With the current fluctuating economy, it’s important to adapt and find new opportunities to strengthen your business through these times of uncertainty. Luckily, you’re not alone. Many businesses have experienced reductions in work, changes in their workforce, and a decrease in the effectiveness of their current strategy. Here are our top tips for adapting and realigning your business for success in 2023.
“Rethink” Your Business
Adapting your business begins with finding opportunities for improvement and growth. Conduct a SWOT analysis to analyze your business internally as well as externally. This is a great time to hold meetings discussing a financial overview, the state of the business, and the need for identifying cost control measures to solicit input while also setting expectations. Here are some questions to help get the conversation started:
Internal
- How can we best structure our workgroups to achieve optimal results (LEAN)?
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How can we reduce costs without compromising the quality of our product or service?
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Can we acquire or create new business units that strengthen our business?
External
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What are competitors in the industry doing that we aren’t?
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Are there changes in the needs of the customer, or a change in our target market?
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What customers or locations are best served by our product or service?
Investing in Innovation
Innovation is one of the key factors for businesses to remain the number-one solution for their customers and maintain their competitive advantage. Innovation is happening in almost every industry, from manufacturing to construction to healthcare and even within the legal sector. Adapting to industry advancements will not only modernize your current processes but also decrease your operating costs.
- Consider automating or outsourcing functions and processes to drive internal efficiency and scale the business appropriately
- Invest in your online presence and communication with the consumers
- Adapt your promotional strategy to be current and attractive (advertising, packaging, website, language)
- Upskill current employees, and focus recruiting on improving your team’s collective talent and skillset
Employee Retention
Your team is one of your most valuable assets, which makes adapting to changes in their needs and desired work experience a top priority. Stay interviews can help you evaluate job satisfaction and the factors that influence employee retention. The conversation is targeted at gaining insight into what makes the company a pleasure to work for and what areas could use improvement.
- If possible, consider offering hybrid or remote work
- Recalibrating wages (versus doing the standard CPI Merit increase) may ensure external and internal equity for team members for long term retention
- Provide career growth opportunities for employees
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