Summit Ghimire is the founder of Outpace, a Search Engine Optimization company. His clients range from startups to Fortune 500 companies.
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Navigating slumps in competitive, complex environments requires small-business senior leadership to actively prepare for—and learn from—difficult seasons.
For small businesses, one simple but powerful fact propels companies that remain steadfast and growing: Forward momentum must happen year-round. Company leadership must step up when sustained sales stagnate during off-seasons or cyclical slumps in traffic. With the razor-thin margin for error that the majority of small businesses operate on, effective leadership must offer a realistic vision of navigating lulls.
Standout senior leadership takes it a step further. Surviving in a competitive, complex environment requires the willingness and ability to learn from the difficult and often humbling experience of navigating off-seasons and cyclical slumps. A strategic approach to navigating all 12 months in a year, fueled by the willingness to adapt to and learn from dips in demand, will empower their companies. The ability to effectively adjust strategy in all seasons, both good and bad, will ensure a thriving future for their small businesses.
Reflective Adaptability To Inherent Unpredictability: When SMBs Master Strategy
For your business to be nimble enough to react responsively to changing customer and industry demands, you must approach how to navigate the future with a strategic mindset. Small-business leadership is beginning to realize that a one-size-fits-all approach to strategic planning has limited results. Common sense would dictate that any intention to navigate choppy seas is only as effective as the guidance that went into shaping it. All too often, however, the broader approaches of large companies are taken as the mold to use for small businesses.
The truth of the matter is more complex than a straightforward “copy, tweak and implement” process. In my experience, practices and principles taught in business schools apply well to larger, established companies with far greater resources and reach. For small businesses, the path toward solid footing, sustained growth and scalability is a process that takes time. It requires reflexive adaptability to market changes and the inherent unpredictability of customer bases.
Here, the differences between strategic thinking and strategic planning begin to emerge. Companies with established footprints and deep resources must plan carefully and implement a long-term strategic approach. Their long-term strategic approach might include:
• Implementing an annual planning rhythm.
• Surveying internal and external data (including industry research reports and company financials).
• Mapping out scenarios based on that analysis.
• Setting strategies reflective of the best-case scenarios.
• Monitoring results.
The ability to maximize internal resources to gather and process deeper depths of data helps the company adapt to broader changes within their customer base and to the industry in which they operate. But this approach doesn’t always apply effectively to small businesses, as it often requires time and personnel small businesses can’t afford to reappropriate. The personnel necessary for this level of strategic planning would often be best used to generate revenue and develop products and services.
For small businesses, a more intimate, finger-on-the-pulse leadership style creates an adaptive company culture and a company that is able to maximize opportunities as they arise. A truly successful strategic approach can be made when small-business leaders take the time and energy to adapt to their company’s identity, structure and industry. When leaders are using strategic thinking, unburdened by constrictive strategic planning, they—and their company—can attack every challenge with an immediate ferocity. They are empowered to respond to opportunities reflexively for the company’s benefit without chipping away at future plans.
A Nimble Mindset: Allowing For Reflexive Adjustments
When small-business leadership has a more reflexive, adaptive approach, these companies are able to find success in challenging situations. Anticipatory planning for fast-approaching lulls differs from industry to industry. Agile businesses can adjust their marketing budget for the slower season, leveraging this increased presence to attain a greater share of a smaller crowd. Capitalizing on misguided assumptions by your competition benefits you on multiple fronts.
For example, approaching a “summer lull” with a proactive mindset can ensure restaurants avoid any dips in sales or survive them if they do occur. Furthermore, small businesses can use excess inventory wisely, including:
• Customer appreciation campaigns.
• Attaching free or discounted items from excess inventory to current products.
• Post-season clearance sales.
These examples reflect senior leadership dedicated to navigating the ebbs and flows of a year with adaptive practices, a company that is flexible in its approach to situations as they arise and evolve.
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