The Best Ways to Pivot Your Business in 2021
Updated: Nov 4, 2020
Being a small business owner takes passion, persistence, and determination. On the whole, small business owners are not afraid of working hard. Employees take pride in the companies they work for and the customers they support. Most importantly, because there is not a lot of red tape. A small business can pivot quickly to keep up with customer demands. All these reasons make it especially great to grow your business this year.
How to Pivot Your Business Next Year
1. Have a growth mindset Reminding yourself that this will end, our economy will bounce back, and companies have not only survived but thrived during past recessions will help you create a growth mindset.
During the Great Depression, Procter & Gamble had a hard start as grocery stores started to cancel their orders and inventory started to stack up in the warehouse. P&G knew that people would need soap even during a depression and actively looked for new and creative marketing avenues to get in front of their consumers.
Great Recession of 2007 – 2009 Uber launched at the end of the recession and has become a household name.
Length of
the last U.S. Recessions
2007 to 2009: 18 months
2001: 8 months
1990 to 1991: 8 months
1981 to 1982: 16 months
1980: 6 months
2. Become Lean & Mean This is a great time to do an audit on your company; make it a game and have fun with it. It can be exciting to see the money and time you are saving.
Finance If you have not already done so, take a look at your books: look for expenses that you are no longer using or that can be renegotiated.
Operations Take a look at your daily, weekly, and monthly operations. What can you eliminate, what can you automate, and what can be outsourced? Too often we do something the same way, without ever asking:
Why?
What is the purpose?
Is this still necessary?
How can I automate this with technology?
3. Create a Marketing Plan Most people tend to cut advertising costs during a recession. History has shown that companies who created a plan and increased revenue-generating marketing tend to come out better and healthier. The key is to focus on low-cost advertising and revenue-generating marketing. Suppose you are not tracking your current marketing. Right now is a great time to start checking out our free marketing tracker guide. Look at what is working and make any adjustments to offers, messaging, and services provided. What worked last year may not create the same results this year. Listen to your customer and what they are asking for.
4. Team Alignment Times are tough and scary for everyone. It would be best if you stayed open and upfront with your team. How you communicate will go a long way to build trust. Your team’s attitude is a pillar of your company’s success. They are the ones on the front lines, answering calls, and working with customers.
5. Customer Love Your customer list is one of your most essential marketing resources. Download our FREE Favorite Marketing Tools and Ideas printable. Here at Golden Mailer, we use email marketing and text messaging to communicate with our current clients about loyalty programs, referral programs, and offers to re-engage clients who have not worked with us recently. Even if you have a construction company, you can still reach out to past clients to see how everything is going and what projects you can help them with.
The question should not be if you pivot but how you pivot your small business in 2021. What are you going to do to keep sales revenue up, costs down, and your team happy?
