every business? Are you willing to take a methodical approach to growing your business through Marcellus?
For property holders, and the fortunate few who can sell gas drillers, products, services, or transportation, the riches of Marcellus are already flowing. If you can’t figure out where your business fits in, the answer may be right under your nose. Curious? Please read on.
In this earliest of phases, Marcellus is only about building gas wells to extract gas. Fortunately, doing so takes people, infrastructure, services, and transportation. Let’s explore each one:
- People. While residents may resent the big companies importing experienced work crews from Texas and Oklahoma who will work 7 days a week for $40/hour, these workers need services beyond what their employers provide. And thousands of support jobs are going unfilled. Transient workers are experienced at working hard and spoiling themselves. Also, they need support at their worksite, where they bunk and for their families are back home. And local residents will accept training and support jobs and will be joined by immigrants moving in from depressed regions in search of better opportunities. What can your business offer people to improve their lives in Marcellus?
- Infrastructure. From roads to subdivisions to shopping to worship to recreation, Marcellus means opportunity. As roads are improved, businesses are coming in to support the support system. What products and services has your business offered to the construction, architectural, engineering and subcontracting industries that will be in demand in the Marcellus region? As natural resources are consumed, stretched and probably exploited, what products and services can your company offer to leverage, monitor, or protect the infrastructure and the natural resources with which it must coexist?
- Business services. While lawyers, surveyors and realtors are already making it big in Marcellus, what about your business? If you can sell anything to any business serving the gas drillers’ vendors, your business’ doors are opening. Business to business services are particularly lucrative opportunities since there were few such business services in these areas and outsourcing is the rule as businesses are racing to please their customers ASAP.
- Transportation. Shippers, logistics and supply chain industries are first coming to Marcellus to transport water and well supplies, but the drillers’ vendors and their suppliers will need all kinds of transport. With the emphasis on environmental safety and monitoring, combined with the fact that most of the Marcellus tract offers wonderful recreational opportunities, transportation services of all kinds will be needed to move supplies, people and information throughout the region. What can your business transport or provide to transporters?
So how can your business participate in the Marcellus boom? By thinking about what part of the first wave of people, infrastructure, services and transportation you can catch and ride. In the coming months, I will write about the best timing for when your firm should pounce and then, how to understand and predict buyer behavior. Stay tuned!
And if you just can’t wait, join me next Wednesday the 26th when I will present my workshop on Growing Your Marcellus Business at California University for the Marcellus Chamber. Learn more here. (To register online click here.)
5 Steps to Refocus During Tough Times
Filed under: Business Growth, Pittsburgh, Profitable Growth, Uncategorized
Whether it’s the economy, your family, business, community or society, probably some part of your world has suffered over the last five years. Unfortunately, there are enough signs show that the next few years will continue to challenge even the luckiest, blessed and oblivious among us. Even as we strive do “right and good,” what do we do if: demand for what we sell, access to resources we require, or our energy and drive simply dwindles?
If you need a pep talk, read on.
- Recognize bad signs fast. As it’s been said, once is a coincidence, twice a trend, three times, a certainty. If something isn’t working, figure out why ASAP. The world is changing faster yet most people can’t change at all. Every day I speak to people who feel trapped in so many ways. They have become what they tolerate because their pain of changing remains greater than their pain of not changing. In business, however, your marketplace (customers, employees and vendors and investors) will tell you the truth. For the other parts, get the personal, professional or spiritual support you need to accelerate changing your bad to good.
- Take stock in your value; Your Best and Highest Use® Accept quickly that your expertise and your firm’s experience are your greatest treasure. They remain yours forever and always the ingredients and foundation of your renewal.
- Keep your eyes open; seek opportunity. Wherever there is pain, need or hope, you can find and make opportunity. Follow your heart and your head. Your internal voices are ever more righteous as you mature. When most people take a hit, they lose faith in their judgment, impact and options. Stand apart and stay confident.
- Refocus, regroup, repurpose. Take your BHU and the opportunity or pain you uncovered and link these and then find customers who will value your repackaging. Activity matters so keep trying new versions and push forward. Try giving away your reinvention or better yet sell it right away. In facing setbacks such as bad timing, backward thinking and an ADHD society, rely on your passion and conviction to drive you to success. Remember your BHU is portable and deliverable. If you doubt where’s the demand for your value, go where you:
- Are getting human and viral response
- Have raving fans
- Are scarce
- Stay focused/don’t blink. Anything you create takes 3-6 months to generate reaction/awareness in the marketplace and 1-3 years to take root. Create the opportunities for quick wins and the metrics to prove your wins are real. Before you can generate market success and profitable growth, remember to create prospects, and qualify and develop them into buyers.
