This is very contrarian given the times, but I really believe it.
If you are in business, this is the time to have the biggest goals of your life.
Why do I say that when so many are staring at disaster? Wondering if they will barely survive?
Because major disruption of client relationships is happening and will escalate.
You will never (hopefully) have an chance like this again.
To dislodge your competitors best clients/accounts.
To pick up market share by better meeting the needs of those looking for more value… and very willing to ditch current providers to get it.
To fill the void when a good number of your competitors go out of business.
Make a note of this.
The battle for new clients/accounts has already begun.
It does not start when the recovery begins. It has started now.
Many companies know that shortly there will be fewer competitors and a lot of weaker competitors. They are preparing now to pounce on those willing to change providers and those whose providers went out of business. They know some companies will have new needs/new priorities when the recovery begins and they plan on being there at the right time, with the right offering in front of the right client.
What used to be done in months or weeks, is right now getting done in weeks/days.
Companies are closing gaps in their systems, processes, capabilities right now in anticipation of having only a short window of opportunity to leapfrog the competition and pick up new accounts in numbers just not possible in normal times.
I guess you could wait…
Good things do come to those that wait.
But only the scraps leftover from those that took decisive action.
What woulda, coulda, shoulda things would you have done a year ago if you could have predicted this black swan event?
Those things need to get done right now. And you need to do those things and strategize with the 80/20 rule in mind. You need to leverage your time and resources for the greatest impact on results. The virus picks the time period, you don’t.
Let me tell you what the clients I am working with right now are NOT doing.
They are not rewriting their responses to objections or other matters trivial to meeting the challenge ahead.
They are laser focusing and executing on systems, processes, offerings, behaviors that will enable them to emerge from this mess stronger than they were before. That is the way I urge you to think.
Final word, these times are not an “opportunity” in the normal sense of the word. For those of us (including me) that have loved ones on the front lines caring for the sick and dying and stress about their safety every day, and know a lot of people who will be financially ruined, this is not a positive event in any way shape or form. Far from it.
But this crisis is a reality. These are the cards that have been dealt. We must deal with them.
Those that were financially weak before are toast. It would take extraordinary strategy, focus and execution for those weak before the crisis to survive. Unlikely.
Those that were strong before this in a financial, structural, talent and sales capabilities sense. They are positioned well to pick up your best clients and greater market share in this tsunami of change.
To all the firms that were in the middle of the pack, whether you survive, thrive, go under now or suffer a slow financial death will largely be determined by what you do now, in this decisive moment, not months from now.
Set big goals right now and take massive action on them.
Are you thinking woulda, coulda, shoulda about things you wish you had done in the last year or two?
Three months from now, don’t multiply the consequences of that by thinking woulda coulda, shoulda about what you could have done starting right now.
