Again and again we find a lot of businesses asking the question, how do I increase my revenue and profitability. There is a sense of urgency and sometimes panic to make this happen particularly in the present scenario. There is in fact a real danger of companies overdoing their efforts to increase business and struggling under the strain of it all.
The answer to my mind lies in three important words
Focus
Relationships
Strengths
Focus
This is a time for you as a company to focus on doing a few things really well rather then many things all together. This is a chance to drop those parts of your efforts which have not yielded results and pin your hopes on what is working for you. Amongst the areas of focus, should be customers with whom you have been able to do well in the past, products that have proven themselves and supplier and distribution channels that you are familiar with and work well for you. This would not be a time to spend money on experimentation but try and do more of the proven stuff. Simple steps for this would be
Relationships
As we come out of this pandemic, business is likely to be slow. This is an excellent opportunity to revisit relationships that were there in the past but have not been updated since. Pull out customers that you have done business with earlier and see whether you could reach out to them. It is likely that enterprises are more comfortable dealing with suppliers they have worked with in the past, rather than new entities. Hence save those new market dollars for now and focus on getting back those relationships. They take less time to revitalize and may help you get off the ground quicker. Remember this will also apply to distribution channels and suppliers.
Strengths
It is quite natural for each of us to play to our strengths. We do this as individuals, why not do this as a firm. So often we try to take on something where an opportunity may present itself, without gauging whether we have the strengths to fulfill that opportunity and which part of that opportunity is it wise for us to try and fulfill. For example, there maybe a move for global corporations to look at sourcing their supplies from countries other than China. While that is an opportunity, it is important not to be carried away with it. More important is to have a very hard look at what your strengths are as a firm and zero down on what sourcing opportunities really apply to you. The marrying of opportunity to strength is one of the key components for survival right now and growth later.
In a later post, I will go into how the marrying of strengths with opportunities can be made in a structured manner, enabling it to be used to plan possible strategies for your company.
Let me know what you think of the above and how you could apply it to your own company's situation.
The answer to my mind lies in three important words
Focus
Relationships
Strengths
Focus
This is a time for you as a company to focus on doing a few things really well rather then many things all together. This is a chance to drop those parts of your efforts which have not yielded results and pin your hopes on what is working for you. Amongst the areas of focus, should be customers with whom you have been able to do well in the past, products that have proven themselves and supplier and distribution channels that you are familiar with and work well for you. This would not be a time to spend money on experimentation but try and do more of the proven stuff. Simple steps for this would be
- Identify all the areas of operations of the firm where efforts are being spent.
- Shortlist those areas which have not yielded results and are based more on hope and optimism rather than on results.
- See which of those areas could be eliminated or at the best postponed to a later date.
- Identify customers, products and supply chains that have worked for you and see whether you can increase your business with them. In a later post, let me talk about how you can increase business with existing customers.
Relationships
As we come out of this pandemic, business is likely to be slow. This is an excellent opportunity to revisit relationships that were there in the past but have not been updated since. Pull out customers that you have done business with earlier and see whether you could reach out to them. It is likely that enterprises are more comfortable dealing with suppliers they have worked with in the past, rather than new entities. Hence save those new market dollars for now and focus on getting back those relationships. They take less time to revitalize and may help you get off the ground quicker. Remember this will also apply to distribution channels and suppliers.
Strengths
It is quite natural for each of us to play to our strengths. We do this as individuals, why not do this as a firm. So often we try to take on something where an opportunity may present itself, without gauging whether we have the strengths to fulfill that opportunity and which part of that opportunity is it wise for us to try and fulfill. For example, there maybe a move for global corporations to look at sourcing their supplies from countries other than China. While that is an opportunity, it is important not to be carried away with it. More important is to have a very hard look at what your strengths are as a firm and zero down on what sourcing opportunities really apply to you. The marrying of opportunity to strength is one of the key components for survival right now and growth later.
In a later post, I will go into how the marrying of strengths with opportunities can be made in a structured manner, enabling it to be used to plan possible strategies for your company.
Let me know what you think of the above and how you could apply it to your own company's situation.
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