When it doesn’t work, Do The Product Pivot.
An important factor for new entrepreneurs is the ability and willingness to change your business model or product mid-stream. This decision to change the business model is best done when the company seeks to improve its performance or when the company intends to expand its services and product range.
When pivoting you need to have the entire team on board (with the new mindset and goal) and they have to be focused on the new plan.
What are product pivots?
Pivoting is a fundamental strategy for insight into searching for a repeatable and scalable business model which encompasses all of the 9 business models.
A business model is a flow of different parts of a company and its strategy. The different components of the business model include its strategy, processes, units, rules, hierarchies, workflows, and systems which all contribute to the success of the business.
Even the smartest product manager can create a plan that turns out to be the wrong choice for that company at that particular time. The reason for this is due to changing business horizons. When this happens, plans have to be modified or changed completely. At this point, a pivot needs to be executed and this should be spear headed by a product manager who is not afraid of change.
Why are they important?
A pivot is important for changing a product in a substantive way. Pivoting of products also helps to create a business plan for that particular product. Product pivots are not only to change an entire business model. Product pivots are also important because they allows the company to explore new ways in which to improve the existing products and services. In addition, this also allows you to compete with other companies that market and sell the same products as your own company. Pivots help the business to grow and expand by improving on some of its strategies that are lacking and also by introducing new strategies.
When should you consider a product/ company pivot?
When to pivot is an important question that needs to be asked by every product manager. Pivoting is important and should be considered when the company seeks to expand its business services and products in order to improve the income and profits that are generated or when the current model does not resonate with customers (e.g. no sales).
Many startups encounter problems in their business and it is important to recognize this and find a strategy that will be implemented to fix this problem. Taking too long to act can cost your business and even threaten its existence. Pivoting is also important and should be implemented when there are changes in the product preference of the customers, which other companies are already providing. In order to run a successful business, the product manager should be able to keep the products up with the latest trends and also new and upcoming similar products in the same range.
Why is knowing when and how to pivot important?
Creating a successful company is essentially a search for the repeatable and scale-able business model. Predicting how a business will perform is essential for the business to succeed. It is important to know how each business element works in order to be able to predict what will work well for your business. If an element works then it should be retained. Adhering to a business plan is rarely feasible given the unpredictability of future market conditions. Additionally successful business startups tend to be companies that try out different business models until the right fit is attained. Pivoting helps to keep the company’s core insight and may involve using different implementations in order to achieve an ideal business success. In order to pivot correctly, the business has to be flexible when exploring ideas on how to improve its success.
One way of pivoting is to use the Beta Mode which involves testing different service packages, price points and client feedback. To pivot successfully, you will need to keep in mind that any pivot involves change. Naturally, people do not like the idea of change, this is why flexibility is an essential quality that each company should possess. Another way of achieving success is to focus and encourage the team involved on what the company would like to achieve. Lastly, the money has to keep flowing into the business accounts. This in essences means that your pivot should not affect the company’s income as you try to explore and implement your pivot.
Pivoting should be done as soon as is possible. How soon pivoting should be done can be determined by poor performance of the current products and also by current trends to which the customers are shifting towards. Pivoting can be done multiple times and is quite commonly seen with companies that are very successful.
Another way to pivot is to identify new goals that are aligned with those of your company. Another determining factor of pivoting is customer feedback. Clients can determine when you should pivot because they often give feedback on how best the services and products can be improved and they also give ideas on what kinds of products and services they would like to see from your company. Success of a pivot also entails that you should not discard your older strategies but rather improve on them, so they act as a guideline for new strategies. Pivoting is a big decision and is best done when there is a big opportunity which can make major changes to your organization.
Summary
Product pivots are very important and determine the success of the company. It takes a very flexible and focused product manager to be able to initiate a pivot and motivate the entire team towards achieving this new goal. Product pivots are important because they keep the company products abreast with current trends and they also improve customer satisfaction with your products.