- Connect online as much as you can
- Get seen, heard and interviewed
- Identify and nurture allies, referral sources and champions
- Make your viral marketing portable; avoid investing in fixed costs, particularly of traditional sales and marketing.
Whether or not this all makes sense to you, think about the parts that do and put them to good use in refocusing your business in tough times. Email me at abirol@andybirol.com.
Companies Either Grow or They Are Sold
Filed under: Business Growth, Profitable Growth, Uncategorized
While financial gamers, schemes and scams have enabled many companies to avoid either profitable growth or a sale for years…
… ultimately one of these options is inevitable.
◦A company that is profitably growing is controlled by passionately committed owners and investors.
Their firm is financially and operationally self-sufficient. There is no need to merge or look for investors. Its leaders can reduce its credit line and pay down outstanding loans. The company has customers who are happy to pay for its valuable products or services. Over time, the company will build up retained earnings and become a creator of wealth. As long as its owners are confident and passionate they should never think of giving up their independence in running it or cashing out. Life is good!
◦A company that is not growing profitably has flat or declining sales.
Its costs and expenses are fixed or rising and it starts to lose money. The company begins to consume more cash than it generates. Owner, banks or investors have to subsidize the company through credit or by tapping any retained earnings. These leaders lose passion for their business as it is no longer self-sufficient. Clearly, its customers cannot or will not pay enough for the firm to delivery its products and services. First, the company runs out of cash, then out of credit and finally must be sold.
There are only two buyers for a company that is not profitably growing:
1.New owners and investors with ideas, cash and passion to return the company to profitable growth.
2.Bankruptcy trustees who sell the company for whatever they can to pay creditors pennies on the dollar.
So companies either profitably grow or they are sold.
What’s it going to be for your company? Do you agree or disagree?
Making Money on Marcellus: First Lessons Learned
Filed under: Business Growth, Marcellus, Pittsburgh, Profitable Growth, Uncategorized
If you own a business in Western PA/Eastern Ohio, the more you learn about the trillion-dollar business opportunity called Marcellus Shale, the more you may wonder how you can best profit from it. But unless you’re selling directly to gas drillers or energy giants, you are probably wondering what to offer, who to approach and how to go to market. As I’m helping my clients and workshop attendees do this, here’s the first in a series of lessons I’ve learned:
First Lessons Learned on Making Money on Marcellus:
- Make Marcellus your rising tide; not your tsunami: Find a portion of the overwhelming demand you can profitably supply and make sure you can deliver on any business you close. As tempting as it is, don’t let any one customer become more than 20% of your business. My friend Shaun Seydor’s seminal report ” The Economic Impact of the Value Chain of a Marcellus Shale Well” *is a must-read and linked here with his permission and my gratitude. Read it and think about where your can catch the wave.
- Follow the money and bring your “A” game: My early advice to clients is to avoid the big players (Range Resources, EQT, Chesapeake, Exxon/Mobil etc.) and sell to the companies who sell to these big boys. Stay one step removed from the “tier one” companies, and you can keep more control over how you do business. But it’s still a fast and furious world and strong contracts are imperative. Put your best foot forward and never forget: with all this opportunity you are competing in the big leagues. Fortunes will be made and lost. This is a great time to Recharge Your Best and Highest Use®
- Stake out your value and place in the food chain. Learning where and to whom you offer the greatest sustainable value is critical. There are many ways to slice the Marcellus marketplace. Identify your ideal target buyer and know their buying process. Build a selling process that matches their buying process. Here’s an article to help you think about this http://profitablegrowth.com/shout-out-or-shout-at-your-sales-force-is-it-generating-sales-growth-in-the-new-economy/ Also, decide where your business fits into these two graphs from the Marcellus report: Figure 1 – Types of Economic Impacts (p 4.) and Figure 2 – Phases and Key Steps in Developing a Marcellus Shale Well Site (p.10).
