Learn to Adapt for Success from 8 Thriving Businesses Who Are Beating the Recession
Many companies across the US are struggling to find their footing.
The recent economic downturn has presented challenges that not all businesses could handle.
And, as with any challenging situation, a business’s success hinges on its ability to adapt.
The good news is that businesses have found ways to thrive amid the disruption. Their actions can serve as lessons to light the way forward for those still lost.
Consider taking one of these five paths if your business isn’t thriving.
Here are five ways to adapt your business for success:
1. Add a product
Every new challenge presents new opportunities.
The key is critically evaluating the situation and identifying which opportunities suit your business well.
It’s possible that when you started your business, you might have focused your business plan on a specific market where you have substantial industry expertise. And that might have worked for some time.
However, the pandemic and the current economic downturn have presented new challenges and are forcing you to rethink your original plan.
For companies like GIR, adding a new product line focusing on a different application of their core technologies or products is the best solution.
GIR (which stands for “Get It Right”) makes high-quality silicone cookware. But, when Covid-19 struck, it realized it was uniquely positioned to help.
GIR could create vital protective equipment for the public using the same silicone material and manufacturing structure already the core of their business. So, GIR developed an easy-to-clean, reusable silicone mask with companion filters.
When GIR launched its masks and filters, it was rapidly swamped with orders – because the masks and filters filled a genuine, timely need. And GIR was able to do so in a way that aligned with its existing business model and brand mission.
Since then, the team at GIR hasn’t rested on its laurels. They’ve listened to their customers and continued to innovate.
GIR’s recognition of customers’ wants led it to update its mask and filter designs to create a better product. And GIR has even launched an additional product – a mask carrying case to keep masks sanitary when customers carry them out worldwide.
If you see an opportunity to expand your business by launching a new product, follow GIR’s lead.
- Develop a product that solves a relevant problem
- Choose a product that aligns with your business model and current operational capabilities
- Let customer feedback guide you to making it the best product that it can be
- Look for related product opportunities that complement your new product
Can you launch a new product to better serve your customers (and increase revenue) now?
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2. Go virtual
At the time of this writing, theaters can’t open to audiences. Stadiums are closed to spectators. And leisurely browsing through stores is, at least temporarily, a thing of the past.
The pandemic has disrupted the arts, entertainment, and retail industries in a significant way.
Many businesses in these sectors have embraced remote technology to provide a viable and profitable path forward. Here are a few examples to inspire your own business.
Sports Television
With large gatherings continuing to be an unsafe option, many sports leagues have chosen to play to empty stadiums while the games are broadcast for fans on television and online.
But, with many sports franchises struggling to figure out the logistics of running a safe season amidst growing coronavirus cases, sports broadcasters have been forced to look elsewhere to fill their schedules.
E-sports have been called up from the bench to take on a more active role. Will Douglas Heaven of the MIT Technology Review reports:
The last three months have seen the biggest crossover ever between mainstream sports and e-sports. Teams and promoters have been filling their suddenly empty schedules with video-game versions of their sports, keeping both fans and sponsors happy. Broadcasters such as Sky Sports, Fox Sports, and ESPN have shown hours of e-sports coverage, including football and soccer stars playing football and soccer sims Madden and FIFA. Formula One has run an entire season of grands prix using its officially licensed video game. And in Australia, NRL teams went head to head in Fortnite rather than rugby.
Is there a virtual stand-in for real-life events or activities that you can embrace to serve your customers at this time better?
Gaelynn Lea
Violinist and disability rights advocate Gaelynn Lea was forced to cancel her tour due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In response, she launched a virtual “Quarantine Concerts” series held every Sunday afternoon. Lea collects tips via Paypal, Venmo, and CashApp from viewers who want (and can afford) to support her in exchange for live entertainment.
If you’re a performer – or manage performers – consider holding virtual shows to maintain income until regular performances can continue.
Sky Candy
Sky Candy is an aerial gymnastics studio in Austin, Texas.
Before the pandemic, Sky Candy held group and private classes in aerial arts such as trapeze, silks, lyra, and aerial hammock.
Sky Candy switched it up when it became clear that group classes couldn’t be held safely in the studio. The studio wisely offered virtual training and conditioning classes to keep their students in shape when regular classes could resume.
Sky Candy continues to hold classes, host events, and perform shows online, even though the studio has now reopened in a limited capacity.
It proudly and prominently displays its visual identity, including its name and logo, on those online events to ensure that clients and prospective clients know which studio offers the virtual events.
