Emerging from the slump
(Editor’s note: Dr. Barbara Weaver Smith is Founder and President of The Whale Hunters. She submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
Over the past few weeks, I’ve worked with several entrepreneurs who want to position their companies to emerge strong from the recession. Each company is seeing growth opportunities and signs of new business that have been absent for the past 18-24 months.
The problem is they’re in hunker-down mode. To survive the downturn and preserve jobs, they’ve told their team to bring in every possible sale—no matter how small it is or how distasteful. That, in turn, has nurtured a business development culture where anything goes.
Their companies no longer apply the criteria to separate a great opportunity from a deal that they should walk away from. As a result, they’re often out of touch with their market, their competitors, their internal culture and their customer service capabilities.
If this sounds like you and you’re ready for a growth spurt, it’s time to reinvigorate your selection process. At the same time, explore the current status of your market, hone new eyes on your competition and consider what needs to change to make your company one of the recession winners.
Here’s a set of questions to guide your renewal.
Are you in control of your sales success? The fastest way to recovery for your business is to closely manage the deals that your team is permitted to work. Require that you have all the information necessary to endorse a hunt. Have the necessary processes in place to ensure that your team only chases business they have researched and evaluated. They should be able to give their best sense of the value of winning and the cost of losing.
Do you have a viable Target Filter? Everyone in the business (even if there are only a few of you) needs a clear definition of what you are looking for in terms of new, larger customers. That means understanding the criteria of your key customers and how that criteria has changed with the market in the last 12, 18 and 24 months.
Are you ready to service your new customers? Many companies downsized to weather this recession. Perhaps you have been finding work or making work in order to keep key employees on payroll. But if your team has been slacking or only working on smaller, less significant deals, they may have lost an edge that you’ll need to serve a new, bigger customer. You’ll also need a clear plan to ramp up your staff capabilities when you land that deal.
Do you fully understand how your market has changed? Economic downturns have many unforeseen consequences. Market leaders may have suffered while their competitors became stronger. You need a complete understanding of how your target customers are positioned today, not two years ago. How have their business goals changed? Who is on a growth path and who is merely hanging on? Target those potential customers who most need your products or services now—whether you can serve them best on an upturn or a downturn.
What has happened to your competitors? Many of my clients have experienced bigger competitors bidding on smaller jobs that in better times they would not pursue. Some of your smaller or peer competitors have not survived. Others have done creative joint ventures and discovered new markets or invented new products and services. You and your team need a complete understanding of your competition today.
In every downturn, clear winners – and losers – emerge. It’s a time of great opportunity for entrepreneurs, but it’s never business as usual. Emerging from the slump in a better position than before requires customer research, market clarity and competition analysis. And most of all, it requires sharpening the capabilities of your entire team to enable them to live in a culture of business growth rather than survival at all costs.
Photo by alancleaver_2000 via Flickr
Next Story: Damntheradio launches Facebook promotions tool for artists and brands
Previous Story: Borei breathes life into toys using touch electronics
People: Jerry Buhlmann
