In our new world, competition is what business is all about. What if Nokia remained the only mobile phone provider in the market, or Kodak wouldn't have to deal with Fuji's smart diversification approach? Would they still be under the risk of failure?
Regardless of their fierce competition, both Mcdonalds and Burger King remain at the top of the best fast food chains in every region they operate in. Starbucks for instance, is still the number one coffee brand in the world with the highest annual revenue of $23.52 billion.
Why Is This Topic So Important?
Globalisation and technology has increased competition through 3 different ways:
Empowering competitors to outsource services, products, technologies, and talents from any place in the world, adding more value to their business and exploiting their capabilities.
Giving foreign competitors the opportunity to reach their target audience anywhere in the world allowing them to penetrate your market through various marketing strategies and tactics.
Offering immediate access to massive information and know-how of any kind, empowering your customers to further challenge your solutions and offerings.
Going to market has changed and has become even more challenging. Studies found that buyers make 57% of their decision before even contacting the seller! Businesses which has failed to grow and become Stagnant were found to have 3 common factors:
Ineffective strategies and planning
Dependant on few major accounts
Incompetent leadership and/or employees
Further studies found that 87% of employees are not well engaged in their jobs and that 57% of sales reps miss their quota every single year. Similar to Nokia and Kodak, avoiding growth and disregarding market change is a definite path to failure.
Now would you rather wait for buyers to contact you? Or would you proactively show up with a valuable approach and solution?!
What Is The Success Recipe?
"Our mission to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighbourhood at a time."
This what Starbucks claim their mission to be. They aim to inspire and nurture every person drinking coffee in every region. Regardless of competition, they do this through opening coffee shops in every neighbourhood and promoting their products in every store. They might not be considered the best by everyone, but they are Massively Present showing up physically and digitally providing a significant customer journey through their remarkable customer service and products!
Similar to Starbucks, showing up consistently and being present is the first step to competing and sustaining your revenue as an SME. It is a correlated process, if you don't show up, prospects would not know about you, hence they will not buy from you, your revenue will fall and your competitors will be ahead of you.
Showing up has become a combination of being present digitally and physically. Many businesses has made it to show up, however their outcome did not turn out as they expected. As a B2B business, going to market effectively requires answering main set of questions:
Who are my competitors? What is that they offer?
Where is my market? Who are my buyers? What are their interests and challenges?
What value can I add to my customers?
Identifying these factors is the stepping stone to develop effective sales strategies and empower employees to allocate their efforts, reduce expenses and sustain your competitive advantage. The developing role of digital marketing and AI does not replace the basic sales methods, however it creates an opportunity to optimise the customer journey and lower your operating expenses through empowering your sales team to easily reach a wider target audience.
You may have developed a great plan that address every growth aspect of your business, however without a competent team your plan would be useless. Effectively implementing your plan requires a well aligned team empowered with the right tools and skills.
While the customer journey has changed in the last period, your sales employees are still your first contact with customers. They are your main asset to position your business in the market, maintain your current client base and keep your competition off your way. Identifying the set of skills and knowledge your team needs to effectively influence your customers is quite essential. The competencies may vary, however developing a framework that aligns with your team growth needs would drive results and increase performance. According to Forbes, high-performing organisations are twice as likely to provide ongoing training as low-performing ones.
As an SME your aim is to develop a competent team that is willing to put the needed efforts while adopting the right attitude. Achieving this conscious state require from business leaders to enable their team and provide them with the necessary tools, culture and mentorship.
"A Company's Employees are its greatest assets and your people are your product."
– Richard Branson
Start Taking Instant Action!
It's now the time to take action and apply what other successful businesses like Starbucks has done. There is definitely no risk in knowing your market, showing up consistently and empowering your team. The only risk is not taking the right action and just accepting the current stagnant mode of your business!
However, the good news is that you do not have to do it all alone!
We know that implementation in the current market complexity can be tricky, time consuming, costly, hectic, and very challenging for you as an executive. This is why AXILERATOR exists!
Our market knowledge and business development expertise is allocated to lower your expenses and increase your revenue while giving you back your time to focus on what you want. Our model is dedicated to offer you what you need to thrive taking into account your current financial capabilities and business stage. We focus on developing a long term value behind our partnership rather than instant financial gains. Whether you are a small to medium business or even an entrepreneur launching your startup, we partner with you to take your business to market and compete on a different level.
Check our website at https://www.axilerator.com and feel free to get in touch to know more about the best business development approach for your current stage, and how further investing in your business and your team with a reliable partner can help achieve your goals!
Commentaires