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As strange as it may sound, when people make reference to the pandemic or use the phrase post-pandemic as in post-apocalyptic world, it feels as though everything that we knew as it was has changed forever. Yes, indeed a lot has changed, but as countries, people, business and economies continue to move past the 2021 and 2022, resilience and progress forward has been the order of the day.

 

As we have been working as a partner and trusted advisor with many of our clients providing them with customized services and solutions to help them grapple with the market dynamics we have simultaneously appreciated the opportunity to watch, learn and research several aspects of this unique market shifts and behaviors and how they directly impact several business and economies globally. This has also pushed several established businesses and struggling start-ups to re-evaluate their strategies, cash flow plans, growth plans and several aspects of the business.

 

Consumer markets have always changed and will continue to do so with several aspects that directly impact consumer behaviours. That’s a given. However, keeping an astute eye on the shifts, factors that influence and patiently watching how buying behaviours and decision making patterns change is critical for businesses to be able to develop and implement a sharp and timely strategy. As we all know, whoever adapts to changing market conditions first and fast often takes the lion’s share of the business. Those who stick to what they have been doing and trusting that it will stand the test of time in a turbulent market are left playing catch up.

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The cost of failure

 

So what really happens when a company is not able to meet their projected sales or revenue numbers? Well, in established corporates, people get fired, executives meet up and discuss the failures endlessly and eventually device a new strategy and let it play. As the new haphazardly device strategy is pushed down the peoples throat against resistance to change, they keep learning the many flaws in the strategy and keep tweaking it until it works or it is tossed out for another fresh set of ideas. Meanwhile, the competition is either doing the same or better and gaining market share. But the real danger is when a new player enters the market with a strategy that is more aligned with the target consumers’ behaviour and is backed with technology as AI managed data. These are the companies that are now changing the world. This has been happening all throughout time. This happened when Nokia and Motorola drowned in the Apples market place, when energy drinks grabbed a larger than expected soda market share, when Amazon changed the retail brick and mortar space and now giving the courier and shipping companies hell, and the list goes on.

 

But what happens to start-ups, disruptive technology companies, Saas companies, Fintech etc.? What happens to the young or struggling companies, private or public who are fighting to generate revenue and grow by holding the blade of a double edged sword?  They need to keep their investors happy and company running while fighting for market share where often new technological advancements and competition is just around the corner coming to kick them off the their turf.

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Great products need great business plans to succeed

 

Our direct firsthand experience working with them has made us realize that most of the founders and executive team are brilliant and very hard working people. They have often developed some of the best ideas into a business and truly set out to change the world with their invention or discovery. However, most of them often underestimate the costs, overestimate the revenue forecast and find them unprepared to handle the output. We find this three aspects over and over and over again. Many such young companies or companies with innovative ideas find themselves struggling to maintain a basic cash flow and a reasonable balance sheet. Many are out there struggling to raise capital, soliciting venture capital firms, PE firms with a business that has already proved to have failed due to poor management, planning and revenue generation strategy albeit a brilliant product or service offering.

 

Revenue and cash flow? That is it. If you cannot generate these two things and keep it growing you will never find time to build a company. It is that simple. Credits, funding, investors and grants can only take you a few miles ahead. What you will need is a realistic and well tested strategy and business plan.

 

Because the founders and the key decision makers are too busy finding funds, maintaining morale, and finding customers, they really do not have the time to stop, back up and analyze what is really making them struggle. And more often than not, it is the lack of proper target consumer research and market analysis. What are the critical dynamics of the market that they have really missed in understanding and developing a strategy that is aligned?

What is the target customers buying behaviour? What are their budgets? What are the true triggers? How does your competition do it? Who are the key influencers to making a purchase? These are some of the many questions that many young companies fail to study deeply and build their business around them. And once they are understood, it has to be smartly packaged, positioned, sold, managed, and marketed in a manner that meets the buying behaviours and dynamics of today’s smart customer against the competition.

 

No matter what specific need your product or service addresses, it is not a guarantee it will sell. What makes it sell are a list of critical aspects that the business has to develop and implement it in a manner that it is absorbed by its people and at the same time, it is fluid enough to adapt to the ever changing market dynamics.

 

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