A Bad Economy is Good
Why? A down economy drives a lot of really good decisions. We are all tightening our belts. Our priorities shift. Things we thought were so important a month ago suddenly seem unimportant. For many, the shift is towards things that have lasting value and away from things that provide fleeting satisfaction. We take more time to enjoy that great glass of wine. Suddenly it seems more important to savour every sip. We delay purchases to focus on what we already have. A good wash and tune up and that old car still gets us to where we want to go in style. We spend more time having family dinners and less time in fancy restaurants.
These shifts are good for us personally and professionally.
The personal benefits are obvious. Moving away from consumption and towards preservation generates a sense of personal satisfaction. Doing things yourself drives confidence and autonomy. It also drives a feeling of team with those who are close to you. Cooking dinner, setting the table, washing up: all much better at bringing people closer than eating out.
From a business standpoint, the "bad" economy drives a similar value shift. Business people will also be doing more themselves. They will be looking for greater value when they purchase a product or service.
If service providers deliver great value there will be work and there may even be more work. Marginal businesses, marginal products and marginal service providers will disappear. This is a good thing. Marginal service providers "muddy the market" by creating bad experiences for clients that better service providers must address.
To be successful in this economy, the trick is to focus on what you are really good at and on the clients who really matter most to your business.
A client of mine is currently rebuilding a struggling business unit. Margins are low. Growth is stagnant. Turnover is high. He recently presented his strategy to his team. His strategy is to focus on building and refining his core business. By this he means ensuring each of his existing clients receive both excellent service and value in all of the products they need to be successful in their work. I challenged him on this strategy, "In this economy shouldn't your focus be on sell, sell, sell not deliver, deliver, deliver?" He said "No, the better my business unit delivers what they are really good at to their best clients, the more work our business unit will get and the more we will grow."
Brilliant and simple and a little counter-intuitive. While everyone else is running around networking with anyone and everyone ("sell, sell, sell"), this team of people will be focusing on what they are really good at with the people who already appreciate it. How can they help but grow?
Filed under:
executive coaching,
greatness,
balance,
business strategy,
leading in a downturn,
strategy execution,
managing change,
business development,
professional services,
consulting
Sandra Oliver - October 28, 2008
