Earlier this week, I encountered a virtual “perfect storm” of business challenges and issues, almost all simultaneously. Some of the problems had been brewing for some time but others were genuine surprises. I’ve reported on one of them here: The strange saga involving the threat to my Google AdSense account.
The other issues need to remain under wraps for now except to a small circle of people. They know the measures I have taken to bring the problems under control and I am thankful for their support and guidance.
The crisis reached a peak on Monday night when I observed a critically dangerous confluence of events/possibilities going forward if I didn’t take immediate and urgent steps to resolve the problem. In overdrive, my mind worked to craft an urgent solution and I spent much of the past three days implementing its components (while dealing with the other regular business issues, the AdSense fraud matter and maintaining some sense of normalcy with my family who are among the trusted circle for important things, of course.)
Fortunately, in businesses, these sorts of crises don’t happen too often. I’ve encountered perhaps five or six situations of this magnitude since starting business in 1988-89. I’ve observed with experience how my adrenalin surges and my mind often becomes crystal clear in a matter of minutes about what I need to do. I will never forget the first crisis of this magnitude in 1991, about three years after I opened the business. The insights I gained then shifted all of my self perceptions and completed the puzzle for personal maturity. Two years later, Vivian accepted my marriage proposal. That is one crisis I’m glad I experienced, in hindsight. In fact, and this is important for my sanity, ALL of the crises have resulted in fundamental improvements and a better life for me and my family, and for the business’s survival and ultimate growth.
Times like these are interesting moments for marketers either representing their own business or seeking to sell to a business experiencing a crisis. If your own company is in a moment of transition/danger/crisis, then you may need to make some extremely quick decisions to reshape your marketing strategies and (gulp) throw parts of your business/marketing plan out of the window. The trouble is, you don’t have the usual analytical time to make decisions so may cut things that should not be cut. This is especially the case if you use advertising to attract business: Obviously ineffective ads should stop, but you need to be careful if the advertising is bringing in your vital leads. In the crisis, I decided not to cut a cent from our marketing and sales budget and in fact increased it (holding to the values and framework of what I know will work and where to manage risk.)
If you are on the selling side, if you have a solution for the crisis, you have a perfect opportunity to get your foot in the door. The problem here, of course, is you will need either exceptional luck or connections to know when and where the problems are occurring. You most likely will have to establish a trusted relationship before things go wrong because businesses don’t generally rush to put out press releases beforehand. (If the problem is visible and public like BPs mess in the Gulf, of course, everyone under the sun hoping to sell something will hop on the bandwagon and you will just be one of many making pitches.) However, if have built the trusted relationships to connect with decision-makers, you are ready to go and have the answers which will help, you won’t have to wait weeks for a purchase order!