Growth & Strategy Conversations
Stay too long and you lose the money. Change too early and you lose the momentum.
Every owner at some point wonders whether the problem is that the business needs more time or that it needs to become something else. Neither answer is always right. This session gives owners a way to look at the evidence, to separate real signals from a bad month, and to try a change on a small scale before committing to it.
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The hardest part of changing direction is the money and years already spent.
Owners are often reluctant to change because of what they have put in: savings, loans, years of work, a name they are proud of. That is natural, and it is also what economists call sunk cost: money already spent that no decision now can bring back. The question to ask is what is the best use of the time and money you still have.
The opposite mistake also happens. A business that has had one hard season may be abandoned when a little more patience, or a single fix, would have worked. A pivot is a serious step, and the aim of this session is to take it, if at all, on evidence and with a plan.
What the session covers
34 topics across 7 areas. Seven parts, from the signals to the test.
What a Pivot IsFrom small shifts to a new business.5
- Changing who you sell to
- Changing what you sell, or how you charge
- Changing how you reach customers
- Changing what you are best known for
- Changing the whole business, which is rare and drastic
Most useful changes are smaller than owners fear.
Signals That May Suggest StayingPatience can be right.5
- Customers who return and recommend you
- Improving numbers, even slowly
- A problem with a specific, fixable cause
- A bad season that matches a pattern in past years
- Costs that can be reduced without harming service
Signals That May Suggest ChangingEvidence, not mood.5
No single signal decides it. Owners look at several together, over at least a few months, and talk to customers before drawing a conclusion.
- Many customers say they like you but few buy again
- You are working harder each year for the same or less
- A margin that never covers your costs even at full capacity
- A market that is shrinking, not just slow
- A large share of your time on customers you would prefer not to serve
How Long Can You Keep Going?Money and energy both run out.4
- Cash left, monthly shortfall and how many months that gives
- Loans and commitments that come due
- What your family can bear
- A date by which you will decide, set now
A decision made with six months of cash left has more choices than one made with six weeks.
Choosing What to Change ToBuild on what you already have.5
- Which customers valued you most
- What skills, equipment and relationships you can reuse
- Where customers are asking you for something you do not yet offer
- How big the new market is, and who already serves it
- What the change would cost, and what could go wrong
Testing Before CommittingA cheap experiment first.5
- One change, a small group of customers, a limited time
- Asking some customers to pay, as a real test of interest
- What result would count as success
- What result would mean stopping
- Agreeing both in writing before starting
Bringing People With YouA change affects more than the owner.5
- Explaining the reasons honestly to staff and family
- Talking to partners, lenders and key suppliers early
- Telling existing customers what is and is not changing
- What to do about staff whose roles will change
- Keeping the core business running meanwhile
Exercises owners do in the session
- Rate their business against the signals, with a note of the evidence for each
- Work out how many months they can continue on current terms
- Describe one possible change and what it would build on
- Write a sixty-day test with success and stop criteria
What participants leave with
- The signals sheet and the runway calculation
- A test plan with agreed stop criteria
- A short list of questions to ask customers
- A note on how to raise the subject with family and staff
What this session is not
- A recommendation to change or to stay, for any particular business
- Financial advice, or help with insolvency or debt matters, for which qualified advisers should be consulted
- A promise that a change will succeed
How the session runs
A facilitated conversation of about two to three hours, in a small group. A practitioner who has seen businesses change direction, and some that should have, shares how they judged it. Owners then work through the signals sheet, the runway calculation and a test plan for their own business. The conversation is private; members are not asked to reveal figures to the group.
What your students leave with
- A clear meaning of pivot, and the different sizes of change it can involve
- A list of signals that suggest staying, and signals that suggest changing
- A written estimate of how long they can keep going on current terms
- A small, time-limited test of one possible change
- Criteria for stopping the test, agreed before it begins
- A way to talk to family, partners and staff about a change
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Look at the evidence, know your runway, and test any change small before you commit.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.