How To Turn A Company Back To Growth In A Changing Market

small business growth and change

.

 

Five steps to do this are: 

1.  Look for trends in the market – what is changing and what is new.

This should be a free flowing assessment of the market unconstrained by the business or what it does.  Mangers / owners need to get outside of the day to day and really think about how the market is changing.

2.  Map out the business model.

Explicitly define what the business does and how it operates.  This should specify how the business makes money and why it has been successful in the past

3.  Assess the business model in the light of market trends.

Look closely at what is working, what isn’t working and how this is likely to change based on market trends.  This may validate the model completely, but more likely the process will reveal weaknesses and areas of risk that will need to change.

4.  Create options.

 Identity changes and strategic options that that will potentially work in the changing market.

5.  Develop a strategy.  

Evaluate your options and pick the ones with the best potential.  Create a plan to test them.  Reject quickly concepts that don’t pan out and continue to develop those with promise.

Managers should be open to exploring new products, new business models or even new marketing approaches.  One client had an awareness problem because his target market had drifted from the channels that he had used to communicate.  So we adjusted his marketing campaign, experimented with different approaches and built a strategy that is working for him.

Now, this same client is considering different product concepts and new ways to innovate his business model. In effect he is creating a backup plan and a robust, flexible, strategy with options.  Since he is focusing on incorporating change he is less likely to be caught unaware.

This is key to creating a business that can adapt to change, rather than be caught by it.

Theranos on the other hand is struggling due to allegations that their product doesn’t work.  The company is fighting back and only time will tell who is right, but without an alternative plan the company is stuck – if the one product does everything it should they are going to be a huge success.

If it doesn’t and the company is unable to come up with an alternative quickly, they fail.  In this case, not having a backup and not building in alternatives seems to be a plan for failure, not the other way around.

Related articles:

Responsibility and The Business of Change

Why You Should Always Be Anticipating Change

The 4 Major Business Obstacles of Change

RELATED POSTS

How to Get Newsletter Readers Hitting “Open” Every Time

How to Get Newsletter Readers Hitting “Open” Every Time

12 steps to the Art of the Irresistible Monthly Newsletter Let’s take a break from the “convert” talk for a second and focus on building genuine connections through monthly newsletters your readers look forward to every month. After all, happy readers are more...

How Will AI Affect the Role of the Salesperson in Business?

How Will AI Affect the Role of the Salesperson in Business?

 5 ways it could it have an impact on Hispanic culture As a salesperson in the mid 1980’s in the automobile business there was great fear first that Car and Driver, Motor Trend, and Consumer Reports were going to provide the consumers with  too much information, and...

Women & Men, Career, Life & Their Choices

Women & Men, Career, Life & Their Choices

Tips and Observations, Inspired By "Makers: Women Who Make America" Watching a recent PBS broadcast "Makers: Women Who Make America" was a moving experience for me. Whew, I didn't realize how much time had gone by. Many of the stories and events described in the...

Video Gallery

Polls

Sign Up for the Latin Biz Today Newsletter

PR Newswire

Featured Authors

Innovation & Strategy

Money

Talent/HR

Legal

Marketing

Culture

Fashion

Food

Music

Sports

Work & Life

Mindfulness

Health & Fitness

Travel & Destinations

Personal Blogs

Pin It on Pinterest