On your marks, get set, go… er no. Stop. Actually let’s all sit down for a while. Oh, hang on, we’ve decided to change this from a 100m sprint to a hopping steeplechase. Oh, that track is shut… cuppa tea anyone?
Now, this might sound like a Monty Python sketch, but over the last few weeks I’ve been speaking with lots of businesses, and, as ridiculous as this might sound, it’s actually how a lot of people have felt as we’ve moved through 2020.
This year has been a whirlwind – unpredictable, changing course and leaving a trail of havoc behind it. And many of us have been caught up in the storm of confusion and calamities. A recurring theme in the conversations I’ve had is the sense of a loss of control and lack of foresight – one minute we think we’ve managed to come up with a plan, only to find the government’s changed their mind – again, pulling us hesitantly back to the drawing board.
But now that we’re coming to the end of 2020, and whilst we might find ourselves in the midst of a second lockdown, it’s OK to let ourselves feel a sense of hope. We might be skeptical about the vaccine announcements, and dubious about what the government’s next stance might be. But, one thing we do know for sure – this won’t go on forever.
And another thing we know for sure is that some things we can control, others we can’t – like the old saying goes, ‘you should only worry about things you can change’. There’s nothing we can do about the govt policy flip flopping, Brexit talks stalling, or the looming threat of lockdown/reopen Groundhog Days.
But we can look to the future – look into 2021 and see that at some point this will be behind us – and plan now for how we’re going to proactively manage the situation as it evolves back to a kind of normal.
So, with a sense of budding optimism and foresight, I’d say it’s ok to let ourselves have a little spring in our step. And, by allowing ourselves to consider what that next positive step might be, we’ll find ourselves experiencing that sense of energy that served us, and our businesses, so well in the past.
Yes, there will be new obstacles for us all to face, and challenges for us to tackle. Some we may relish, and some maybe not so. But, for us to do this and achieve our goals, it’s important we keep ourselves fit and ready – no matter what the race ends up being.
Whilst many of us have hunkered down these past few months, deep down, we know we can’t do that forever. And, whilst now might not be the time for significant investment (which is also debatable), I’d say at the very least, it’s time to plan – Time to dust off those running shoes, and start preparing our businesses for tomorrow.
Benjamin Franklin’s aphorism of: Failing to plan is planning to fail, sums it up flawlessly.
There will always be areas we can lose a bit of fat, and in many cases, that’s not a bad thing. But, there are fundamental operations that we cannot shortcut if we want our businesses to succeed and grow. One being – making sales.
At neptik, we help businesses by growing their pipelines. But, what we do isn’t pulled out of a box, it’s handcrafted for each business we work with, and their target audience – This is our time of planning.
Once we get rocking, success for our clients can be achieved with minimal delay. And, when that happens we’re at the point of fuelling sales teams, with leads for them to nurture and close.
So, what am I saying right now? It’s simple, if you’re looking to grow your business in 2021, then now is the time to start talking and planning on how it’s really going to happen.
We’re already working on this with all our clients… If you’d like to have a chat with me about how neptik could help your business achieve the sales aspirations you have for 2021, then drop me a line and let’s talk – ben@neptik.com
