Pivoting Your Business Is a Core Competency
Tom Stimson
Helping Business Owners Achieve Intentional Success? | The #1 Executive Coach and Advisor in the AV Production Industry
Many owners think of pivoting as an extraordinary, rare event. But if you think strategically and pay attention to industry trends, you know pivoting your business is a core competency.
I define strategy as engineering what you want to happen based on what you think will happen. To think strategically, you must set aside time to look around the corner, anticipating challenges and opportunities.
What trends or forces may disrupt your business? And should you address those trends strategically or tactically?
Strategy or Tactic?
Tactical changes are adjustments. When you identify an opportunity or challenge and decide to address it tactically, you may tweak operations and adapt some processes, but your core business model stays intact.
For example, in March of 2020, many event companies anticipated four to six weeks of isolation. That situation justified tactical modifications like cost-cutting.
But when it became apparent that those four to six weeks would turn into months or even years and that pre-COVID business models would no longer be viable, those short-term tactics gave way to strategic changes, or pivots.
What Is a Pivot, Actually?
A pivot is a fundamental change in your business model, triggered in response to challenges and opportunities. Pivots reshape these core areas:
A pivot requires that you abandon how you used to do things (systems, processes, personnel, etc.) and change your entire organization, or at least the line of business you’re addressing.
Reflecting on March 2020 brings this distinction into sharp relief. When live events vanished overnight, virtual events became our industry’s lifeline. We scrapped old systems and geared up for remote shows. Equipment, sales tactics, and staff skills all changed when we embraced a completely different business model.
That was a pivot.
Some companies added streaming to their existing offerings. They priced streaming like an add-on show cost by charging for labor and equipment, but they didn’t account for major non-hardware investments. This was a tactical change, not a strategic pivot, and it stretched the pre-COVID business model until it broke.
Other companies tried to wait the virus out. By the time they realized that wasn’t a viable option, they’d already lost business to competitors that had pivoted.
Tactical changes are additive, but real pivots require shedding legacy products, practices, and mindsets that won’t fare well against challenges and opportunities. If you’re not taking away from your existing business model and replacing it with something else, you’re not pivoting.
Does this make you uncomfortable? It should. There’s no such thing as a comfortable pivot.
Modifications and additions are easy, but changing who you sell to, what you sell, and how you sell is disruptive. We cling to the past because we’re not comfortable letting go of heritage customers, employees, and processes, even if they don’t align with our goals. We’re scared of involuntarily shooting ourselves in the foot.
But when your competitors start copying you, you’ll know you made the right decision.
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When Should You Pivot?
I’ve pivoted my business four times since 2020. Here’s how I determine when a pivot may serve my business and customers.
1. Pay Attention to Trends
Keep poking your head around the corner. When you anticipate a challenge or an opportunity, ask yourself, “If this trend continues, how will it change the industry? How will it change my business?”
This wide-angle lens informs proactive pivots.
2. Anticipate the Cost of Inaction
Next, ask, “If I cling to my existing business model while the industry keeps changing, how will that hurt my company?”
Envision the cost of denial — it’ll contextualize your pivot’s urgency.
3. Identify Internal Obstacles
As potential pivots emerge, identify the voices in your head resisting change. What anxieties or stories say, “But we’ve always done it this way”? Are those obstacles worthy?
4. Consider the Customer
How will emerging trends alter your clients’ needs? Realign your priorities, products, and processes to satisfy future demand.
5. Evaluate the Impact on Your Goals
Next, do some strategic roadmapping, which is the linchpin of any pivot. A roadmap charts the shortest path between your current business model and the goals you hope to achieve with strategic change.
If you need some help creating a roadmap, book a call. Together, we’ll define ideal customers, prioritize next hires, and optimize new processes.
Final Thoughts
Strategic thinking is a core competency. If you aren’t thinking strategically, you’ll never pivot. If you are thinking strategically, pivoting is always an option.
Knowing when and how to pivot, and always being prepared for it, is your most valuable tool as a business owner.