Reaching and thriving in the new world after the turbulent COVID journey

Heading into 2020, there were many concerns e.g. tensions in the Middle East and North Korea, growth challenges....etc. But the event that no one expected was the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic. Pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan, China was first reported to the WHO Country Office in China on 31 December 2019 since then this virus has spread to at least 114 countries and territories on six continents, infecting of people and killing hundreds and thousands with infections continuing to surge. All sectors are impacted, with several seeing more severe consequences e.g. Tourism and Hospitality, Retail, Automotive, Construction, infrastructure, Oil and Gas, food, manufacturing, consumer products, Minning, Global maritime shipping, Logistics Services, Supply Chain, air freight and many more.....

Say Hello to the black swan of 2020!

As the world emerges from the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, for all business the strategic focus will be on what the new competitive landscape / new reality will look like in the aftermath and best way to retain the competitive position. History has evidence that out of every crisis comes to an opportunity for competitive reinvention and differentiation resulting in the development of new business models and improved connection with customers. The target for any business is simple – 

1. An exceptional consumer experience
2. A wonderful working experience leading to high employee morale
3. Unmatched product/service design
4. Intuitive user interfaces
5. Iconic branding
6. Friendly customer service

Here are few Post-COVID - 19 action points for strengthening the existing revenue streams as well as to create fresh revenue streams for improving market share/growth:

?? 1 An in-depth assessment of the needs, expectations and behaviours of target markets /niche segments and major clients/accounts to ascertain what has changed in the post COVID era To find the real needs of the consumers, Ethnographic Research can be helpful. It's the observation of how consumers react to the business by deeply observing/analysing the role/actions of salespeople and client services staffs whereby the real needs of the consumers are identified and consequently the business will emerge. It's an established fact that nothing pushes along the client discovery process more than observing the customers talking with client services people. The most important takeaway of ethnographic research is its ability to predict future design elements of products or services or the entire business model. As one can observe the reaction of customers and business in real-time, it is possible to observe trends that are naturally developing within the industry. If these movements can be quickly recognized, it can help in further improving the existing product or services. Let's look at an example of a customer’s behaviour analysis done to understand the way to use product or service:

Mr X a coffee shop in the middle of town, and he enjoys a reputation for excellent coffee, delicious pastries and friendly service. It's close to the local school and college and is popular with young families, home workers and students. Business is booming, hence, Mr X decides to open a second store just out of town, close to a busy intersection. His own attempt at market research suggested that it would be an easy win: everyone says they love the coffee, his coffee shop is well known in the area, and the new site is close to a number of office buildings with lots of workers. But after some initial success, interest tailed off, and his new store started losing money! He calls in a business ethnographer, who observed and interviewed his customers in both locations. Mr X’s own research was correct, up to a point, but the ethnographer was able to establish that the two coffee shops had very different meanings and functions to the people in each area. He finds that Mr X’s town-centre clientele sees his coffee shop as part of their life. Parents take their kids there for a treat; they associate it with a sense of community. Homeworkers use it as a virtual office, where they can socialize but remain productive. Students treat it as an extension of campus; it's "their" space to hang out and chat. In contrast, customers at his out-of-town store are mainly busy commuters, who just grab an espresso and go. They say they find his homespun style too whimsical, and the ever-changing cake selection doesn't appeal: they want to know exactly what they're going to get. Mr X realized that he opened his new business believing that it should follow the same formula as his first. But his new customers behave differently and have different needs. Ethnography has given Mr X the information he needed to change his strategy. Companies investing to improve the customer experience must be clear about what that improvement is actually worth and exactly how the improvements will generate value. To construct this link, one must start by defining the customer behaviour that creates value to the business and then follows customer satisfaction over time to quantify the economic outcomes of different experiences. Building a strong link between the customer experience and value also requires an investment in analytic approach early in the process, it is easy to skip this step for the sake of speed, but that might be a mistake. When establishing a link between customer experience and value, it must provide a clear view of what matters to customers, where to focus, and how to keep the customer experience high on the list of strategic priorities.

?? 2 A thorough evaluation of the existing ecosystem/platforms and community for ascertaining the current scenario In 2007, the five major mobile-phone manufacturers — Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and LG — collectively controlled 90% of the industry’s global profits. That year, Apple’s iPhone was launched and started taking market share. By 2015, the iPhone generated 92% of global mobile-phone profits. It’s a great story, but the way it progressed seemed almost unique — until now. iPhone’s rapid domination, and the subsequent free fall of competitors, has become a recurring story, which happened due to Apple's exploitation of platforms to match producers and consumers in high-value exchanges. An earlier estimate has shown that platform strategies have fueled the growth of over 160 “unicorns,” with private unicorn companies reaching a cumulative valuation of $500 billion. Platforms utilize network effects, place producers and consumers together to create new value or rather co-create value through communities. Companies that can get closer to the customer and transform their traditional business models into platforms (or network models) will have a competitive advantage based on new insights into pricing, network effects, supply chains, and strategy. It's no longer about simply selling a product; it's about adding value and meaningful customer engagements. The platform world has arrived and today’s business profitability will depend on the ability of platform-based business models leveraging communities to build value.

