One principle that I live by: With any significant event in life, there's a before and after. How things were before and how things are after. The after is determined by how you react to the event and the mindset that you have during event.
The most recent event: The coronavirus. As of now, it's screwing over most of us and sending us into panic mode. But does it have to? Is there a silver lining? If so, what is it for you?
I'll start with my silver lining...
To turn this event into a positive, we'll be pushing new prospects a lot harder. Our main value proposition has been our supply chain - cost savings for the same commodities that these B2B guys are getting elsewhere. The prospect can't increase the volume of the work they're getting, but they can optimize their costs. We're a solution to their bottom line. Also, our problem has never been adding on customers, but having enough supply and growing consistently. We've always hesitated to add on too many customers in fear of running out of stock and sacrificing service. Assuming that the market declines 50%, we'll have the opportunity to 2x our customer list. 80%? Ok. 5x The customer list. Then as the market bounces back, our business will grow naturally without having to add on more customers. Customers that were buying $20k worth will be buying $100k. However much the market drops is an operational opportunity to grow.
For my new location in Texas, we had a virtual meeting this morning. We're launching this month (the absolute worst time to do it). The goal isn't profit maximization right now - it's covering the costs and moving on to set up a new location. If we can get enough customers in that cover overhead, then organic growth will follow. Time to hustle.
The most recent event: The coronavirus. As of now, it's screwing over most of us and sending us into panic mode. But does it have to? Is there a silver lining? If so, what is it for you?
I'll start with my silver lining...
To turn this event into a positive, we'll be pushing new prospects a lot harder. Our main value proposition has been our supply chain - cost savings for the same commodities that these B2B guys are getting elsewhere. The prospect can't increase the volume of the work they're getting, but they can optimize their costs. We're a solution to their bottom line. Also, our problem has never been adding on customers, but having enough supply and growing consistently. We've always hesitated to add on too many customers in fear of running out of stock and sacrificing service. Assuming that the market declines 50%, we'll have the opportunity to 2x our customer list. 80%? Ok. 5x The customer list. Then as the market bounces back, our business will grow naturally without having to add on more customers. Customers that were buying $20k worth will be buying $100k. However much the market drops is an operational opportunity to grow.
For my new location in Texas, we had a virtual meeting this morning. We're launching this month (the absolute worst time to do it). The goal isn't profit maximization right now - it's covering the costs and moving on to set up a new location. If we can get enough customers in that cover overhead, then organic growth will follow. Time to hustle.
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