It’s become clear that we can’t say “business as usual” anytime soon. Some viewed the changes brought about by the pandemic as a temporary adjustment; others kept looking towards the future, trying to “bounce back”, and some were focused on trying to survive.
And as many organisations settle into the reality that this is the new normal, it’s time to review your sales strategy and future proof your business.
Gartner believes that to lead organisations through a successful recovery effectively, business leaders must make proactive adjustments to their go-to-market strategy planning approach for the years ahead. According to Steve Herz, from Gartner, “Pandemic disruption has changed customer needs and preferences in complex ways, raising the chances that the strategic plans leaders currently make won’t match markets six or twelve months from today.”
As a result, leaders must adjust quickly to anticipate the changing needs of their business. It also presents a window of opportunity to strengthen their market position by updating their sales strategy and tactics to increase their competitive advantage.
Leaders should consider the following before planning their go-to-market strategy:
Identify changes in the customers’ buying journey
Identify changes in the customers’ buying journey
There are still new opportunities even though the economy has tightened during the pandemic. This has brought a change of lifestyle to customers, and with it comes their changing needs. Before creating your go-to-market strategy, lead a disciplined, vigilant and measured approach in reassessing and mapping changes to buying needs of your customers.
Ask yourself, “What products are still relevant to the customers’ needs? What changes to the customer experience do we need to support the new needs of our customers?”
Leverage data and insights from your go-to-market teams to discover opportunities and pain points to address your customers’ needs. Determine what additional business problems you could help customers solve. This will help build a strategy to capitalise on the changing needs of your target market and adapt your services.
Pivot your go-to-market strategy
Evaluate your current go-to-market strategy to reflect the new realities in your customer experience, team operation, sale tech stack and even finances. Modern problems require modern solutions – and your own team is no exception to that.
Apart from managing changing customer needs, leaders must also reassess and change the design of their own go-to-market teams. You can’t expect to produce different results from the same old ways. In creating your go-to-market strategy, build a creative process that helps your team deliver the best results that meet the needs of your target market’s needs.
Think long-term and plan ahead
Planning requires you to objectively look at your business and see what is going smoothly and what is not. Leverage data in setting your targets and when creating your go-to-market strategy. Always consider that your customers’ needs are constantly in flux, and you need to respond with agility to these changing needs or risk becoming irrelevant.
You can accelerate post-pandemic success by anticipating both the short term and long-term changes that may impact your team and business. Take time to rethink how your customer experience can deliver value for customers as a critical element of your go-to-market strategy. Design a customer experience that helps customers and your business adapt to the changing world.
Think long-term and plan ahead
In summary, companies that embrace new strategies are most likely to navigate these times with success and thrive. Facing the disruptions caused by Covid-19 continues to be a challenge, but it can provide unexpected opportunities to drive a better customer experience exceeding the needs of your target markets.
It is not the end of the world for businesses that have experienced disruption during the lockdown. With thoughtful modifications and by creating the right go-to-market strategy, your business can mitigate losses, outsmart the pandemic, and emerge from it stronger than ever.
About Ellivate
Ellivate is the expert partner helping organisations and their go-to-market team’s scale. Our powerhouse team of industry experts – with a combined 60 years of experience across the fintech, corporate and technology spaces – will work alongside your business to achieve your goals.
We have a shared passion for working with businesses to achieve rapid growth and apply an authentic, human layer of expertise that addresses the real challenges and concerns at the heart of your business.
We will work alongside you as a trusted and expert partner. We get in the trenches and ensure every solution is embedded within your business.