- Timing is everything. Many business owners I’ve met operating in the Marcellus tract complain that the “out of towners” won’t hire local companies or that “the money is yet to show up.” Make sure what you sell is ready to be purchased. Watching what your customer’s customers are buying is one way not to make your move too soon or too late. Here’s a piece I wrote in a different context but has some good tips on figuring out your best timing http://profitablegrowth.com/is-your-demand-down-or-distribution-dying/
- Chase transactions or relationships Most companies working in the Marcellus space can be split into transactional firms who do business one sale at a time (e.g. gas stations) and those relationship companies growing over the long term (e.g. cleaning companies.) Match how your business profits best to the right kind of kind of customers that you should do business with. To help you decide which you should focus on, here’s an article for you http://www.andybirol.com/DisplayContent.aspx?MenuID=626
Unlike the great Oklahoma Land Rush where everyone got a fair start at the same huge opportunity, Marcellus is much more complicated and tricky despite the trillion-dollar economic windfall it is. Stay tuned. This is the first in a series of pieces I will write as I learn lessons with my clients and workshop attendees on making money on Marcellus.
Do you have questions on how your business or audience can make money on Marcellus? Call or email me and let’s talk about it.
*By Heffley, Seydor, et al & the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.
Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary For W.K. Thomas
Filed under: Business Growth, Pittsburgh, Profitable Growth, Uncategorized
As a growth consultant for small businesses, I’ve enjoyed many opportunities to see how various small businesses function, especially those that have operated for a number of years. In an age of understaffed companies and conflicting and competing demands, most of these companies are so busy helping their customers that they don’t take the time to help themselves.
They tend to lose sight of what I call the extraordinary that lies at the heart of the ordinary in their operations–the characteristics that make them special and unique. One such company in Butler County is W.K. Thomas.
The president of this company lacked a formal marketing program and realized that traditional, relationship selling would not get him to where he wanted to be—in the scarce space of marketing and sales in their respective businesses. Now, he’s changing his company to achieve that.
Thus far in our work together, he’s focused on expanding his values and defining and honing what I call his individual Best and Highest Use®. Best is what he loves to do. Highest is what he does really well. And Use relates to what his customers value and are willing to pay for.
Under the leadership of Brent Thomas, W. K. Thomas & Associates provides pre-engineered steel building and construction services to the commercial, industrial, community, and religious markets throughout Western Pennsylvania. Brent’s father, Bill, now Vice President, established W.K. Thomas in 1974 as a custom-home builder and general contractor. Since then, the company has remained a privately owned, family company.
Other firms rely heavily on the service offerings of project management and estimating as commodities to drive business forward. They end up competing in a market where bottom dollar pricing and the resulting low-quality construction become the norm. But Brent Thomas is linking the brand of W.K. Thomas to pre-engineered steel buildings as the company’s big differentiator and is driving revenues up. His company is growing a reputation in Butler County as the go-to company for these types of buildings.
“I’ve stepped outside of being jack of all trades,” says Thomas, “I’m focusing on pre-engineered steel buildings, which is our Best and Highest Use, have taken on more responsibility for sales, and I’m reorganizing our team to help energize this new direction.”
When I began working with Brent Thomas, he had a strong, well-established business with great potential for growth and wanted to take his company to the next level. What made sense for him was my ability to find the extraordinary within the ordinary of his company. My approach has been to find the characteristics that make him special and different from his competitors, and to cultivate these aspects into exciting opportunities to grow his business.
Working with him and his customers has led me to understand his product lines, how they add value, and how they develop special relationships with his customers, whose feedback is critical to our endeavor.
The upshot is that now W.K. Thomas is becoming more aggressive in proclaiming its value and more consistently educating its customers about what it can do to help them. Thus far, we’ve focused on expanding Brent’s values and defining and honing his individual Best and Highest Use®.
Throughout my years of consulting with businesses like W.K. Thomas, I’ve deployed this approach to help more than 430 businesses owners identify the specific markets that’s right for them and their companies. This has had a $450-million impact on the economy.
Best and Highest Use also immunizes companies against the “Be All Things to All People” disease. This disease is as common as a cold, but it’s as deadly as the plague for small businesses.
When business owners fail to target specific markets in this way, a number of consequences occur, all of which are bad. Their companies aren’t special. They’re mediocre, forgettable, or worse. People can’t refer customers to them. Their companies attract unqualified prospects and waste resources on prospects who could care less about their offers. This, in turn, diminishes their efforts with regard to prospects who do.
What’s more, best use helps business owners to resolve the greatest pain or create the greatest opportunity for a narrow slice of a market. This creates a crucial intersection for them between their companies, their Best and Highest Use, and the needs of their customers.
Over time, I’ve had the privilege of learning, using, and teaching a variety of growth tools for organizations. We’ve used a variety of names for these processes, including strategic planning, management by objectives, sales management, and incentive compensation. Too often, these systems steamroller over the interests of the users. The fact is that old-fashioned, autocratic tools just don’t work anymore.