Can your business leverage a virtual event platform to boost income and engage your audience remotely?
3. Change your audience
Businesses take it for granted that they know who their audience is.
But an economic recession is not the time to take anything for granted.
When the pandemic struck, Joyride Coffee ran an OCS (office coffee service) selling high-quality wholesale coffee directly to offices. But when businesses began to shutter and employees sheltered and worked from home, Joyride’s founder David Belanich realized that he’d need to reconsider their business model.
This led to a profitable shift to a new audience. Industry publication Vending Market Watch reports:
They created a new channel, reorienting their e-commerce platform at www.drinkjoyride.com and their product offerings to serve individuals throughout the pandemic.
Joyride introduced a direct-to-consumer channel, enabling coffee drinkers to have Joyride products — including freshly roasted coffees, finely sourced teas and cafe-quality cold brew — shipped directly to their homes. Joyride also launched a new product, Joyride Boxed Cold Brew.
These coffee innovators embraced the opportunity to sell to a new audience, enabling them to continue to grow when many businesses were in decline.
So ask yourself, is there another audience you can serve? And, if so, how?
One thing to remember when shifting your focus to a new audience: you may need to consider rebranding if your visual assets, like product packaging, product name, or other visual elements of your brand, don’t fit well with your new audience.
This can happen, for example, if you traditionally sell to a corporate audience but pivot to sell to consumers.
4. Adapt your operations
Standard consumer behavior patterns have changed.
Many people are uncomfortable (or unwilling) to eat indoors in restaurants.
People are shopping online more frequently than ever before.
When shoppers enter stores, they want to get in and out more quickly than usual to minimize the risk of viral exposure.
Intelligent businesses are paying attention to these trends. And they’re adapting their operations to support consumer preferences accordingly.
Coach, trainer, and executive consultant Giora Morein reports that Whole Foods, along with Kroger,
…made a smart choice to close some of their brick and mortar stores entirely, and turn these into distribution centers or temporary warehouses and fulfilment centers. This allows staff to get orders out quicker, travel shorter distances to customer homes, and make the most out of the space they have, especially under the pressures of reduced physical store opening hours and added demand.
Adapting their operations has allowed these grocery superbrands to meet customer needs effectively. And it’s powerful to deliver uninterrupted service when so many businesses fail to meet customers’ expectations. By focusing on strategies to reduce unplanned downtime and equipment failure, grocery superbrands and other businesses can ensure smoother operations and enhance customer satisfaction.
Are there ways to adapt your business’s operations to better serve customers?
5. Embrace multilevel change
Don’t assume that making a single change will be enough to propel your business to success.
For some businesses, adding a new product, adjusting operations, or reaching out to a new audience may be enough.
But, for many, it won’t be.
And that’s not a cause for alarm.
True adaptability relies on making changes that are appropriate to the unique situation. You have to understand your cash flow situation fully. And, with a full arsenal of tactics, you’re better equipped than ever to decide what response is appropriate for your business in these circumstances.
Here are two businesses that have made sweeping changes to adapt and thrive.
The Cheese Shop
The Cheese Shop, a seller of gourmet cheeses, implemented a multi-faceted adaptation to the coronavirus pandemic.
- It expanded its store offerings beyond cheese to include a broader range of regular groceries, pre-prepared sandwiches, and full meals.
- It’s using its social media accounts to engage customers with videos of its tasty foods and announce daily specials.
- Curbside pick-up and shipping services are now available for those who are unable (or uncomfortable) to enter the shop.
- The Cheese Shop now offers “Victory Cheese” boxes to help support the American artisan cheese industry.
If you do something similar, you may need to rethink your brand and whether it confuses customers and prospects. If your brand is confusing, careful branding or rebranding can help you tell a better story about the range of products you carry and your business.
Revolutionary Concord
Like many businesses, the gift shop Revolutionary Concord had to close its doors to the public during early pandemic lockdowns. To keep her store afloat, owner Marie introduced the following changes:
- Marie offered “virtual shopping” via Facebook Live, walking customers through the items in stock so that customers could place orders via phone.
- Marie added a “no-touch” pick-up service and delivery.
- When the store reopened, Marie instituted…
- an eight-customer maximum,
- a new sanitation regime,
- and private shopping hours available by appointment from 8:30 a.m. – 10 a.m.
Bend, don’t break
Changing course is not a weakness.
And, in challenging times, it’s often the only path forward.
Take a cue from these businesses. Adapt your business innovatively now, and you’ll live to do business (and adapt again) another day.
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