G's 10 principles to business turnaround
How to embed a commercial mindset to get your business back on track to growth.
Although I started my business in a boom time, the foundations of my career were formed in bust. In the current unfavourable market conditions, I’m noticing the difference in attitudes between those who has been here before, and those experiencing things for the first time.
Things like dropping revenues, thin margins and fickle clients/customers that are struggling to invest in bigger, longer term commitments creates a world that feels hard to control and we can start to spin out. Trust me, there’s a lot you can do to take the bull by the horns, and what we need is consistent and focused execution.
Now in bust times, we are having to address those issues and address them aggressively. It’s been uncomfortable, difficult, and painful, but in a lot of ways it can feel rewarding to turn the ship around and get back on track.
We do this by leaning into the basics of ‘good business’.
Product / Proposition
Profit
People
Process
Procurement
The quicker leaders can accept that you can’t avoid these five truths of business, the better. Sure you can last without each of them for a while, but the longer you leave it, the more aggressive it will come for you and the more complex and expensive it is to fix. I’ll do a deep dive on each of these 5 another time, todays’s focus is taking back control of the controllable and start turning your ship around by creating a solid customer base and bringing everyone along with you/
What I find I’m having to stress to clients who haven’t been here before and are dealing with the aftereffects of an uncertain economy is that whether you like it or not, you’re now a turnaround leader, and to turn this ship around we need new behaviours and actions. This means a new mindset, and one that is focused on building business.
Not everyone is meant to be a turnaround leader - it’s personally my favourite place to be, but it may not be for you. To lead a turnaround you need to deliver on a series of small, consistent steps. Despite being small, these steps will stretch us out of our comfort zones, from “selling” to “firing” we will be leaning into the conversations we’ve been able to avoid in good times.
Before you start, check in on what matters to you, and why you’re motivated to lean into things that give you the ick. For me, I love being part of a turnaround story, “we took it from a to b” stories that gives me pride and gets me through the blood, sweat and tears. You need your ‘why’, the one that rationalises why you would willingly put yourself into situations you dread.
This helps to make the hard things make sense.
Next, make sure you have a team around you that makes you feel like it’s worth it to win it, that you have a clear mission to make it all worth your while when you come out the other side, and that you’re not burden on only your shoulders.
So if you’ve found yourself at the helm of a business that desperately needs to transform your bottom line, and you’ve got your why, then let’s go.
Here are my 10 principles of business turnaround:
If time is money, how much was your last meeting?
Turn around time is all about action - what do you need to sell? It’s ‘minimum viable’ mindset applied to everything. Not forever, but just to see through the next few months until you’ve stabilised the ship. Every activity needs to be assigned with a clear return on investment (ROI). You are not reproducing rich so ensure everyone on the team understands the situation, and be mindful of how they spend company money, resources and time.
Ideation breeds innovation.
Yesterday's ideas won’t solve today’s problems, so open up the floor for folks to get involved. Set a clear goal outcome you need the business to get through (i.e we need to close a gap of $200k by December) and ask everyone to step in and bring forward ideas to achieve that.
What’s the proposition for ‘now’?
At the end of the day, your proposition will be defined by what your clients are willing to buy. Focus less time inside the house trying to guess what they want ,and spend more time outside asking what they need. Work on a simple elevator pitch that empowers anyone in the business to use and use priming techniques in your external comms to reinforce what you want to be known for. Make it easy to sell and easy to buy.
Don’t spend time on deals that don’t matter.
Not all deals are equal. Countless times I”ve seen huge amounts of resources spent on small projects. In turnaround time we only go after the big fish, and we will catch smaller ones along the way. Create rules around how much time teams should spend against deal size, i.e. <$50,000 no tailoring, generic pitch and proposal. Splitting the team's attention across lots of small deals leads to the death of a thousand cuts.
If 80% of business comes from 20% of customers, then…
Start working with those that already know you instead of trying to convince those that don’t to try you out. Deals will turn around quicker and easier - plus you’re already set up on their supplier list. If the idea of ‘selling’ makes you uncomfortable, focus on the value you are providing and not the product you’re delivering (think less this: “hey do you want to buy a watch” and more like this: "hey do you want to always know the time”).
Create advocacy by asking.
Word of mouth is the strongest currency. When clients come via a trusted source, they take less time on due diligence. Your clients want to help you but they won’t know how (or assume you don't need it) unless you ask. Make it easy on them to help you by being specific with who you want to be introduced to, ex: “Looking to speak to CMOs in B2B co’s making between 50-100 million with these kinds of challenges x,y,z”. Do the hard work for them.
Work to targets and communicate progress
Working hard and stretching yourself without any positive signals that it's working can feel like a hamster on a wheel. Set targets / milestones that are achievable and still stretchy. Do this weekly (even daily) to keep everyone motivated and focused on the task ahead. Targets can be things like deals closed, to # of meetings, etc. Then bring the team along with frequent and consistent comms with paired rituals to ensure they focus on building confidence that the hard work is worth it. Celebrate small wins, share positive signals and praise the right behaviours. Don’t fix things in the dark!
Get out there.
You can’t compete with a good face to face, and it shows them you're committed to connect. Get out there and have conversations and be top of mind. Maybe they don’t need your business right now, but reminding them what you do and the problems you’re solving for others makes it easy for them to refer you if they meet someone that IS looking for your business. It doesn’t have to be a big song and dance - approach it human to human and how can you help. Connect your clients to learn from each other. One of the most valuable initiatives I’ve done is a remote roundtable of marketing leaders (some clients, some potential clients) to learn from each other. They got so much out of it and it positioned me as an expert.
10) Don’t outsource the hard things,
I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve had to talk founders off the ledge of outsourcing sales (too soon). Even I’ve had to learn this lesson the hard way. If it makes you uncomfortable it’s usually a sign you should do it and you’ll grow from it. Hard feedback, ‘selling’, whatever it is, lean in, and get support from your team (remember everything is just a series of do-able small steps). You’ll be a better, more rounded leader from it.
You got this!
I’ve realised lately how much I personally struggled in the former (boom) times- over invested companies could avoid the ‘hard things’ which equated to lots of a talent pool of under performers, no accountability, commercially ignorant decisions (or a complete lack of thinking about commercials to begin with) and operational waste leading to mass inefficiencies. I feel this is a big wake up call for anyone who started their career at this team because I think it did them a disservice in believing that any of the above is ‘good business’.
Want more? Here’s my recommended reading playlist:
Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change
Turn the Ship Around ! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
The Crux: How Leaders become Strategists