Introduction
2024 has not seen the return to pre-pandemic stability many had hoped for. Businesses are grappling with a mix of challenges: tightened consumer budgets leading to reduced spending, persistently high interest rates, significant global elections casting uncertainty over the political landscapes of the UK and US, and ongoing global geopolitical tensions.
In response, B2B organisations in the UK, Europe and North America have been turning their focus inward. There has been a noticeable shift from exploring new markets, developing new products and engaging in M&A, with companies instead concentrating on preserving existing profits, enhancing the value of their current offerings and reviewing how & where they put their capital for maximum returns.
At White Space Strategy, common questions we are being asked in discussions with business leaders include:
- ‘Where is our market heading, and how should we reposition ourselves to continue selling effectively?’
- ‘How can we safeguard current revenue streams and possibly increase our margins?’
- ‘Do we have the right assets in the right places and what should we dispose of/ invest in?’
- ‘What AI cost-out opportunities should we be taking advantage of?’
With our deep expertise and long history of supporting clients, White Space Strategy has underlying capabilities to address all these questions. In this blog we outline how we can help bring clarity to complexity during times where trading conditions are more challenging, and growth may not be the first thing on your mind.
‘Where is my market going and how do I need to reposition to sell?’
In times of market change, sometimes the biggest blocker for activity is uncertainty. This could take the form of a market behaving unpredictably and old models not working or appearing stuck in place leaving you unsure when things will start moving again.
If you know orders will recover next year, you can weather the storm and prepare for the return. However, if you know the slump will last five years, or that the market has fundamentally shifted, you may act differently, investing in new capabilities or looking at inorganic growth and consolidation to increase revenue.
If the phone isn’t ringing and you don’t know why, our Market Clarity programme could help by addressing these questions:
- What is driving the change / slowdown?
- How is this likely to affect buying going forward?
- How are the competition responding & where are the gaps?
- Based on the answers to the above, what should we do next?
‘How can I protect our current revenue and can we do anything to increase margin?’
Protecting current revenue or looking to increase margin can take two forms – how can we retain or win market share from competitors, and how can we improve our chances to win, and maximise the value of every win?
When looking to defend or grow market share, this can benefit from a careful look at your competitors. There is an old joke about two friends coming across a bear in the woods (or a cheetah in the Serengeti) that goes something like this:
There are two people in a wood, and they run into a bear. The first person gets down on his knees to pray; the second person starts lacing up his boots. The first person asks the second person, “My dear friend, what are you doing? You can’t outrun a bear.” To which the second person responds, “I don’t have to. I only have to outrun you.”
This is a good reminder that you don’t have to be the best you can possibly be, just to be better than the competition. When it comes to UX/UI, supply chain optimisation, account management support etc. do you know what the standard is in your market so that you can just be slightly better?
Our Competitor Benchmarking services could help you identify where you have the potential to increase sales with minimal investment:
- What are competitors doing in areas that matter most to your customers?
- How do you rank vs them?
- What are their strengths and weaknesses, and where do you need to do more to be market leading? What do you not need to prioritise?
If you are facing a slowdown in your market, it may rather be time to change the way you sell. If inbound sales are drying up and net new business is harder to come by, you may have to work harder to win sales and push to maximise the value of every sale (margin, sell-on, retention etc.)
Now could be a great time to take a look at sales approaches and processes that may have served you well in previous market conditions but may not be the best fit for the current state of play.
If you want to assess your current approach and find the gaps or to formalise and optimise your methodology, or you want to explore the opportunities in a different set of sales tactics, our Sales Excellence programme could help:
- Which areas of your current process have the most potential to improve conversion?
- What is ‘best practice’ – taking inspiration from the best performers in your industry as well as successful approaches in adjacent markets
- What is the blueprint for your sales process to ensure it’s set up for success?
‘Do we have the right assets in the right places and what should we dispose of/ invest in?’
For businesses which are highly acquisitive or those with large footprints, it’s common to have a range of overlapping functions and a spread of capacities. This is fine when business is flying and even the least efficient business function makes money, but when high-cost assets are underutilised it’s a good time to reflect on the future value of these assets and consider some difficult decisions.
Once you have identified underperforming assets, knowing whether to invest in or dispose of them is a decision based on the future of the market – will that asset come back to prominence when the market bounces back? Or have needs moved on and so that location, capability or technology will have changed too much and capital should be redeployed elsewhere?
White Space Strategy’s scenario planning and CAPEX modelling will both help understand market trends and compare investment options.
Our scenario planning approach supports our clients to address the questions:
- What might happen in our market?
- What would the impact of these changes be?
- What would we do in these situations?
- What actions are common to multiple scenarios, and can be tackled now?
- What are the early warning signs which indicate significant market changes that we need to be on the lookout for?
Our CAPEX modelling programmes help clients to navigate investment challenges:
- What investment options are on the table?
- What would your overall footprint or capability set look like if you made these investments? Where are the areas of overlap and how unique is the sum of the parts?
- What is the expected return of these different options? How does return on capital compare to existing investments and corporate targets?
‘Are there AI cost out opportunities and what should I be building now that can help soon?’
Many businesses will be looking at the cost side of the equation and considering whether there are cost-out opportunities to help retain or grow profit.
Undoubtedly, AI is creating opportunities for better service delivery and removing labour in back-office functions
With our partners Palladium Digital, we have carried out AI Impact Assessments to identify opportunities for AI and make practical suggestions about in-year benefits that can be realised through off-the-shelf tools:
- Which parts of our back- and front-office are ripe for disruption from AI?
- What tools are in the market which could be deployed now to address these elements?
Whether you’re looking for in-year benefits or building out a roadmap, White Space Strategy can help