The market is changing so fast these days, and if you are not planning a solution today for tomorrow’s customers, you may be setting yourself up for failure and don’t even realize it. There are always new competitors who are planning their arrival tomorrow. As an angel investor, I routinely toss business plans that focus too much on today, and don’t talk about tomorrow.
As an example, I was just reading a plan for a new dating app with a tagline of moving users quickly from the virtual world into the real world of offline dating. That may be a boon to dating today, but if your business is making money from apps, it seems like your success will convince users that they no longer need your product tomorrow. Tomorrow is never mentioned in the pitch.
I was happy to see a real focus on preparing for tomorrow highlighted in a new book, “Start a Successful Business,” by Colleen DeBaise, who has made a career of studying and writing about entrepreneur challenges. She offers seven ways that business owners can identify and evolve with future trends, which I agree with and amplify here:
- Take advantage of industry research and trend reports. I often hear entrepreneurs who seem to rely wholly on their own passion, and the view of a few friends. With today’s Internet instant access to all the latest reports and white papers of industry experts, there is no excuse for not staying current with outside perspectives, to temper your own views.
- Regularly follow reviews and influencers in your industry. Of course, you may not have the time or desire to read through every document in your space, but it’s not so hard to find and follow some key influencer blogs on social media. These experts will curate the information, point to the best sources, and summarize implications for you.
- Use tools and analytics to identify trends and directions. There are many free generalized tools, including Google Trends, which can be used to track customer behavior in looking for things that don’t exist yet. In addition, most advanced CRM systems will help you analyze your specific customers for directional behavior.
- Make it a point to surround yourself with smart people. An easy way to connect with people you can learn from, and keep your pulse on where things are heading, is to hire team members who are smarter than you in complementary business areas, including marketing and sales. Spend more time with people who can help, rather than be helpers.
- Build and listen to an effective group of advisors. Find mentors and advisors who have more relevant business experience, insist you see things that aren’t on your radar, and spot what’s coming around the corner. A good advisor will tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. You don’t need friends and family as business advisors.
- Ask the right questions, and listen to your customers. Don’t be afraid to ask current customers what’s on their wish list, and what they see as future needs in their areas. Beware of linear thinking on their part, so it’s your job to expand their scope with ideas outside the box, and ask them for a view of the business several years down the road.
- Learn to accept, and even schedule change regularly. The alternative is to be into the mode of playing catch-up, which can cause you to make mistakes in execution, or even get there too late. Sometimes you have to kill the cash cow, or make personnel updates before the crisis, to assure long-term business health.
I once served on the Advisory Board of a technical software executive who refused to believe that his product was no longer competitive, and insisted that sales and marketing were no longer doing their job. Unfortunately, we were unable to convince him to initiate a broad product upgrade, until the damage was severe. Thus no amount of input will help, if you are not listening.
In today’s market, it takes more than listening to stay ahead of the crowd. It takes initiative, a mindset of planned obsolescence and innovation, and a concerted effort to “see around the corner,” to see things that your customers will need, even if they don’t realize it yet. What have you done lately in your business to survive against the next Steve Jobs?