Cooperate, collaborate, co-create and co-innovate should be the new mantra!

?? 3 Ensure that the current offerings are positioned in a way that they are part of the blue ocean i.e. current offerings must deliver unique value to target customers and strategies must ensure effective safeguarding against imitation and substitute product, here are 4 questions to be answered :

A. Which competitive factors are of little value to the competitive position?

B. Which factors are of high value and could be raised?

C. Which factors add no value and could be eliminated?

D. Which factors have not yet been offered therefore need to be created?

?? 4 Evaluation of strategic choices that have to be made keeping in mind the changing business environment, here are some of the choices :

A. Operational excellence

B. Product leadership

C. Price leadership

D. Customer intimacy

E. Serving few needs of many customers

F. Serving broad needs of few customers

G. Serving broad needs of many customers in a narrow market

?? 5 Making bottom-up innovation and cross-functional collaboration a regular phenomenon Front line workers encounter many problems and come across more opportunities than their managers do. Statistics show that the ideas that an organization needs, 80% of them are in the heads of their front line workers, hence, a process either needs to be developed or existing process needs to be further improved so that innovation and existing product/service improvement related ideas are captured through a robust system of a bottom-up approach. In Coca-Cola Stockholm, in 2010 with the use of Six Sigma which is a top-down approach (comprising of 4 Black belt and 7 Green belt projects) Coca-Cola could save 2 Mil Euros whereas with ideas coming from front line workers (bottom-up approach) Coca-Cola could save 9 Mil Euros within the same time frame.

?? 6 The market leaders who grow faster than their competitors enjoy higher enterprise value This can be attained by identifying the highest-impact actions to overcome a high stake challenge which in turn might help the organisation to seize a rarely / 'if ever' opportunity. Evaluation of the corporate strategy must be done to ascertain the highest impact areas which will in turn help to ascertain the product/service strategy including complements that can be integrated to further strengthen the competitive advantage as well as evaluation of all functional strategies in view of the changes.

No matter what effort is put in to improve sales, sales may not improve without a correct alignment between corporate, product/service, marketing and go-to-market strategy. Unless these strategies are well formulated, implemented and aligned sales might continue to struggle. Sales being an execution mechanism, can only be effective when it is well aligned with the plans or strategies. Here are two perspectives on factors which affect sales to a large extent and has the power to make or destroy a band -

• The balancing act 
• The right focus

Organisations must perform well the great balancing act - balancing between the promise makers and the promise-keepers of a business. The demand generation functions namely sales and marketing and the supply-side namely supply, production and the combination of logistics and distribution for delivering on that demand. When customer orders remain unfulfilled it creates opportunities for competitors to pitch-in whereas oversupply leads to either marking down or writing off - customers often get conditioned to expect the markdowns & they learn to wait and refuse to pay full price - aggressive discounting often leads to a huge erosion of brand value. An effective sales and operations planning (S&OP) process is critical for ensuring that organisations well perform this great balancing act.

Effective focus - Where target purchaser and the consumer is not the same:- Old Spice did viral marketing with its humorous and out-of-the-box advertisement campaigns. It came out with its brand character, the Old Spice man who appeared in “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign in 2010. The Old Spice man Isaiah Mustafa created a stir with his ad, this appealed to the female audience and gave a subtle message to men to buy Old Spice. The ad video got amazing positive reviews garnering millions of YouTube views. With the wise recognition that women were making most Men's grooming product purchase on behalf of them, P&G realised there was a need to speak directly to women but without alienating men. Moreover, the campaign went viral because it targeted folks who were influential in the online sphere: who would blog about it and share it on their channels, who then acted as brand advocates (whether intentionally or not), spreading the gospel.

?? 7 Creating separate entity for effective incubation The focus should be on experimentation and learning and one should be prepared to make a shift or change as discoveries happen. The discovery phase must be followed by the business model definition and incubation, in which a project takes the shape of an actual business and may begin pilot tests. During this stage, it should be separated from the existing business and should form a separate entity and with a separate set of employees since incubation efforts should not distract those employees who are working on their demanding performance goals for the existing business. Only once the initiative is relatively stable and ramped up it should form a part of the existing business. All too often, in their haste to get commercial traction, companies rush through these phases; as a result, whatever product they introduce has critical flaws, this is the reason why creating Minimum Viable Products (MVP) by a separate entity is critical so that if somehow the experiments do not take off, the entire organisation, i.e. it’s existing core business processes, it’s systems and structure which is maximizing cash flow and profit, does not suffer.

