I was having a discussion one night with my wife about how this ”pandemic” would change or affect companies. We discussed many things. Our opinions were virtually the same but from different vantage points. Mine from a small business owner and hers from a position in a large corporation (M&T Bank) who does business with small businesses.
Part of our discussion revolved around how her large corporate employer always comes up with the keyword of that time or that situation. She continued to talk about how every meeting or email she would get worked its way back to that keyword or words. She rattled off a few from the past and then hit me with NEW KEY WORD……………drum roll please…………PIVOTING!
Initially, I chuckled out loud thinking of her employer (a LARGE corporation) pivoting. Imagine a tractor-trailer doing a three-point turn in a porta-potty. It was a “shake my head” moment for me. While she continued talking I went into thoughts of a pivot for our small business and what it would look like or resemble.
I decided to come up with a short comprehensive approach to addressing our pivot. Here is what we did:
- Lay the foundation
- What part of our yearly sales cycle will we be in when we open?
- What type of customer is that usually and what others could there be?
- What assets can be changed or retrained that would allow us to quickly gain business?
- What could the future look like beyond this?
- Determine the Shift that you will make
- Connect with current clients and convey your commitment to them
- Current customer Referral specials for new clients work great
- Improve your website and social presence and accumulate data for marketing
- Adjust your marketing plan and weekly calendar.
- Have employees that do multiple things and if they don’t —-TRAIN THEM!
- Test and Measure
- See what works and what doesn’t
- See what new ideas can be added for those dropped
- Rinse and Repeat
The key is knowing your company inside and out. Also, constantly educating yourself on market trends and handling difficult times in your business. Some good books on Pivoting are Achieving Business Agility by John Orvos and rethinking AGILE by Klaus Leopold.
No one has the key to getting through this, but good planning, educating, and communicating could be the difference between remaining open for years to come or being closed forever.
