By Rich Bond
In a recent article, “From Surviving to Thriving: Reimagining the post-COVID-19 return,” McKinsey offers priceless advice – for free – based on their interaction with all kinds of business situations around the world. The essence of McKinsey’s article can be summed up in five words: Analyze Your Market, Act Now.
The one strategy McKinsey says will have the largest and fastest effect is “Revenue Growth Management.” I have highlighted my thoughts about that advice in a 3 minute video.
McKinsey urges businesses to jump on revenue growth as fast as possible. To illustrate their conclusion, they tell a story of a Chinese car rental firm that lost 95% of its revenue in February. Through micro-segmentation of their potential market and social listening, the company quickly discovered new opportunities. Within seven weeks, they regained 90% of their revenue – twice that of their nearest competitor. Most importantly, the company discovered how agile they could be in pulling together the different groups necessary to analyze the situation and seize a new initiative. They used to take three weeks to launch a new campaign. Now, they can do it in three days.
I have highlighted what I thought was the single most important piece of advice in a 3 minute video.
McKinsey also says that companies who want to thrive will need to accelerate the modernization of their technologies. A crucial part of that process will be to have the right people on board to perform actionable analytics. Such professionals can figure out what costs are flexible, evaluate nonessential costs related to projects or maintenance, discover ways to free up capital, and make recommendations on reallocating resources.
To thrive in the new economic reality, I believe businesses can no longer afford to make decisions based solely on backward-looking financial information. By the time you realize what happened, the opportunity will have passed. Coming out of the gate quickly and insightfully will give an organization a leg up on the competition and reignite growth. Companies need to invest in all areas in order to thrive!
