Almost five years ago the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the US, ushering in a period of chaos and confusion. Between a pandemic, racial tensions, a broken supply chain, an irreversible shift in how people work and buy, political tensions, an unprecedented presidential election, and now the talk of sweeping domestic and foreign policy changes under a new administration, it’s been a busy five years!

As a business owner, whether you wanted to be along for the ride or not, you are! You simply can’t get away from the news. But even if you could ignore it all, it’s not in your best interest to try because you need to know what’s going on now and what may be coming next to understand how it may affect your business and your customers.

Today’s business owners understand that they can’t be responsive to marketplace changes if they stick their heads in the sand, which means that they need to find balance. They need to figure out how to stay attuned to what’s going on without letting the frenzy and hype take over. The goal right now is to avoid getting distracted, but that’s often easier said than done!

Let’s look at how today’s distractions are affecting businesses and the markets they operate in as well as discuss what business owners can do to stay focused and drive success.

Understanding the Business Impacts of Unease

In February, Rob Haworth, Senior Investment Strategy Director with U.S. Bank Asset Management, told news sources, “There’s a lot of uncertainty about which government actions will be implemented,” which is affecting the markets in the form of increased volatility. One such action was the termination of DEI preferencing in federal contracting and agencies. Another was the temporary nonprofit funding freeze, which may have affected more than half the nation’s NFP organizations. The cumulative effect of numerous waves of policy changes like these is a generalized unease among business owners and executive leaders.

Even where businesses are not directly affected by the administration’s proposed or implemented new policies, the overall uncertainty of the situation is already causing some business leaders to temper spending in general, particularly around hiring. What we’re starting to see now is a greater cautiousness being exercised by executive leadership across all areas of their businesses because they don’t necessarily know what the ripple effect might be from policy changes that are already underway. This response is then trickling down through their organizations. As a result, senior and middle managers are already reading the room and hunkering down for what may be asked of them in the following months, namely being tasked with doing more with less – finding more customers with a reduced marketing budget, serving existing customers with less staff, developing new products with less R&D spending, and so forth.

With so much speculation and uncertainty, there’s the tendency to panic or to overreact – but the most successful businesses will be those whose leaders stay focused on what they do, how they do it, and who they serve.

Staying Firmly Rooted

Remember, we’ve been here before! Today’s business owners have already weathered the storm through much worse than what they are currently facing right now. When the pandemic hit everything changed overnight (or nearly overnight). Organizations had to pivot everything in 2020, but most made it through that disruption and now they are stronger as a result.

Today’s business leaders already know how to adapt and stay focused on what matters most. They understand that the way through the whirlwind of uncertainty is to move from a mindset of scarcity to abundance by focusing on growing, not reducing.

Planning for Success

Today’s organizations need to have an unwavering focus on sales success, which means:

• Leveraging employee insights to determine how you can provide value across every customer touchpoint.
• Establishing your thought leadership through sales-centered high-impact content.
• Refining your GTM (go-to-market) strategies based on new buying preferences and patterns.
• Achieving business alignment with today’s evolving B2B revenue framework.
• Measuring sales results with the right metrics, namely recurring revenue, conversion rate, customer lifetime value, and churn rate.

Executing well on each of these ensures that an organization has the best chance of weathering any uncertainty whether economic, political, or cultural in nature.

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Looking Forward

Regardless of what comes next, the most effective companies will be those that stay focused on long-term success. The CFO of Cox Enterprises, Dallas Clement, says it best: “When you think long term, you don’t overreact to [the] short-term.”

Let our team help with your strategic business planning! Every day we work with B2B organizations to cut through the distractions and grow profitable revenue. Contact us today to learn more!