A Key to Success is to Focus on What's Not Going to Change. Jeff Bezos Agrees

The idea of "building your company on what's not going to change" is a powerful concept. I've been talking about this idea since the early 1990s, but back then it was related to martial arts, not business. It wasn't until I started writing my first book that I began applying this idea to companies and their need to train teams on the core things that remain constant in a constantly changing world.

That's when I created my SCC2, Strategic Customer Cycle2 framework. Originally, it was meant to teach companies and their sales teams how to improve sales. But then I expanded it to cover sales, marketing, customer service, and now in my second book it has become a powerful tool for a company's entire go-to-market (GTM) team.

One of the biggest reasons why most efforts to manage change fail is that companies and their leaders don't do a good job of teaching team members what's not going to change. Let me give you an analogy I often use to explain this concept and my framework.

Imagine my alumni Broncos football team is losing at halftime. In the locker room, the head coach tells the team they need to make some adjustments. He might say something like, "They're beating us around the corners..." But the players don't complain that everything is always changing. They never say, "Hey coach, we beat them before. Why do we need to change now?"

You wouldn't want to hear that kind of thinking from the players or coaches, would you? They have a sports mindset that continued learning and improvement are part of the fun and challenge of the game.

Most people don't like constant change - I know I don't! But most companies do a terrible job of explaining the 80% of their operations that don't change or don't change very much. That's how I came up with the SCC2, which covers marketing, sales, customer service, other teams, vendors, and partners who interact with potential buyers and existing customers.

(Video of me explaining the power of the SCC2, Strategic Customer Cycle2 framework.)

People like routine and knowing things will stay the same. But most companies are really poor at "change management." They don't know how to successfully introduce change to their teams, so employees get "change battle fatigue."

I've seen this myself - when change efforts failed in the past, employees including myself would get cynical. We'd start saying things like "Here we go again..." or "Another flavor of the month..." Managers have told me, "We're lying low until this fad blows over."

So how can you avoid that negative thinking around change? Let’s go back to my Broncos college football team analogy. They've had great success over the past decade. Changes and adjustments are part of the game, often welcomed with a sports mindset. But when the Broncos go back for the second half, 80% of the game never changes - it's still the same field size, rules, scoring, offense, and defense. Those core things don't change.

It's not about just getting better at football overall but improving in specific areas - like working on slant passes or in martial arts, working on takedown defense against the cage. It's never just "getting better overall."

Too many companies say they have a process but end up abandoning it and winging it. To truly get better, you must break down your game like a sports team and identify those things that stay the same over long periods, the evergreen processes and strategies.

I call this building the foundation or framework of what's not going to change. That's the key to lasting success. Renovations and upgrades happen, but the foundation stays solid. If the foundation is strong, you can iterate and innovate easily.

Imagine if the 80 percent constantly changed when the Boise State Broncos played a game. The rules would change each time, they’d play on a 200-yard field with no field goals, a different type of ball, and so on. It would be extremely difficult to have a positive mindset in this scenario.

That's why SCC2 has the word "Strategic" in it - to continually reinforce that companies need to have a solid plan before taking action, revisiting, and adjusting it regularly. SCC2 is the "football field" that leadership needs to use to teach employees that 80% of the business game won't change.

As Jeff Bezos said in 2019, "I very frequently get the question, 'What's going to change in the next ten years?' And that is a very interesting question; it's a very common one. I almost never get the question: 'What's not going to change in the next ten years?'"

Mapping Out Key Players on the SCC2

Now that all the team members know what’s not going to change, you can map out which internal members will be responsible and accountable for helping secure a great customer experience. The goal is to map out as many team members, internal and external, in each stage as you can. For example, who is responsible for retaining customers? Write them in the Retaining Strategy stage. Maybe marketing sends valuable content to key players within an account, so write down exactly what marketing will be doing to help the customer’s success. Does your company have a product development team? What stages are they helping in? They need to be included to make sure the buyer’s journey is the best it can be and so all your teams can continue rowing together.

External team members and systems/software are next to be mapped out on the SCC2. An example could be a software vendor that supplies the company with a customer service live chat or bot feature. This feature can be mapped out in the Prospecting, Converting, Supporting, and Retaining stages. Again, the key is to map out as many team members, internal and external, in each stage as you can to give customers the best experience possible.

Each stage of the Strategic Customer Cycle2 needs to be looked at to see which team members are part of the success of that stage and what their responsibilities will be. A great company exercise is to print out a large copy of the SCC2 and handwrite which individuals and teams are responsible for each stage and the tools, i.e., tech stack, they will be using to succeed in that stage. Download your copy of the SCC2 here: [link]

Who is responsible for retention? Who’s responsible for qualifying customers? Who’s responsible for prospecting? And so on …

Then, on a regular basis, review and update the information in each stage and the individuals and teams responsible for each stage. This exercise will take some time, but it is crucial in putting together a comprehensive game plan for customer success. Also, it might show gaps and the duplication of resources. It allows you to save money on resources that can be reallocated or eliminated.

The SCC2 – Strategic Customer Cycle2 is your visual aid for your game plan to gaining and retaining more new and happy customers. Again, SCC2 is what’s not going to change in helping the customers and your team be successful. Now, let me lay out a road map to your success.

With a solid base like the SCC2, you are not reinventing the wheel, but you are continually making refinements, adjustments, and innovations. The SCC2 is a closer view than the MCA2, but it’s still a high-level view of a customer’s journey with a company. The SCC2 comprises a company’s retaining, qualifying, prospecting, converting, fulfilling, supporting, and expanding strategies. Each of these terms and strategies have been around for decades and will stay relevant for decades to come. Once you understand the overall framework and have a base (such as the SCC2), it is much easier to make improvements and add new ideas.

With that stable base like SCC2, you're not reinventing the wheel, but making refinements, adjustments, and innovations within that framework. Once you understand the overall structure, it's much easier to identify areas for improvement and incorporate new ideas while maintaining that solid core foundation.

Having team members come to work each day knowing that not everything is always changing, but they know and can focus on the parts of the buyer's journey that are not going to change, will give your company a huge competitive advantage going forward!

___________________________________________________________________________

If interested in the latest book, "BROKEN - How to Fix B2B Sales, Drive Profitable Growth & Win," paperback or Kindle, grab a copy at this link: https://rb.gy/gf73t

Grab a copy of the BROKEN audiobook at this link: https://shorturl.at/deFTY

My book, BROKEN, is a guide to transforming your entire company's go-to-market strategy into a customer-centric organization. Your buyers and customers will thank your company for making the changes I recommend. ?????? ?? ?? ??

I'd love to connect with you on LinkedIn. My profile is at https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/scottmarker1/

Please mention that you read my article. I get many spam-type requests. Thanks