Ian Altman
For decades I have observed business trends from the stage and from the
trenches. For the third consecutive year, I am pleased to share with you what I
see as top business trends that leading companies embrace to drive success. In
some cases, I spot trends that are starting to take shape.
In other cases, I
spot established trends that have not yet found their way into the mainstream.
I see some of these patterns by interacting with participants when I speak at
events, and others I notice while working closely with businesses of varying sizes.
Feel free to take a look at my past predictions from 2015 by following the link
at the bottom of the article. Here are the Top 10 Business Trends That Will
Drive Success in 2016.
1. Top Performing Companies Will Focus On Connecting
Customers
In discussions with industry leaders like Seth
Godin and Clay
Hebert (among
many others), it has become clear that we are in a Connection Economy. The
connection economy rewards value created by building relationships and creating
connections, rather than building assets by industrialism. This mean the most
valuable companies will connect buyer to seller, or consumer to content. If you don’t buy that argument, consider these facts:
Uber is the largest “taxi” company – yet they
own no vehicles and excel at connecting riders with drivers.
AirBnB is the largest provider of accommodations
– yet they own no real estate.
Facebook is the largest media company – yet they
create no content.
Crowdfunding businesses like Kickstarter and
IndiGoGo are expected to surpass venture capital for funding in 2016 – yet they
have no funds to invest.
Whereas it used to be sufficient to sell a
product and receive revenues, customers now seek to connect with other
like-minded individuals to get the most value in the long run. The most
successful conferences build communities that survive much longer than the
event itself. If you want to build something that stands the test of time,
you’ll connect your customers to each other and to valuable resources that
extend beyond the sale. This type of connection is something we included in the Remarkable Growth Experience event for 2016 – we had overlooked the ongoing
community aspect in the past.
2. Smart Businesses Will Shift From Complaining About
To Embracing Millennials
The largest group of individuals, according to
the Census Bureau is people in their 20’s (80 million). This group, often
categorized as Millennials, now represents the largest customer and employee
segment. They are also soon to be the largest business owner segment. From 1947
to 2010, Baby Boomers represented the largest segment of the population.
Brad Szollose, author of Liquid Leadership and an expert on generationalleadership development says, “Millennials want to
work for companies they can be proud of, and buy products from companies that
give a damn about the things that matter most to them.” Szollose adds, “The
reason companies must start embracing Millennials instead of rejecting them is
simple; Boomers will be forced to retire soon. This leadership exodus will
leave a leadership gap like we’ve never seen before. Since Generation X is much
smaller demographically than Millennials, who do you think will be the dominant
force competing for those positions? Millennials.”
If you are looking to hire Millennials, you
might need to change your approach. Kim Cole, co-founder of TheSalesZone.com, has a great track record of finding
extraordinary sales and executive talent. According to Kim, “Millennials need
to see a clear vision of their growth and future role in the organization. They
might have aspirations that go beyond their current skills. If you share how
you help your employees develop skills to advance in their careers, you might
attract quality talent – and they will often help you attract other like-minded
individuals.” For a great interview question for Millennials, Cole suggests
asking, “What types of challenges do you see yourself tackling and how do you
envision making an impact five years from now?”
3. Innovative Organizations Will Invest In Mentoring
And Engagement For Remote Employees
As more businesses employ telecommuting
strategies, it is easy to overlook employee development and training. Top
performing companies will make a commitment to electronic tools to teach,
monitor, and even mentor team members regardless of physical location. These
tools will enable team members to learn on their own schedule and get on-demand
support whether it be technical issues, strategy, or sales tactics.
This type of career development will lead to
more engaged employees, and will help to improve recruitment of millennials who
tend to value skills development. This will extend beyond just learning, but
will provide tools to verify concepts, tie to additional clarification, and
will track and report on progress to validate the investment.
This also means meeting your employees and
customers where they want to find you. Many individuals extend their learning
outside of traditional models. Look for continued expansion with podcasts.
We’ve seen a strong audience on the Grow My Revenue Business Cast from listeners who tune-in while
exercising or in transit.
4. Top Businesses Will Focus On Strengths-Based More
Than Remedial Leadership
For years, the approach in employee reviews was
to discuss deficiencies and help employees overcome their weaknesses. In 2016,
look for an increase in Strengths-Based Leadership. Though we can be taught
just about anything, we are most engaged and productive when doing the things
we enjoy where we can demonstrate proficiency. Gallup Research shows that productivity increases 21% when
employees are engaged at work. Lisa Cummings, CEO of LeadThroughStrengths.com says, “Give them the chance to use their
strengths at work every day. Employees who work in their strengths zone daily
are 6x as engaged as their peers. So as a leader, you should invest in their
natural talents. When you do, the business gets a productivity boost and the
employee feels more energized and in their flow.”
Cummings gives a tangible example of the
difference: “It used to be that a manager would tell an introvert to ‘get out
there more and network.’ With strengths-based leadership, you are more likely
to guide the employee to achieving results leveraging their unique strengths.
For an introvert, they’re often excellent at deepening 1-to-1 relationships.
Rather than sending this person out to run a trade show booth, give them
responsibility for showing deep care to five of your top customers.”
5. Commodity Products Will Continue To See Margins
Erode. Services Will Extend Value
Simply being able to deliver a product or
service will continue to put you in the commodity game. When it took online
retailers a week or more to deliver products to customers, you offered
consumers a better alternative. When it took two days for delivery, it was a
bit more challenging. Free overnight delivery made it tougher. I recently
experienced Amazon Prime NOW when I needed an adapter for my computer. I could
have driven to a local electronics store, but the Amazon service was faster,
cheaper, and more convenient. I ordered it just before sitting down at a client
lunch. By the time I got back to the hotel, the adapter was waiting for me with
free delivery.