?? 8 A thorough assessment of existing Total Quality Management, Lean Six Sigma, Outsourcing, Re-engineering, Change management policies for identifying areas of improvement for maintaining operational efficiencies Operational effectiveness alone is not sufficient to achieve a competitive advantage, these are best practices that can help in improving capability and efficiency, to be precise to reduce cost and improve quality and speed. Capabilities that an organisation develops generates out of its competencies leading to operational effectiveness, where the competitive advantage comes from the way its activities connect with one another. This interconnection is like a chain - strong as its weakest link. Competitive advantage does not come from core competencies or few activities, rather many competencies cutting across activities and blending well into one another where improvement of one task will improve the overall performance and vice versa.

A competitor seeking to match performance gains little by imitating a few activities as its the array of interlocked activities which makes the real difference. 

?? 9 Digitally enabling all functions and distribution channels wherever required Assessments are required to ceratin the optimal use of automation of the workflow across all functions of the organisation and rapid implementation of the same.

?? 10 Further, strengthening customer support, success and retention strategies in view of the changed buyer behaviours COVID-19 will accelerate the shift from face-to-face interactions towards omnichannel digital communications. Buying online rather than in shops will hasten the demise of the High Street as we know it. But enterprises must invest in best-in-class, Amazon-like digital tools as consumers are no longer tolerant of poor digital performance. The move to digital channels makes us more easily identifiable and trackable from the data streams we leave behind us. GDPR and the demise of cookies make things a tad more difficult, but this is to the advantage for our preferred brands who can harvest and augment our 1st party data. Savvy marketers know emotionally engaged customers are 2X more valuable than satisfied customers, and by 2025 IDC predicts that ‘60% of leading brands and retailers will enhance customer engagements using emotion detection and management to influence purchasing, emotion tech is real and it’s happening. Even before the COVID 19 crisis, PwC research showed that 59 per cent of global consumers surveyed felt companies had lost touch with the human element of customer experience, and 75 per cent of the customers surveyed preferred to interact with a human versus an automated machine. And now, people might be struggling to navigate the many friction points of the “new normal” and need a human touch even more. The hunt for future opportunities should not be limited to the boundaries of R&D, rather the entire organisation should be involved in figuring out what customers are trying to accomplish and how the firm can help them do it. Unfortunately, many companies are so internally focused that they’re oblivious to the customer’s experience. In many companies, call centre individuals must follow a script and check off that they’ve said everything on the list — even at the risk of irritating potential customers, instead a better mechanism is to get employees to fully internalize the company’s strategy and allow them to solve customer problems. While trying to lodge a complaint when you reach out to a call centre, how many times do you have to provide your story/customer ID while the call gets transferred from one agent to another, well, many times and all of us experienced this! Isn’t this creating more unsatisfied customers? PwC research also showed that 32% of all customers would stop doing business with a brand they loved after one bad experience. In Latin America, 49% say they’d walk away from a brand after one bad experience.

?? 11 Strategy formulation and Capability building must go hand in hand Business strategies and transformation initiatives build VALUE, PROFITABILITY, and GROWTH whereas competency assessments are cardinal for recruitment and performance improvement of current employees thus helps in CAPABILITY building - making both mandatory. No matter how brilliant a strategy is, strategic plans may not achieve the desired outcome unless effectively implemented, which can only happen when employee productivity and engagements are not suffering, hence, capability building in view of changing business environment should be of utmost importance for all enterprises.

?? 12 Evaluate strategic mergers and acquisitions options to fill the gaps between available offering vis a vis current needs, expectations of target markets/niche segments as well as requirements of major clients/accounts which cannot be fulfilled by current offerings or through the current innovation process.

?? 13 To ensure greater success of the sales team creation, improvement /strengthening of the sales coaching and enablements process for the entire sales team which must result in customised/ individual Go-To-Market Plan for all sales team members. Among many forms of facilitation that a sales coach can offer, a sales coach should guide salespeople to develop their individual Go-to-market plan. Just like an organisation’s Go-to-Market strategy, a sales coach must guide the salesperson to create personalised Go-To-Market plan which must originate at 30,000 feet and conclude at the street level to answer 3 basic questions, what to sell, whom to sell and how to sell. It must be also ensured that the plan is a good representation of the organisation’s business priorities. Asking questions to dig deeper and to understand the full situation before delivering feedback must be always practiced. The regular in-field feedback loops can help employees uncover obstacles to their success and create their own solutions. When we move from a “telling” to a “listening” approach then we can learn what motivates an employee and then empower them to succeed. Research shows that employees prefer to work in environments where they are given creative freedom and opportunities for personal growth. Asking employees to create a plan that conveys a message can test their skills and abilities. Most employees will take that personally and give it their best and when they do, rewarding them accordingly to lock in their performance for the future, does help. Simulations can also strengthen the learning process - by allowing the employees to ‘learn by doing’ in an accelerated environment. Coaches must help in deliberate practice, meaning practising in an environment where coaches can analyze the delivery and help the employee to tune it until the employee has mastered it; salesperson who wants better results must role-play which can help to bring out his or her knowledge and skills naturally. The world’s best athletes and musicians (and yes, salespeople) got that way because they push themselves outside their comfort zone by deliberately practising those things that are most difficult.

