COVID-19 is possibly one of the greatest disruptions that the world will see during our lifetimes. Workers are being forced into remote working, customers are cutting back all but the essentials and even the core value propositions of many businesses have been declared temporarily illegal.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the challenges your business is facing, much can be learned from successful start-ups. By their nature, start-ups thrive on disruption. They seek out an unmet need – a customer job-to-be-done, pain or gain that is being overlooked by the market. The disruption from COVID-19 has already created a whole new set of needs to be met.
The reason that resource-poor start-ups can compete against major corporations is that they have no investment in the status quo. Where established businesses fear cannibalising their existing profitable operations, start-ups proceed unencumbered by their own legacy. The good news is that there is nothing except your mindset stopping you from thinking like a start-up.
In difficult times like these, it is all too easy to get stuck thinking about your existing product or service. This is not start-up thinking. Instead, focus on your customers (either current or potential):
- What are their most important jobs to be done?
- What are the greatest frustrations or pains that they experience in trying to complete this job?
- What outcomes or concrete benefits are they seeking?
By taking the time to understand your customer through interviews, surveys, observations and other research techniques, you may identify a disconnect between your value proposition and your customer. These are the opportunities that start-ups actively seek to disrupt incumbent businesses who have lost touch with their customers.
If you believe that your current business model is at risk, you ultimately have two choices: You can either (1) take your value proposition to new customers who you can profitably serve, or (2) you can modify or replace your existing business model and value proposition to profitably serve your current customers.
Some questions to ask yourself are:
- Can we profitably meet our current customer’s greatest gains and pains by modifying or creating new gain creators and pain relievers?
- Is there another group who have an unmet need that can be profitably fulfilled by our existing product or service?
Both of these scenarios are iterative processes, and like a start-up you should go through a journey of exploration with your customer. Along this journey, you will uncover new insights into your customers’ gains and pains, and refine your product or service. We are already seeing both of these models playing out in response to COVID-19.
The video conferencing platform Zoom, for example, has seen enormous growth in popularity. They have found new customer groups in the previously office- and school-bound employees and students who are now forced to communicate remotely.
For modifying a value proposition for existing customers, one of the hardest-hit groups through this crisis are restaurants. They can no longer serve sit-down meals, the foundation of their value proposition. Many have responded by pivoting to takeaway options and partnering with delivery services such as uber-eats. As the crisis continues we can expect to see many innovative approaches to meet the evolving needs of consumers and businesses alike.
As you assess your path through and out of COVID-19 keep this in mind. Your business is not and never was about your products and services – it is about your customers, their jobs-to-be-done and their pains and their gains.
James Baker, Director, Ars Imperatoria Consulting