Top companies will differentiate based on
expertise and skills, even when they used to offer commodities. You might think that Amazon and other
online retailers are “killing small business.” If you used to count on making money
simply because you had the commodity available, you might be in trouble.
However, Amazon is essentially training customers to be comfortable buying
remotely from faceless vendors. This opens new market opportunities where you
can charge for your expertise to online consumers who are now, thanks to Amazon
and others, comfortable making purchases from remote sources. While you might
suffer trying to provide a commodity in your local market, business
opportunities for your niche expertise may have grown beyond your neighborhood.
Today, with almost no financial investment, you can sell your expertise and
talents anywhere in the world.
Susan Friedmann coined the term “The Riches Are In the Niches” in her book by the same name. In today’s
world, generalists need to have the scale and logistics of Amazon to compete. A
local brick-and-mortar business might struggle in a small market if they are in
a narrow niche. Expand that business on-line, and specialization attracts ideal
customers from across the globe. Just be sure you have a product or service
they can easily buy to build trust so they can easily do business with you.
6. Leaders Will Invest In A Corporate Culture Of
Customer Service To Grow Revenue
According to NY Times Bestselling Author, Jay
Baer, “Globally, we spend $500 billion on marketing each year, and $9 billion
on customer service. This is despite the fact that we know that customer
retention is the quickest way to profit growth. Smart companies are starting to
embrace the notion that customer experience and customer service IS the new
marketing, as Walker research says that by 2020 customer experience will be
more important than price for B2B purchasers.” Baer covers these topics
masterfully in his anticipated latest book, Hug Your Haters.
The fastest way to grow your business is to NOT
lose existing customers. Customer Service has become a
spectator sport, top companies realize that online customer complaints spread
like wildfire. Zappos became a legend by investing in a big way on customer experience.
They proved that customers in fact, will pay a bit more for an incredible
experience.
According to Robert Richman, author of The Culture Blueprint and former Culture Strategist for Zappos,
“You can’t demand culture. The best organizations build culture from within.
Great culture is built by engaging your team through thoughtful discussions,
not by issuing edicts.”
7. Leading Companies Will Measure And Deliver Results
Not Just Solutions
Customers are sick of investing in solutions
that do not deliver the intended results. Top performing companies will invest
in an approach to ensure success of each project for each customer. Doing so
will lead to high customer satisfaction, and repeat and referral business.
Price matters most when the
seller BELIEVES price matters most . By focusing on results, the seller
and buyer will both share appreciation for the value delivered. Once your clients sees that your approach is
likely to deliver better, measurable results than the competition, they’ll be
able to see beyond price. As more companies focus on measuring results, this
also spells trouble for those vendors who today compete as the low-cost service
provider. As Seth Godin says, “Competing on price is a race to the bottom that
you just might win.”
The average human attention span, according to a study by Microsoft, is eight seconds. This fell from an average of
twelve seconds in the year 2000. In comparison, scientists measure the
attention span of a goldfish at nine seconds. The study shows that smartphones
and mobile devices contribute to this phenomenon. If you recognize that
Millennials are the largest segment of consumers and employees, then we better
figure out how to capture and retain attention.
One way creative businesses will achieve better
engagement is through gamification. Whether it be in the form of electronic
games, or traditional games, the idea is to make activities fun and engaging.
Let’s face it, would you rather do something fun, or boring? In my business,
for years we would work to get teams to embrace role-plays to develop sales
skills. Rarely would teams follow-through. We introduced Same Side Improv – a game to allow teams to practice
real-world customer dialogs. My clients often report, “I see them laughing and
having a good time. Of course, what we care most about is they are seeing
better results.” Now they practice weekly and the results speak for themselves.
All we did was make it fun.
9. The Best Companies Will Tightly Integrate Content
Marketing Into Their Sales Process
When you are looking to make a purchase, how
much research do you do on your own compared to the information you rely on
getting from salespeople? Consumers value impartial input. When the customer
goes silent in the middle of the sale process, it used to signal that something
was wrong. Today, it often means they are doing their own research. You have
two options: 1) Provide valuable, impartial content to support their research,
or 2) Allow your customer to get their information from other sources.
Smart companies will integrate impartial content
to support customer decisions. This means not only sharing where you are the
best fit, but also acknowledging where you are not. Marcus Sheridan, founder of TheSalesLion.com is one of the foremost authorities on
content marketing and he provides a wealth of knowledge on the best approach to
achieve results on his website. According to Marcus, “The top companies are seen as
the best teacher on the planet on what they do.”
10. Rapid Growth Companies Will Invest in Developing
“Selling/Solving” Skills For Non-Salespeople
Revenue generating professionals fall into three main
categories: Order takers, salespeople, and subject matter experts. It doesn’t matter
which one you think you might be. What matters, however, is what role you want
when you are a customer seeking to solve a problem. If you are like most
people, you want the subject matter expert. This means that the role of the
salesperson is changing. Customers don’t have to put up with the back-slapping,
boisterous, stereotypical salesperson.
Instead, subject matter experts are the people
who setup a meeting that the customer would be willing to pay for. However,
those experts might not have the requisite skills to navigate a complex
purchase. Managing the sales process today requires skills
similar to solid project management skills – with great attention to detail and
follow-through. Those companies seeing rapid growth will invest in developing
skills that help their experts manage the process to help their clients solve
more challenges. They’ll be seen as trusted advisors. Since these experts wear
many hats, the top companies will establish a consistent, simple approach
everyone can embrace, even your customer.
It’s Your Turn
Which trend did I miss? If you want to see how I
did in 2015, here is a link to the 2015 Trends. I welcome your comments and invite you to join
the conversation on Twitter, LinkedIn, or your favorite channel. Please tag @GrowMyRevenue so I can join the discussion.
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