More than a few times, I’ve had people challenge my concept of Best and Highest Use, saying that it’s just another term for distinctive competence, one of the buzz words that periodically make the rounds of corporations and MBA programs. In one way, they’re right. Best and Highest Use is essentially distinctive competence for business owners. The difference – and it’s a large one –is that although distinctive competence speaks clinically of skill sets and marketplace advantages, Best and Highest Use involves an owner’s emotions, goals, and personality.
One concept I hear kicked around is the term, best practices. But this assumes that all firms start out and grow and stay completely equal. To center your business on best practices is to deny, ignore, and disrespect your Best and Highest Use. How can you ever tell if you are better or worse than you should be if you only judge yourself on the basis of the lowest, common denominator of other companies?
Working together, Brent Thomas and I continue to focus on his individual Best and Highest Use to translate new customer demand into substantial, dramatic growth and confidence in his abilities.
In the short and medium term, we’re tailoring initiatives designed to achieve profitable sales growth. At the same time, this company leader is experiencing a renewed excitement and passion for his business. At a time of economic hardships when competitors are pulling back or taking cover, their passion and excitement is giving him confidence to make it work.
As we reinforce the abilities of W.K. Thomas to deliver higher value at lower cost, we’re decommoditizing the company.
This is not to say it’s easy. For one thing, Brent has had to break old habits. That’s difficult. But my goal is to push him out of his comfort zone in a way that causes willingness to raise new behaviors while preventing him from making ultra-risky, bet-the-company decisions like introducing price changes to gain market share, hiring non-producing sales people, or getting rid of a sales force.
As I work with companies like his that have enjoyed years of success, I’ve enabled them to make course corrections a step at a time. The end result has been that they’ve sharpened their views on the kinds of businesses they want, the kinds of services they deliver, and they’ve stopped trying to be all things to all people. These are hard choices that emerge from recognizing that everything they may be involved in is not a business.
Andy Birol is the Founder and President of Birol Growth Consulting, www.andybirol.com. You can reach him at 412-973-2080 or at abirol@andybirol.com.
If The Economy Is Slowing, Is Your Business Growing? 12 Tactics To Ensure Your Business Does Well During A Slow Economy
Filed under: Business Growth, Profitable Growth, Top Line Growth, Uncategorized
By now, there’s no question the U.S. economy is mired in an economic slowdown. While your specific industry may actually be strong, slowdowns are epidemic in nature and have a way of leaking into otherwise solid sectors.
The simple fact is that expectations drive consumer behavior. A mindset of limitations is replacing an attitude of abundance. As a result, people are hedging their own bets and risking less.
All of this has put business owners in a precarious situation that they haven’t witnessed during the roaring ’90s. But that doesn’t mean your business has to stop growing just because the masses are taking a wait-and-see attitude.
Here are 12 tactics to help ensure your business doesn’t follow the downward trends.
Warranty and maintenance contracts that extend the useful life of the status quo.
Programs/products and services that promise reduced costs and greater efficiency will be more attractive than those promising increased sales.
Channel power will go to those with paying customers or the ability to retain their margins.
Loyalties and relationships of convenience/laziness will be broken. In times of stress, relationships either deepen or disappear. Pick and choose your partners on both the supplier and the customer side. You can’t be all things to all people.
The transition from having not enough people to having too many people may be sudden. “Bargain-price” human resources can help increase customer service or search for new customers.
The challenge of focusing on your best and highest use, your target market and your customer pain becomes all the more imperative. As demand slows down, every purchasing decision will be questioned. The practice of finding the best suppliers may be replaced by finding the one lowest cost supplier.
As people become more risk-averse to selling on the basis of fear, uncertainty and doubt will be effective.
Capital goods will be harder to get approved by customer finance departments. If so, they will be prioritized in the following order:
- Those that improve profits
- Those that increase sales
- Those that decrease production costs
- Those that decrease administrative costs
Technology factors. When tech capability greater than the market’s capability to absorb it, then price falls when everyone beyond the early adopters stop buying it. The minute the technology isn’t used, the value drops. Technology starts being given away and revenue streams devalued. Inevitably, the technology is adopted and price goes up, or more likely the next great thing replaces it as the cycle repeats itself.
Outsourcing may or may not decrease but the need doesn’t.
Leverage goodwill if you already created it with your customers.
Rethink the time versus money tradeoff. People may have more time to spend on tasks they formerly might have paid others to perform.
While there is no surefire way to avoid a slowdown, if you’re proactive in your approach odds are you’ll be better off then your not-so-prepared competitors.
