As we have all experienced during the past few months, the world around us can change in a blink. In a matter of weeks, we’ve had to adjust the way we work together and serve our customers. But also rethink our priorities. None of us could have expected in January that our 2020 plans would already be obsolete before Q2!
It all comes back
Although the current crisis has taken us all by surprise, it does not stand by itself. Roughly every ten year an unexpected trigger causes the underlying system to implode. Remember the credit crisis that started in 2008? The world basically ‘froze’ as all solid ground seemed to have disappeared on us. Nobody really knew what to do. What the consequences would be. Or how long it would last. And it lasted so much longer than anyone expected.
The Corona virus changed the market
A lot of factors that impact your success lie outside of your organization and therefore outside of your influence. You can adjust your strategy though, to be able to live with or even benefit from them. Key is to understand the status of these factors. What will be the new customer behavior: will online shopping and locally produced products remain the standard or will the need for personal contact drive them back to physical stores and personal sales? Time will tell if this unprecedented phase will lead to some well needed breakthroughs in the way our society is furnished. And who you will be competing with from now on: the organizations you were used to, or new startups that are designed for the new normal and may well flourish in the new situation, like the SaaS-companies after the 2008 credit crisis or gig economy-players like Uber and Airbnb.
Crises affect your business model
A deep crisis forces many organizations to change their business model in order to remain relevant and successful. This kind of substantial adjustment will take time. Especially in the absence of a contingency plan, in which the required steps for various scenarios have been strategized. Without preparation, the first months of any new crisis are spent on surviving and upholding the cash flow. But a crisis can easily last for a year. Or two. And the consequences may be permanent. So, once the dust settles, its key to evaluate and update your strategy. With restrictions loosening in most countries, that time is now.
Can you change your market approach?
It’s also crucial to determine how well your organization can adjust to the new era. The past few months have been quite challenging for most organizations. Showing them how years of efficiency rounds made their operating model extremely fragile. With a strong dependency on production in low-cost countries, the lowest supply buffers and even worse: products and services that may not be future proof if customer behavior turns out to have changed permanently. It may take some time to adjust processes, machinery and mindset for the new reality. And there may be more to come- positive experiences of temporary changes could be an indicator for long term changes, as in some countries legislators are even discussing if the right to work remote should be included in the law.
Time to rethink your priorities to stay relevant post-Corona
For your organization, the market and preferences of your customers are likely different now. Is your offer still fitting for them? Will your efforts will have more effect elsewhere? You can’t be sure though until you analyze all relevant factors and determine your market-fit. A holistic market analysis can provide you with crucial insights: what countries and products you should focus on, and what marketing & sales activities will help you optimize your result. The key word here being focus. Because, as Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter puts so well: “The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do”.
Are you having trouble finding the best market-fit and approach? SpotOpp provides a clear solution to help you with issues in this area. Minimize your time and resources while maximizing efficiency, growth and results. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to know more.