Maintaining growth through challenging times

 I'd originally planned on publishing this post way back in January 2020, but other things got in the way. Here we're mid-July and, though the world is very different now, the sentiments I'd drafted in 2019 are more pertinent than ever.  

My main prompt back in January was based on feedback we'd received from various global customers at Cint on the challenge of attempting a business transformation process but managing (or increasing) revenue generation and sales efficiency – basically like changing the wheels while driving the car. When a key process or business unit is impacted by a new technology adoption, an acquisition or some other change, it's very easy for the commercial, revenue generative side of the business to be impacted while the change takes its course.  

In summer 2020, these forces are much more obvious, but the impact the same. The current global pandemic has forced many businesses to furlough staff, remove temporary workers or contractors and suspend product development road maps to try to keep the fundamental business healthy. This is understandable, but as we come out of this, and potentially adapt to a new normal, we should expect more change and more businesses looking to evolve and transform.  

It's always challenging to distil many industries, strategies and such into easily digestible takeaways, but at Cint we've helped guide many of our teams, and functions to maintain growth; below are five key takeaways based on our experiences both internal and from our most successful customers: 

1) Over communicate everything 

A clear communication strategy, action plan and timeline from senior management along with continued all-hands/company-wide comms will make everyone feel part of the process and not side-lined by incoming disruption. The trick is to communicate everything in multiples. If you are having a meeting, record it, communicate to the people who attended and not attended. Post it on a public channel (Slack/Teams) ensuring its accessible to all who are relevant to that meeting. Allowing commercial teams to focus on what they do best is the key – we don’t want client facing people distracted by internal rumours or potential impactful changes.  

2) Accept that it takes time, and mistakes will be made 

When things are new or uncertain, you will not get everything right on day one. If stakeholders understand this, everyone can move forward. It's important the business leadership are open to flexibility either regionally or within roles to allow those at the coal face to thrive under new conditions. Most importantly remember, not to make the same mistake twice. 

At Cint, we restructured and rolled our global customer success and delivery strategy. In doing that we ensured that the timelines for its operational success will not be the same across all regions. Having 14 offices globally means there are many local nuances; hence it's challenging for senior management to anticipate all outcomes. Learning as you go and being open to further change is vital.  

3) Be clear on roles and responsibilities  

It's all well and good to help each other encouraging blurred lines of responsibility, but at times of change accountability trumps responsibility. And the best way to do that is to establish clear and structured handover points when it comes to cross functional or departmental roles and responsibilities. This is more important than ever when working from home! 

Our change meant that both new roles (sales and customer success) had new tasks and performance metrics to adapt to. At Cint we redefined job specs and paired Sales and CS together and it was a monumental success. Everyone knew who was doing what and when leading to quick delivery, sharper client communication and ultimately, large increases in revenue growth and happier clients. 

4) Give people opportunities to be creative and step up 

A new system, process or technology roll-out is likely to mean some employees feel under threat or are unsure of their roles within the business. If your business is always looking to grow, then there should be new opportunities across your business. This could be moving from an operational role to commercial, into marketing and so on.  

Cint platform enables market research businesses to automate their research operations and deliver faster outputs to customers using smart technology. It removes the mundane tasks that forces people merely ‘click buttons’ as a part of a process. This puts our customers in the driving seat of their research projects, as they can become more consultative and creative in their work. It is a different skill set (and may not be right for everyone), but it does give new opportunities and a chance to learn new skills and experience.  

5) Demonstrate the benefit to customers from day one 

If, like Cint, your company is one that is leading a certain change in a business, then demonstrating value throughout the transformation process is key. A good salesperson will be able to effectively and passionately sell the benefits to a customer at a pitch, but this should not end there. Maintaining that same mind-set is important after a purchase – especially during the implementation stages. A good change implementation is only as good as how well you have trained and upskilled the end-user.  

These 5 points are not exhaustive by any means but hopefully offer some useful guidance when you’re looking to run successful internal business change/s or when managing business transformation for clients or customers. In summary, communication both internally and externally is vital. This could be demonstrating benefits and outcomes, showing possible new career paths to employees or making the work environment open so those impacted understand it’s a process and can flex. 

If you’d like to know more about how Cint do this for the world's leading insights and research companies, please get in touch.