Innovative Leaders Capture Opportunity and Accelerate Sales Growth

Innovative Leaders Capture Opportunity and Accelerate Sales Growth

“It is a matter of choice and discipline.” These wise words were spoken by Jim Collins, author of “Great by Choice.” What choices might you make to drive your business recovery?

In this 3-Part series, Paul Cronin, Executive Coach and colleague, Robert Crumpton, share valuable insights on how business leaders might successfully come out of a Covid-19 era and navigate the Recovery well. (See full article at Leadership in a Changed World: How to Leverage These 3 Skills in a Changed World)

Part 1: The first key to unlocking your success in a changed world –  Leadership is a Critical Skill Set in Times of Calamity

In Part 2, we discuss the changes, brought about by the pandemic, how to make those changes work toward your future business growth.

Key 2: Innovative Leaders Capture Opportunity

History tells us that opportunity is rich during and coming out of difficult times. There are accelerating changes in trends, both good and bad, depending on the industry you are in.

Work from Home – a Trend That’s Here to Stay 

The work from home trend was gaining momentum before COVID-19 struck. The pandemic has served as a catalyst to expedite this trend. What was once a ripple has become a tidal wave. Here are some of the benefits of this trend…

• Large corporations are realizing they can have a highly productive, interconnected remote workforce with the technology tools presently available.
• Those who take advantage of technology to work from home will drive down overhead costs dramatically by reducing rental expenses.
• Employees will improve their economic well-being by saving on fuel, parking, auto maintenance, and maybe even eliminating the need for a vehicle.
• Travel expenses of sales personnel will likely drop significantly as prospects and customers continue to engage through virtual platforms.
• Health and well-being are likely to improve as people get more sleep and have more time for leisure, productive work, exercise, etc.

With this growing trend, comes challenges.  Leaders need to ask important questions to ensure that they stay close to their customers. Here are a few examples…

• How are my clients changing their buying habits?
• Are the same things still important to them?
• Do they make buying decisions for the same reason?
• Are there new customers available to our products and service offerings?
• When the answers to these questions, and others like it, change, we must explore further, evaluate, and take appropriate response.

“Leverage the power of “might.” Might is a powerful word in a catalyst question. It invites possibilities, options, and new connections.” ~ Millennial Matter 

Innovation and Opportunity is Everywhere

Companies that benefit the most, have leaders and teams who understand the trends, see the opportunities, know when and how to shift, make choices, then scale with discipline.

What actions might influence your success in capturing opportunities?

• Being decisive is a skill set that is essential to capture opportunity. It is not, however, taking unmerited risk, driven by the fallacy of speed to market, or first-mover advantage.
• Failing forward fast requires, once again, a disciplined approach of testing and validating, with minimal risk, until you have appropriately calibrated the opportunity. Then you can move forward boldly.
• Successful scaling requires a market-dominating strategy that reveals the greenfield in the market and the unique set of activities that make you and your offering different and valuable to your core customer. (Think Southwest Airlines. They became the only profitable airline and the most valuable stock to own – if you bought it when it first came out. They achieved this by identifying the greenfield in air travel. Then they built a business model from a set of activities that made them completely unique and extremely valuable to their core customer and investors.)

Here’s a video discussion between me and Paul:

In Jim Collins’ book, Great by Choice, a study of 10Xer entrepreneurial performers during periods of extremely difficult conditions, his research discovered that the 10Xers’ refused to be imprisoned by their circumstances or calamity. Each one remained steadfast in their freedom to choose. He concluded, “The 10Xer’s placed responsibility on themselves. Success was a matter of choice and discipline. The fate of each and every company is in the hands of its people.” No excuses.

Stay tuned for Part 3 in this series to learn how bold execution will drive your business recovery in a changing world.

To read the 1st article in this series go here: 3 Powerful Strategies for Sales Growth in Recovery

Join Paul & me for a free virtual coffee meeting

Having challenges keeping your team engaged and focused in a productive direction? We invite you to schedule a free virtual coffee meeting with us. No charge, no obligation. Just 45 minutes to talk through what challenges are happening, receive personal tips, advice, and next steps on how to solve those challenges. To schedule, email me at danita@DanitaBye.com