Understand why you need to be adaptable
It’s talked a lot about in business, but what is adaptability? Essentially, it's the ability to quickly and effectively respond to changes in the marketplace or within your own organization. Meet the right people and make a decision without unnecessary delays that could cost the business dearly.
You might be thinking, "well, of course, adaptability is important" but more often than not, businesses that close are ones that failed to keep up with the times. For instance, your competitor used automated scheduling where you chose to do it all manually. Being adaptable can mean the difference between thriving in a rapidly changing landscape and getting left behind.
When you're adaptable, you're able to pivot your strategies as needed and make quick decisions. Not only can this help you to continue growing, but will lead to increased productivity and can even help reduce stress for you and your team.
Identify areas of your business that need adaptability
When it comes to adaptability, it's important to take a holistic approach and consider how it affects every aspect of your business. Will adopting video conferencing help your sales team exceed its targets? Or will automating product ordering reduce waste? Operations, marketing and customer service all have different needs, so let’s see look at each of these in turn.
Operations are the backbone of your business and include everything from product distribution to inventory management. Your team needs to plan ahead and talk to everyone in the chain. If there are sudden changes in the market, for instance, a key component you use becomes unavailable, your operations team can quickly switch to plan B to stay on top.
When it comes to marketing, the way products and services are promoted is constantly changing. Platforms come and go, algorithms are refined and consumer behavior shifts. If you're not able to adapt to this, your marketing efforts may fall flat. For example, if you’re trying to get a good placement on Google but not using the right keywords, you could find competitors outranking you on relevant searches. Be sure to make a poll and schedule regular meetings with your marketing team to understand how they are staying ahead of the curve.
Finally, customer service. Happy customers are key to the success of any business. As the marketplace changes, so do customer expectations. Quicker replies and ease of use are just a few things your customers will expect. If you're not able to adapt to these changes and provide a continually high level of service, you may find people take their business elsewhere. If you need to speak to customers, Doodle’s availability calendar tool Booking Page lets you create a link to share with them so they can find time to talk to you.