?? 14 Focus on the culture A company’s culture is an enactment of its core values and creates the foundation for strategy. While values typically come from the top, the culture will develop through the actions of the people within the company. The values stem from the core beliefs which is directly related to the core beliefs of the leadership team which might require a transformation often a paradigm shift. This also includes taking advantage of huge cost savings by promoting and implementing remote working culture: Many believe that in the post-COVID time 'work from home' will be a more permanent change, rather than a temporary one. In fact, a survey conducted by Gartner with 317 CFOs and business finance leaders found that 74% plan to move their previously on-site workforce to permanently remote positions post-COVID-19. Among this group, the biggest factor driving this permanent change was the cost-saving benefits of working from home. This comes from the reduction of both on-site technology spend, as well as reduced costs in real estate expenses. This also includes financial benefits for the employees: a study done by online recruitment platform FlexJobs found that remote employees save as much as $4,000 a year from commuting, office meals, and other miscellaneous expenses. These financial gains, when paired with the minimum disruption or effect on productivity levels and staff wellbeing, leaves little reason for many companies to move back to traditional working styles even after the pandemic ceases.

?? 15 Assessment of how are the profits are being utilised by the organisation in past and how it should be utilised in future keeping in mind the changing business environment, here are a few examples:

1. Diversification of risk

2. Investment in future technology which can cause disruptive innovation

3. Cross subsidization

4. . Efficiency innovations.......etc

?? 16 Using transient competitive advantage Strategy for many years has been defined as a sustainable competitive advantage: once an opportunity is found, entry barriers were created to enjoy it for a long period of time. But increasingly, this is no longer working well, thanks to globalization, digital disruptions, and so on. In response to this shift, organizations need to build up temporary or transient advantages where they seize opportunities, exploit them, and then move on quickly when that opportunity has been exhausted. It may also be noted that companies define their most important competitors as other companies within the same industry, but this isn’t the case anymore - Boundaries between industries are no longer so clear-cut. Let’s think about TV, telecommunications and computers! So rather than competing for industry leadership, companies need to look at the pool of resources they want to capture—for example, consumer household spending. What should be done to capture that opportunity, and then what kind of space is it? Is it a virtual space, a real space, a physical space? Therefore, what is being essentially done is joining a whole ring of these arenas that eventually become the way for the strategy to evolve. When a company has been very successful for a long time then people don’t feel the urgency to innovate. There’s a tendency to continue to invest along the trajectory that’s already been invested in. And it’s very, very difficult to retool because anything new and uncertain becomes the classic innovator’s dilemma situation. The shift to transient advantage can happen by making innovation culture within the organisation more imperative, which means that organizations must make it a routine capability rather than pursue it in fits and starts as well as by putting a governance structure to administer innovation. Milliken & Company is a fascinating example of an organization that managed to overcome the competitive forces that annihilated its industry. By 1991 virtually all of Milliken’s traditional competitors had vanished, victims of a surge in global competition that moved the entire business of textile manufacturing to Asia. Ultimately, the company exited most of its textile lines and started investing in international expansion, new technologies, and new markets, including forays into new arenas to which its capabilities provided access. As a result, a company that had been largely focused on textiles and chemicals through the 1960s, advanced materials and flameproof products through the 1990s, had become a leader in speciality materials and high-IP speciality chemicals by the 2000s.

It will not be an easy task to identify future opportunities in the post-COVID 19 era and moreover making necessary adjustments at present so that the organisation is well placed in future. A grossly wrong strategy is to put too much emphasis on what competitors are doing. Business competition is a competition over insights and competencies which not only differs greatly from industry to industry but also from organisation to organisation, hence, needs to be carefully formulated based on the operating business environment, capacity, skill, competencies and core beliefs.

The essence of strategy is deciding what not to do and to do what is to be done with a sense of urgency

Wishing the very best to all business for a smooth landing after this turbulent journey and lost of success in the new world!

References and further reading 

?? Articles on “Idea to Market” process :

?? Articles on strategy :

?? Presentation on Sales Transformation:

?? Article on Sales Coaching:

Thank you so much for your interest in this article ??