What is Your Pivot?
Things that come out of left field and can devastate your business.
1) Recession
2) Bubble’s bursting, think Tech Bubble, Housing Bubble
3) Pandemic
4) Global Conflict
5) Supply Chain Disruption
6) Natural Disaster
As a business owner I have been through 5 of the 6 above.
Which and when are unknown. What is known, is there will be another.
Successful businesses have a built-in hedge against them. They have a pivot.
A pivot will allow your business to connect goods or services with the customer. This is true for B to C and B to B. Start with understanding what your business does, it will not change much. How you do things will change. This is the pivot.
You are still going to connect with the customer. The method to connect will be different.
Pivoting is not the end of the disruption process, but the beginning of the next leg of your journey.
-Jay Samit
Pivot examples:
1) Curbside pick up
2) Online ordering and delivery
3) Go virtual
4) Move outdoors
We coached clients through pivoting through the last two years.
One specialty grocer was forced to close their store. They pivoted taking orders online and doing curb side pick-up. The best part is this cut operating expenses and with online ordering allowed them to build a data base of a few thousand customers.
Another customer is a boutique training gym. They offered in personal and group training. The doors had to be closed per mandates. Clients were allowed to take some equipment home. Training was delivered virtually. In the short term the business kept revenue coming in. Long term, they have a virtual component and revenue stream of their business they can use indefinitely.
Your business having a plan to pivot is the oxygen that will sustain your business for years to come.
What is your Pivot?