This is part three of Pavlo Phitidis thee-part discussion of how to set your business strategy to cope with whatever it is that 2021 is going to hold for us. Taking into account that it looks like 2021 is going to be another tough year.
In part one, Pavlo identified the five biggest issues threatening the survival and growth of established business owners.
In part two he discussed six reasons why you must “be in action” in an uncertain environment.
And in this instalment, he talks about 3 strategies or action plans to get you and your business onto a positive trajectory for growth in a stagnant, uncertain economy. Listen to the discussion from The Money Show here:
He started by stressing the importance of taking a view. Identify a plan of action, and put your head down and focus on it. He sees three strategies that should be considered, and one of these will apply to most businesses.
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Reset your business to be resilient because the road ahead is going to be bumpy.
Whenever we talk about resilience, we talk about mindset, which is important – it’s 50% of the solution. But we also need to be designed to be resilient – to be able to cope with a lot of uncertainty. In this environment that includes the tough decisions on cutting costs, simplify your business, don’t try to be everything to everyone but specialise in understanding who you serve so that you can be in control and guide your team to only focus on things that deliver results.
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Reignite your business by ramping up growth and making up lost 2020 revenues.
Once you’ve designed your business to be simpler and more specialised in serving your key customers, this places you at the edge of change of your market. This happens because the changes in your clients and customers come from them – you need to be close to them! He referred to a website he had stumbled across that said “we are chef-led innovators”. To Pavlo this reminded him of what we all tend to do. When we are under pressure, we revert to our comfort zone, in this case, a former chef, doing what he THOUGHT his customers wanted instead of listening to what they really want and need.
How to do this? It could be as simple as setting aside 2 hours a week to have a zoom coffee with 2 customers, to find out where they are at, and what they need. It is not overly complicated. Just keep asking WHY? Why won’t it work? why do you want it? Why is it too expensive? What aren’t you seeing in the value?
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Reset your business for an exit given what lies ahead.
There is going to be a lot of M&A activity ahead, as big corporates hunt for new revenue streams. Your business needs to be built in such a way that the value is clear, and that it runs well, independent of you.
