Friday Focus: The Ability to Pivot
When an entrepreneur gets started on their business venture, they are taking a leap of faith most don’t ever attempt. It takes a level of courage, confidence, knowledge and capital to jump into the world of business ownership. Hats off to you if you’re one of them, look forward to your journey of peaks and valleys on the way to ultimate success.
A common assumption most new business owners have is that in order to create a successful business their service or product they are selling needs to be their whole identity, focus and sole investment. Pouring all time and resources into promoting and creating their one item or offer to provide to the consumer.
While investment, research and development of a core product or service is important, sometimes it might cause a business to pigeonhole themselves, cause narrow-mindedness and curb growth.
You see, the most successful companies out there are able to pivot, adapt and re-invent themselves, their process, products, constantly and by doing so they can keep with changing climates, either social, seasonal or economical.
The ability to keep your eyes and ears open as a business owner cannot be overstated, the market your business is operating in is constantly evolving on the daily, and so should your operation, offers and processes. Your competitors know this and are doing it well, constantly innovating, reinventing and most importantly of all listening to the consumer.
Knowing when to pivot and change is essential; move early, and miss capitalizing on a trend or shift in sentiment at it’s peak; too late, and the opportunities have passed by entirely, causing your brand to stay behind constantly playing catch up. Through listening to the consumer and what they want either in general in your industry or specifically to your product, you reserve the ability to easily adapt continue to boost sales.
This sounds like it should be straightforward, however there are so many entrepreneurs who fail to grasp this. Often times emotion gets in the way especially if the CEO is also the creator, they hold the belief their original product or service is superior and should not be reinvented, especially due to outside influence. Even if a product has done well in sales originally, if a company is unable to adapt to the times or sentiment of their buyers, blink and the product and business can easily become a thing of the past.
Customers vote with their feet, they see something new and more appealing rising over the hill, they will take their money and attention there, the ability to keep your finger on the pulse and make changes is the only way to stay ahead.
The most clear example of this would be Apple and the all too prevalent iPhone. Remember back in 2006 when they released the touch screen on the original iPhone? It was groundbreaking technology, everyone wanted to get their hands on one and I’m very confident the developers thought it was the greatest phone ever invented, and at the time it was! Now the iPhone 16 and subsequent iterations make the technology of the original product, , then seen as revolutionary, look completely obsolete.
Apple moved with the times and continued to and still does innovate. Imagine the developers stopped at the iPhone 1 and did not pivot away from their own original design? Where would Apple be today? The answer is obvious. The day after Apple drops their latest product they are already creating it’s next version.
The only way to attain longevity as a business rests on the ability to pivot and change with the times. Remember you are not the trend setter, the customer is, and they ultimately decide the success or failure of your company. Embrace change and challenge yourself to continue to create and improve in every aspect of your business endeavor.
To gain personalized guidance for your business on this topic and others contact us.
- Vince Calace
Founder - Venture Business Development