We ignored our competitors and are now paying the price. Help!

Dear Aunty B,

I have made a bad mistake by ignoring a few new competitors who have spent the last year taking our market share. When I confronted my leadership team with our second quarter results and projected third quarter results, which look very bad, they told me that have been concerned but obviously had failed to act!

I don’t know who I am more cross with: them or me! My question is, how have we missed the obvious and what can we do really fast to fix it given everyone has switched over to their Christmas brain?

Help!
Staring at no future

Dear Staring at no future,

Your first issue is yourself. I assume you are head honcho so beat yourself about the head for a bit. Finished? Good.

Now sit your team down and review all your early warning material. How can you make sure this never happens again? What new measurement tools do you need to introduce to get better early warning signals? Who is responsible for giving you market intelligence? Why were your staff too lazy/arrogant/scared to blow the whistle? Why are you out of the loop and missed the changes in your industry? And finally, how much is a depressed economy affecting your sector?

The second thing is to fix the problem. What are your competitors offering that you are not? How can you take the lead again short-term and then longer term with the introduction of new innovation, products, ideas, tweaks, etc. How can you go and shore up all existing clients? Call key staff together, bring in key advisors and have a war room meeting. Stuff Christmas!

Lastly, remind your staff that they can never rest on their laurels. There will always be new entrants so always watch your back. Many large companies go into steep decline due to arrogance and the ill perceived notion that new entrants are nothing to worry about.

Good luck!
Your Aunty B

To read more Aunty B advice, click here.

Email your questions, problems and issues to auntyb@smartcompany.com.au right now!